BC Greens promise free transit if elected

The BC Green Party has made a campaign promise ahead of the province’s Oct. 19 election saying that, if elected, public transit would be free of charge for everyone, province-wide.

Leader Sonia Furstenau made this announcement Thursday, also saying that her party would make transit faster with more frequent service.

“We will expand routes, improve hours, get more buses on the road, and make buses a reliable and easy choice for travel across the province,” she said. “This plan isn’t solely about transportation. It’s about easing financial pressure on families.”

She wasn’t just referring to public transit within major cities.

“We must invest in mass transit in order to keep up,” she said. “Safe, reliable transit between hubs is critical, especially on the Highway of Tears, where too many Indigenous women have gone missing.”

Furstenau says cuts to the subsidies the province gives to the oil and gas industry could help fund free public transit.

The party, which currently has two MLAs in the 87-seat legislature, said in a statement $720 million in funding for TransLink and BC Transit would come from “reprioritizing existing funding,” with $420 million from the provincial budget and savings from improved efficiency.

Furstenau says currently, the province spends around $800 per capita, per year, on car transportation. By comparison, she says, spending per capita is $215 for busses, $5 for inter-regional transit, and $50 on sidewalks and bikes.

“When we shift where we’re spending money, we actually decrease the need to, for example, widen highways, build more interchanges, build more bypasses, because if we are decreasing congestion on on our highways, we decrease the need that governments fall into the trap of continually thinking that by expanding highways, we’re going to solve traffic congestion problems,” she said.

“We’re not. We know from the evidence, it’s very clear, that expanding highways does not solve congestion. The only way that we get there is by shifting some of the funds we’re spending …on roads, to transit.”

Furstenau says people need to rethink the benefits of hopping on the bus or Skytrain.

“When you spend time on the bus, you can do other things,” she said. “It’s also a gift of time to not be sitting in traffic.”

The Greens’ proposal also called for hourly services on key regional routes, a doubling of city buses within four years and a tripling within eight years. The party says that doubling the number of buses and increasing frequency and routes would double operational expenditure of BC Transit from 2024/25 onward, initially requiring an extra $300 million per year.

Furstenau said in a statement free transit was a “win-win,” saving families money while easing traffic congestion.

“Transportation affects every aspect of our lives, where we live, how we connect with others, and whether we can access opportunities,” she said.

“Fast, frequent and free transit will shift how people move, reduce household costs, and enable a giant leap forward on meeting our climate goals.”

With files from Dean Recksiedler, Angelyna Mintz, and The Canadian Press.