Unsatisfactory response received, and a new email has been sent!

So, unfortunately, YRT decided to send me a regular around the bush email in response to the one i sent out last week. It is clear that they are not taking this seriously- even though it was forwarded to many people. Nevertheless, our efforts won't stop and we should continue to share this petition to gain more and more support! Also feel free to send your personal stories of horrific experiences with YRT and your disappointment in the current fare system to them. You can send it to the general transitinfo@york.ca email. Below is their response, followed by my new email to them. G.K. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Hello Glen, This email is in reference to the petition circulating on www.change.org. With regards to your concern about post-secondary student fares, YRT/Viva has previously looked into providing post-secondary discounts to students for unlimited access to transit for the entire semester, school year or calendar year in the form of school transit passes, specifically for York University students. These forms of passes are generally known as University Passes (U-Pass). Currently, almost 12,725 York University students live in local York Region communities. There are students attending other universities and colleges in the GTA and the U-Pass program could provide a discount opportunity to students and promote the use of public transit. Experience with the program in other communities has shown that it increases transit ridership overall, thereby improving the health of communities by reducing car travel and associated harmful emissions. To introduce a U-Pass to a student community, a student referendum must be held by the post-secondary school student union. Should a student referendum be successful (50 per cent “Yes” vote for mandatory U-Pass program), staff would continue to work with the post-secondary institution to create a formalized agreement that would outline the details and terms and conditions of the program, including the implementation and program launch. Current fare box revenue allows YRT/Viva to recover 40 per cent of the cost to operate the transit system through the farebox. High levels of subsidy are common in public transit – a direct result of the high costs associated with providing the service. In York Region, 60 per cent of transit costs are currently subsidized by York Region taxpayers, which is much higher than the 45/55 cost sharing balance the Region aims to ultimately achieve. Please also note YRT/Viva fares offset rising operating costs, as well as support the cost of delivering safe, reliable, accessible and convenient public transit service to YRT/Viva’s growing ridership. With increasing in fares, customers are receiving continued and new Viva service operating on rapidways, new service delivery types such as Dial-A-Ride for areas that do not generate enough demand for conventional services, and quality service. The fare change takes into account a number of factors, including increasing operating costs, fuel prices, cost recovery targets as the cost of providing transit continues to climb at a rate higher than the fare increase. However, there are opportunities to purchase discounted fares for regular transit customers through monthly passes, books of 10 tickets and PRESTO cards. Fare comparisons usually focus on YRT/Viva’s standard cash fare; however 66% of YRT/Viva riders take advantage of the discounts offered through monthly passes, pre-purchased booklet of tickets or the PRESTO card. In addition, the Canada Revenue Agency offers a non-refundable tax credit for monthly passes, PRESTO card users and Weekly GTA passes, offering further savings of 15 per cent on your income tax return. With regards to your comparison to TTC’s fare structure, please note there are many factors to take into consideration when comparing YRT/Viva to TTC. YRT/Viva service area is 1,776 sq. km. compared to TTC’s 622 sq. km. and TTC carries over 1.5 million riders a day compared to an average of 80,000 riders on YRT/Viva. Therefore, due to the number of TTC riders they can recover over +80% of their operating cost through the fare box. YRT/Viva services a large geographical area that requires significant investment to support growing ridership. We appreciate you taking the time to let us know your concerns and suggestions, and thank you for providing us with the opportunity to respond. Should the student referendum be successful, we will be pleased to review this matter again in the future. Please do not hesitate to contact us should you require additional information. Sincerely, Loretta M. | Customer Service Coordinator, York Region Transit (YRT/Viva), Transportation Services ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Regional Municipality of York| 50 High Tech Rd 5th Floor| Richmond Hill, ON L4B 4N7, Tel: 905-762-1282 | Toll Free: 1-866-MOVE-YRT (668-3978) | transitinfo@york.ca | www.yrt.ca Our Values: Integrity, Commitment, Accountability, Respect, Excellence" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Hello Loretta, As i’ve already mentioned in this email chain and in the petition that i attached to the very email you responded to, we’re not looking for a U-Pass system. A U-Pass system would be completely illogical for any campus- especially York University. Given the fact that there are only 12,725 York University students living in York Region, it wouldn’t make sense for all 55,000+ students to pay for this system through a tuition levy. What we’re asking for is a reduced fare! Similar to what you’ve done for high school students. While we appreciate the merits of your decision to help parents in paying for high school student transportation, why is it that those students receive an $0.80 discount (on Presto and booklet purchases) per fare whereas post-secondary students must pay fares that adults pay. Do you realize that Ontario has some of the highest tuition costs in the country? While that is none of your concern, you should realize that if there was a discounted fare for post-secondary students, your ridership would increase. From a personal perspective, let me tell you that during this past summer i drove to work (on campus) every day for the entire summer and paid for parking and gas because it was cheaper than busing to campus. With the prices that are charged on campus for parking and the price of gas do you realize how ludicrous it is to say that public transit has become more expensive than driving? It’s ridiculous! Not to mention the fact that i could have been reducing my carbon footprint all along. This fare system is completely unjust and discourages young people from taking public transit, making a difference in this world in terms of carbon footprints, and makes it extremely hard for post-secondary students to afford tuition and transit simultaneously. We implore you to reconsider your decision to force post-secondary students into paying an adult fare while they don’t earn an adult salary! The petition has already reached 420 signatures and will continue to grow. If you need any more reasons to make transit more affordable for post-secondary students you can read it here https://www.change.org/p/york-region-transit-introduce-discounted-fares-for-post-secondary-students. As a side note, you really shouldn’t claim that your fare increases allow for you to better your "quality service" considering just 3 days ago (the first time i’ve taken transit in months because it was cheaper to drive) the Viva Purple arrived 15 minutes later than scheduled and i was late in arriving home. Sincerely, Glenn Kogan"