This Sunday, March 30th, from 1-4 PM the Victoria Transit Riders Union (VTRU) is hosting a dual purpose Spring Transit Celebration in honour of Transit Workers Appreciation Day (March 18) and in protest of the coming bus fare hike.
This kid-friendly, community building event will feature refreshments and snacks, music, socializing, and art activities, including a card-making station at which attendees can express their appreciation of transit workers and a silk screening station at which they can make their own VTRU shirts, tote bags, or hoodies. It will take place at the headquarters of the Greater Victoria Teachers’ Association at #5 – 515 Dupplin Road. All are welcome.
VTRU is also proud to announce that it has been officially endorsed by the labour unions that represent Victoria transit workers and teachers – respectively, Unifor Local 333-BC and the Greater Victoria Teachers’ Association – and looks forward to working with them to advance the common interests of bus riders, transit workers, teachers, and students. These common interests will be highlighted at the Spring Transit Celebration on Sunday.
“We can’t wait to gather in joyful defiance of the upcoming fare increase,” said Liz Cronin, a VTRU organizer. “The more we gather and build relationships as transit riders the more we can push – together with transit workers – for the greener and more just future we need.”
“The people of Victoria need and deserve an expanded and improved transit system, and this calls, not for higher fares, but for a decreased dependence on fares, which are an unreliable funding source,” said Nathan Bird, another VTRU organizer. “This has been clearly demonstrated by the ongoing Covid-induced transit funding crisis, as well as by Greyhound’s profit-driven decision to abandon Western Canada.”
Stephen Bains, president of Unifor Local 333-BC, said: “On the heels of a fare increase within the Victoria Regional Transit System, the work the Victoria Transit Riders Union does not only has a profound effect on our Members, but also our passengers. Victorians deserve an efficient transit system that breaks down barriers to mobility, not create them. Through events like this ‘Spring Transit Celebration,’ the VTRU works to break down these barriers brick-by-brick. We at Local 333-BC are confident that if all transit riders and workers stand in solidarity, we will get you where you need to be, when you need to be there!”
The Victoria Transit Riders Union, which stands for “fare-free and excellent transit for all”, has been fighting tirelessly for the immediate expansion of free transit to all BC youth aged 18 and under, and is a staunch supporter of better pay and working conditions for transit workers, including those currently on strike in the Cowichan Valley.
Victoria Transit Riders Union 