Are you asking, really, or as a hypothetical ideal, where we live in a world where everyone travels in free buses on empty roads?
No, I'm not in unicorn-transit land; and the roads I live near are all clogged with cars, but the buses are mostly empty still.
I might agree with you that transit is a "service" but it doesn't change the fact it's paid for through a combination of taxes and fares, staffed by employees and decisions are made by politicians. York Region isn't unique in having a fare recovery target. How transit is funded (or rather not funded) in this country is a huge issue but the idea that YR council wants to achieve a balanced subsidy is not, by itself, some sort of evil.
I understand the need for budgets; but where the rubber meets the road, do people feel they are getting "value" for the "service" they are paying for? For $4 a pop, I'd expect a premium service, and honestly it sucks. I'm just afraid this will be a cycle; as ridership remains anemic, they'll raise fares and cut service, rinse and repeat, to fulfill the mythical "balanced subsidy" number.
(And FWIW, the number of patrons served has gone up exponentially in the past decade. I don't think "patrons served" is any more a metric of success than a balanced budget, unless you manage a McDonald's. Transit should be easy to use, relatively inexpensive and get you where you need to go in a reasonable amount of time. As previously discussed, there are several factors beyond the control of council or YRT [i.e. YR's huge size, the TTC on its border] that make all of this difficult.)
I agree, some of it is difficult, and some of it is beyond the control of council or YRT.
But, some of it is not; and it doesn't seem that is addressed either.
As an example, while the "Ride to GO" option is on the Fare card, it's not well advertised or explained. When I called into the YRT switchboard, they said it could only be used with a Bus that actually links to a GO station. (When I contacted GO, however, they explained if you use a presto card, as long as you connect in the transfer time, you'll get the "Ride to GO" credit")
So now YRT is hiring an employee to check where everyone is getting off the bus? Or do we go by the honour system - put a jar by the rear doors? What you're talking about is fare integration and that has to happen at the provincial level; YRT can't do it. There's "creative thinking," and then there's impossible-to-implement solutions to complex, systemic issues with transit in the GTA.
My idea was TTC transfer+$1 allows you to get on a bus that runs to Steeles. No transfers allowed to other buses.
Fare integration helps, I agree; but it's not like the YRT and the TTC are mortal enemies, and there is no reason they can't talk about a way to get more riders between the TTC and the YRT more smoothly.
The problem is no one wants to cut into their own Fare revenue to make this happen, so we have to be content to wait until Metrolinx/the province beats them over the head and forces them.
I'm a taxpayer(I hate that term) and a (sometimes) YRT user; why do I have to talk to my MPP when York Region and YRT could pilot a project even WITHOUT the TTC's help?
As a transit user, I shouldn't need to know that this is an inter-regional pissing match over fares.
The region has been moving to concentrate transit service and development on corridors, including Bathurst. That's not really any more unusual than knowing that you can get better service closer to Yonge Street in Toronto. It's clear their cuts to the local routes are making things difficult - I'm not being glib - but, yeah, live closer to the main streets in a suburban municipality and you have a better shot at reliable service.
I used to live near Dufferin and Steeles, which had great Transit service. Even the smaller feeder buses were decent. Transit in York region; not so much so. And, in case you think I'm living in some rural wasteland, in a couple of years I'll be a long-ish walk away from a subway station.
I know YRT has a lot of ground to cover, but "our service sucks, but if you move it might be better" is a cop out. Raise my taxes, run a proper service, more people will consider it viable, and ridership will go up.
These are growing pains- YR is bumping up against the limits of what it can do on its own. It's a suburb trying to be more transit oriented but confronting a lot of issues. Maybe I'm naive about their hearts being largely in the right place but it's not the sort of thing you can change overnight.
I'm more venting out loud then taking issue with much of what you say; and I agree, change takes some time. But I really to feel the political direction needs to be about building a proper service, not trying to manage how much the subsidy cost per ride is. And if we allow THAT to be how service is allocated (cut/delivered), things will continue to get worse, I'm afraid.
