Quote:
Originally Posted by Russic
I realize we're all outraged because this is new and we're on the internet, but it's $3. Yes over time that will add up, but in a few weeks nobody will be talking about this and it will just be put out of peoples minds.
The city raised prices to park downtown not too long ago as well and people flipped out and pledged that they'd find alternate ways of doing things as people tend to do. Every time transit tickets rise in cost people run to the web polls and vote with fury that they are done with Calgary Transit, yet the numbers of riders don't seem to change.
My overall point to this is that I think everybody who is fuming over this issue is falsely assuming that everybody else is on board with them. This is just a case where a small section of the population is being significantly louder than the rest in my opinion.
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I agree. Change is scary. I'm sure many of the people that "will just drive now" will go back to using the transit system in no time. People seem to be forgetting that the extra couple bucks to drive is more than a couple bucks, it's the wear and tear on your vehicle and the cost of gas. Not to mention the strain on your heart from the stress of being stuck behind someone only going 100kph in the left on Deerfoot. Not to mention all the extra traffic on the roads when these people stop using transit.
I'm sure there was a time when parking downtown was free and I'm sure the same arguments were trumpeted back then. Are people expecting a service like transit to remain the same price forever? Of course not. Like everything else in life, it gets more expensive.
I'm guessing more people will start using the feeder buses than driving. I use to drive to my train station, but the lot got full well before I got there and street parking was cut way back. The time is no difference as the bus stop is really close to my house and having to follow the bus schedule actually makes me get my butt out of bed in the morning on time. I know not everyone can use the bus system or it's not as convenient, but I'm sure a lot of people drive the same route as the bus and leave around the same time.