City of Winnipeg, Order of Manitoba: Stop transit fare increases

Stop transit fare increases

Greetings,

Thank you for taking a moment to read this petition.
This is intended as a petition to stop unreasonable transit fare increases that have currently been taking place in Winnipeg.

Many sustainable lifestyle choices are easily motivated with financial initiatives; and choosing public transportation is no different. We feel that a proper move by a city council would be to motivate their residents to choose sustainable transportation; instead of penalizing those who make this choice.

We care for our City's environment, and air quality.
Consider motivating Winnipeg residents to choose transit as their transportation alternative.

Environmental Reasons:
1. A car driver uses more energy and creates more air pollution in just 4 years than a transit passenger in 40 years.
2. The average cost to keep a car on the road is about $8,000.00 a year or about $660 per month? (based on 12,000 km/year, including insurance, fuel, maintenance and parking).
3. In rush hour, there’s an average of 1.2 persons per car. At that rate 2 buses can carry as many people as a hundred cars. In a single lane the cars would stretch over a third of a mile; the buses only 90 feet – and that can reduce congestion, noise and air pollution by over 90%.
4. In Canada, urban motorists account for over 40% of the energy for transportation while transit systems account for only 2%.
5. Winnipeg Transit carries about 20% of all people travelling to and from work in Winnipeg.
6. Reducing the number of vehicles on the road reduces emissions of carbon dioxide that contributes to global warming and the greenhouse effect. One car wouldn’t be a problem but in Canada there are over 12 million cars.
(Source: Winnipeg Transit; http://winnipegtransit.com/en/inside-transit/interestingtransitfacts/, taken 17th day of November 2011.)

Adding lanes and expressways brings more cars, more congestion--and of course--longer commutes in the long term. In addition, car traffic is, indirectly, the most expensive burden there is for urban taxpayers.

We understand that transit fare increase would have to be endorsed by the Manitoba government and Premier Greg Selinger--and we're asking you to say no.

Obviously: better transit systems are the most effective way of improving traffic flow. It benefits drivers and transit riders. Most North American cities have learned the inefficient way that emphasizing car traffic over other modes of transportation actually makes things worse for drivers.

As residents of Winnipeg, we also pay taxes. The more cars there are, the more sprawl, and the less efficient our infrastructure is. We have more and more kms of roads serving a lower and lower population density--which is bad for our budget, and the environment.

Please consider my plea for a better transit service and to put a stop to rapid and unreasonable increase of bus fares in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
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Sincerely,

[Your name]