Free O' Wheels

School Bus Hell on TV

Well, the local TV station picked up the story and did a 2nd place headline story on the school bus misadventure.  I'll post a link to it soon.

School Bus Hell

To Whom it May Concern,

 

I would like to file a formal complaint against L**** S*****, a bus driver working for L***** bus line. Today I went to pick up my children at their regular bus stop after school. My son (age 7 ) got off the bus, but my daughter(age 5) did not get off the bus. The bus driver closed the doors of the bus and I waved at him to open the door. When he opened the door, I told him that my daughter must still be on the bus because she had not gotten off. He replied that all of the kids had gotten off and that she must not be on the bus. I asked if he could please check, but he did not comply. I double checked with my son who assured me that she had gotten on the bus with him. Since the bus driver denied me access to the bus to look for my daughter and refused to call for her, I quickly asked my son to get back on the bus to look, but before he could, the bus driver had slammed the doors and was driving off. This was completely unacceptable.

I was therefore left on the road with no explanation as to where my daughter was. I desperately tried calling the school…..finally resorting to calling campus security. For one hour I frantically searched campus, calling various numbers in an attempt to locate my daughter. This experience left me shaken and incredibly worried. Finally after 45 minutes I received a call to confirm my daughter was still on the bus. She had fallen asleep. It was nearly one hour from the time I had asked the bus driver to please check if my daughter was still on the bus until I finally saw her. I am incensed that this could happen. If the driver had been responsible and courteous enough to take the extra 30 seconds it takes to double check to see if she was there - even calling her name would have worked - an hour of distress and worry could have been avoided.

Any bus driver who drives young children to and from school should be responsible enough to make sure that students get off the bus at their appropriate stop. The driver was very rude and completely unapologetic. When a parent waits at a bus stop to pick up their 5 year old child, the least that the bus driver can do is make sure that the child gets off the bus – especially if the parent makes a request for him to do so.

I would like to receive an apology as well as a statement from L***** bus lines as to how your company and its drivers will prevent this from happening in the future. No parent or child should have to go through the unnecessary distress that I experienced today. The bus driver’s response to my request was completely unacceptable.

Sincerely,

T***** C******

U-Pass articles in Georgia Straight

This week's Georgia Straight features two articles on UBC/SFU's U-Pass program. 

Check it out.

U-Pass brings bus mayhem [via straight.com]

Why don’t students aside from those at SFU and UBC have access to the U-Pass? [via straight.com]

Transit Pass and Car Sharing

Along with a walkable 3 minute commute for my wife and a school bus for the kids, two other reasons we chose to live at the Univercity development was the subsidized community transit pass program and easy access to a car-sharing vehicle.  We figured that having these perks would ease the inconvenience of going car-less and save us more money.

The community transit pass, officially called "The Vancity Community Transit Pass" is the first program in Canada to subsidize a bus pass for defined community.  The cost is $28/month with one year contract and gives you a bus pass that can be used across Greater Vancouver.  An equivalent bus pass normally is $130/month for adults and $40/month for children...which would cost my family $340/month.  The Univercity bus pass would cost us $112/month.  I say "would cost us" because when we moved in we learned that our building is offering a free year of community bus passes for all residents. Yipee.  They may have done this to offset their high rental rates compared to many of the privately rented condos in the neighborhood.  We picked up our passes this week and I'm thrilled that I don't have to worry about having the correct change for the bus again.  We just paid for transit normally last month and I nearly depleted my coin jar that I had accumulated over the last year.

In mid-July we signed up for the Co-operative Auto Network so that we would have access to a vehicle.   The cost of membership is a one-time refundable $500 share purchase plus a $20 registration fee.   There's a $2/hr rate and a variable mileage rate depending on your usage that month.  The rates include all insurance, fuel, cleaning, maintenance, BCAA membership, and parking.  The fleet consists of approx. 140 vehicles of various types located across Vancouver and inner suburbs plus a few vehicles on Vancouver Island.  They also have a deal with a few local car rental companies to provide discounts for members which we took advantage of last week for a trip in Alberta. 

There's a co-op car parked in front of our building, a Toyota Prius, but if we need a truck for picking up furniture or a van for more passengers, we just have to book it and go to its location to pick it up.  The booking can be done online and is quite intuitive.

So we been using the car for about two weeks and so far the program is working really well for us.  The car is usually available when we need it and the proximity makes it seems like the car is ours alone.  The only issue we have come across is cars parked in our reserved spot...one of these days we will call a tow truck.

Univercity Community Bus Pass

Co-operative Auto Network

Church

Going into this carless lifestyle, we knew that there would be issues with going to church.    We knew that it would require a bus ride or two and some walking to get there, in all kinds of weather.   Also, we anticipated some social resistance from our religious peers.   If a family walks or takes the bus to attend a Mormon church, the common reaction is astonishment mixed with either pity or at least bewilderment.    Although members of the Mormon church are more conservative politically and have larger families than average, I'm sure reactions would be similar to most people you would encounter in a suburban cul-de-sac during a weekend Garage Sale.  On a side note, when I lived in Salt Lake City, 95%+ percent of members of the congregations I attended drove to the church a block or two away.    Again, I don't think this is specific to the particular faith.   Perhaps when you hop into the car to do everything, it's a habit even when you are only going down the block.

"I wish we could give you a ride, but we don't have enough room", is a common phrase we will no doubt hear almost every Sunday.  To be honest, attending a church without wheels can be a drag especially when the weather is bad.  This is one of the primary reasons why we have opted to join a car-sharing program so that we can have access to a car when we need it.  More about that program later.

So we went to church today.   My wife is out-of-town on business and so the kids and I decided to visit a congregation that we use to attend before moving up north 3 years ago.   The congregation now meets in a different building.   This new building is right in the middle of a newish suburban single family residential zone.   I often criticized the location for being unfriendly for transit riders, without actually doing the research.    You know what?  I was wrong.   It is actually quite doable on the bus.   It took us three different but short bus rides and just under an hour.   The last bus was a small community shuttle bus and travels every half hour.  (I think this is an innovative way to service areas that have lower transit usage but require the service none the less.)   The bus stop was about 2 1/2 blocks from the church, a very nice walking distance.   I take back my baseless slurs about the building's location.   The neighborhood is still unappealling to me, but somewhat transit friendly.    Coming home took us more than two hours, but that is because we took the right bus going the wrong direction.   Thank goodness for easy going kids.

Intro

What is it like being a family of four without owning a car? 

That's what my new blog is all about.  I'm going to chronicle the daily life of my family as we attempt to live without owning a vehicle.   Even though our politics are fairly consistent with those that might abandon the automobile for environmental and social reasons, we really just wanted to save money in order to have more flexibility and less financial stress while I return to polytechnical school in Vancouver. 

I should say, our carless state was planned, so we were able to "stage" a situation where going without a car would be easier.  First of all, we were moving to Vancouver, where public transit is abundant in the central areas.  Secondly, we chose to live in a new urbanist community sprouting beside the university where my wife will be working, more specifically we were moving into a mixed use building with shops, services and residential.    There's a school bus (one of only few in the entire city) down the block that solves the issue of getting the kids to school.   I will be the only person in the family that will have a complex commute in their daily schelude with a one transfer bus ride to school.