Quote:
Originally Posted by Addick
In regards to NYE, does it have to be either or? Even in London and Paris they get a corporate sponsor to cover at least part of the cost of providing late-night service on NYE. And while they do have larger audiences, they also have larger and more costlier to operate systems.
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Oh I agree, from the viewpoint of idealism anyway. Ideally there's funding, resources and political will (i.e. probably more appetite for tax increases to pay for services) to make public transit part of the fix to the New Years Eve problem as well as provide badly needed service during peak and off peak weekday hours. Realistically, improvement strategies have to be weighed against each other because funding and political will for overall improvements are lacking.
With the corporate sponsor thing, although I would be interested to see it explored, out of hand I'm not sure there would be as much appetite for it in Calgary as in London or Paris just based on the cultural differences on how public transit is valued in those specific settings as well as the approach to corporate partnerships . I think you can cultivate that with time and it is something I would like to see, but that's a much broader issue. In that vein, there are some interesting things being done in some cities, Montreal for example, with engaging with retail businesses and corporate partners in their transit loyalty smartphone app.