Plebiscite Posters
UPDATED January 28
These five posters were created by frequent commenter Meredith Botta who says
I thought I would do my bit for the Yes side and created three posters for the cause. I am making them available at no cost for posting, distribution, copying, etc.
I have made small screenshot png versions for display purposes, but there are links below the images to his large pdf files for you to download
transit plebiscite – yes
transit plebiscite – yes 2
transit plebiscite – yes 3
And here is another from James Gemmill
Stephen Rees's blog 
Hello Stephen. I think those “Yes” posters are great. One service that is often absent when regional transit components are discussed is HandyDART. It would be great if I had a similar poster to distribute to people I know who are users, proponents, and potential users. Any chance of MB adding a fourth poster? Thanks.
Bruce Chown
January 23, 2015 at 7:03 pm
Hello Bruce, nice to see you on the blog. I agree with you about HandyDART and in case MB isn’t reading the comment thread I will pass your request along by email.
The service increase promised by the Mayor’s Council is welcome, but users have made it clear to me that they regard it as inadequate, given the service cuts they have experienced. They also have let me know how unhappy they are about the substitution of taxis. I cannot help but feel that the reorganisation of HandyDART and the use of the single, US based contractor was a huge mistake. There are plenty of people only too ready to jump on any opportunity to criticise Translink so I have been a bit reluctant to join that chorus. But if we were still working together on these issues I think we would have come up with a better solution!
Stephen Rees
January 24, 2015 at 10:17 am
Thanks Stephen. I was against the proposed amalgamation of the several regional HandyDART services from the beginning, and especially handing it all over to a U.S. organization with little or no local knowledge of local conditions or users. Lost that battle. We did win the fight to maintain the Taxi Saver program when TransLink wanted to terminate that program in 2012 and divert its funding to HandyDART. I designed the Taxi Saver program as an alternative to HandyDART for those willing to pay more than HandyDART fares for more immediate service. It incorporates a 50% subsidy whereas HandyDART requires at least a 90% subsidy. Jill Weiss did a great job pulling together many Taxi Saver users who voiced their dissatisfaction with TransLink staff and politicians about the proposal to end the program. This is a stand-alone program and not the one you report you’re hearing complaints about. We used supplementary taxi service for many years as part of the HandyDART service. It was cost efficient for individual late night or early morning trips or occasionally when trips were overbooked. As Tom Rainey (Pacific Transit HandyDART in Vancouver) used to say, however, 80% of the complaints he received pertained to this supplementary taxi service and taxi drivers. I believe users become accustomed to the good service they receive from HandyDART drivers and expect the same from taxi drivers. I think TransLink has an impossible job. The province shifts roads and bridges to them in addition to regional transit, but then refuses to allow the implementation of any funding mechanism without a plebiscite. I doubt whether I could do any better under the current transit regime, nor would I want to try. I will certainly try to encourage a “YES” vote amongst my friends and associates.
Bruce Chown
January 24, 2015 at 3:10 pm