The bill for public transit keeps going up, and one way or another, taxpayers have to come up with the money.
That鈥檚 a bitter pill for people who don鈥檛 use the bus and resent having to fund it, but if we accept that transit has a social benefit, we also must accept that it will always have to be subsidized.
sa国际传媒 Transit says homeowners in the capital region will have to pay 12.6 per cent more in 2014-15 on top of the average $130.50 per household they are paying this year for transit property taxes. The following years would see increases of 3.9 per cent and 7.2 per cent.
The additional money is needed to cover vehicle replacement, maintenance, buildings, new bus stops, Douglas Street bus lanes and other items. It doesn鈥檛 cover what Saanich Mayor Frank Leonard says are $65 million in capital projects, such as a new maintenance yard.
Area politicians, who constantly wrestle their property-tax increases as low as possible, are backing away from any hike that carries the label 鈥渄ouble-digit鈥� because they think taxpayers won鈥檛 stand for it.
Victoria Mayor Dean Fortin and Transit Commission chairwoman Susan Brice want to ask the province to increase the gas tax that motorists pay for transit, which sits at 3.5 cents per litre. One additional penny would raise $3.5 million a year.
But that feels more like sleight of hand than a solution. Government would be taking the money from our right pocket instead of our left.
Leonard thinks a better answer is to turn transit over to local control, where he is confident of finding savings. Even if local control did lead to savings 鈥� which seems a dubious proposition 鈥� those savings would be limited.
While the transit system must always strive to keep costs down, a painless solution doesn鈥檛 exist. Public transit is necessary in Greater Victoria, and it will never pay for itself.
