Poverty Awareness in York Region

This PACC report is a wake up call to the federal, provincial and regional governments to end the York Region Transit Strike.

As a result of an ongoing six week strike by the York Region Transit bus drivers, I started supporting Occupy Newmarket. Sounds crazy but halting public transportation affects alot of low-income people and those that can do something about it don't seems to care. Who do these people think they are? High school kids can't get to school, people depending on public transportation cannot go to work, elders running out of food ... It's ridiculous that neither the York Region Council nor the striking bus drivers will even entertain the thought of going to the bargaining table. SIX WEEKS!! That's enough now. Fred Joly

Occupy Newmarket Facebook Profile Picture

I know about the Christmas voucher that the Salvation Army gives out but does anyone know of others. I was hoping to attend a couple of the Christmas dinners that are hosted at York Region churches, community dinners what not. It would be nice if we could compile a list here of places for low-income people to go during the holidays.  Do the food banks give out extra food for seasonal supplies?  Maybe a place to get a few small gifts like toiletries etc. Fred Joly

Please see the PACC News / Report - short news-like clips includes transit strike, "Occupy Newmarket", humourous corporate info!

Day 1 - http://youtu.be/vVeTWGY4vfQ

Day 2 - http://youtu.be/mj_3wIp6SAw

Enjoy!

PS Despite the transit strike some are still asking to meet regarding xmas drives/food /youth road hockey event etc so we'll look to do so soon..when is good for people!?

Occupy Newmarket on Facebook

Saturday November 19th 2011 at Fairy Lake.


Video produced by TP. It's absolutely hilarious. He plays about 20 different recognized characters in a 60 Minutes style presentation. Some tough opinions but funny nevertheless.


Occupy Newmarket Video

As the York Region Transit strike moves into a 3rd week, those workers and kids needing to get to their destination workplaces and schools, have been nothing more than an afterthought it seems...no outcry from our main-stream media for transit workers to end their strike...no indications from the regional government  to end it or declare it an essential service - like Toronto did....What's wrong? Aren't our transit users as important or their survival as essential as the city folk!?..Or is it just that we in rich York Region are composed of mostly car users as opposed to local transit users, and therefore we don't have to care enough?....It should be an even more vital a service in suburbia as far as I'm concerned, especially for those communities isolated from schools, amenities, food or any non Y.R.T. transit station. Ironically only Conservative M.P.P. Frank Klees seems to be saying anything about it politically. Everyone else keeps playing the don't look at me game.


I don't know what they could possibly be striking about anyway as YRT is quite possibly the worst service I've ever experienced and I've taken it often and ridden transit systems right across Ontario. Frequently with connecting routes on the YRT that run every hour and drop you to wait another 45 minutes to an hour for a connector often without a shelter..I've had it take me 3 hours to travel a 10-15 minutes car ride distance... or after getting in town from work taking up to an hour and a half to get home. Ridiculous...and the newest Y.R.T. drivers are often rude and seem more interested in picking up green lights than passengers ....one driver stops daily while already running 10 minutes late to use the bathroom at Tim Horton's on Yonge St because it's apparently better than the one at the Go terminal she tells me..nice perk, er I mean perc., ha...and that route already runs only once per hour...on strike!?...Ha!

The VIVA drivers of course have no conversations with you whatsoever eliminating friendly hellos with their "honour system" designed to criminalize and sentence our poor, young, and homeless to lives with bad credit ratings for daring get warm in the winter, and which it's personnel has been boosted in recent times by an apparent influx of transit security police, not previously needed, who last summer delayed me an hour for simply insisting on full time on my transfer...sure I got an apology...but tell that to the meat, ice-cream, and milk that spoiled...where's my payback? I was treated like a criminal for insisting on my full fare value for which there was no argument in the end...just a driver having a bad day wanting to take it out on someone was my best guess...until I played my P.A.C.C. card. They've since changed the transfer system to a digital timed one now which eliminates the manual option and the little discretion a nice driver may have had in the past to give a few more minutes on a system you never every minute for! It's become a sad, face-less transit system with an even sadder direction in which it seems to be going ...the only reason the service has increased in number of riders in 2010-11 is because they now offer 15 minute interval runs up Yonge St to Finch Station which is convenient, but connecting a bus(es) home in a timely manner once back in your town is another thing entirely....This service does not warrant a raise and needs a new manager to run it as the guy they brought from the U.S. and his crony security cops style of service is not the Canadian way. This is not Boston city. He also has no concept of priorities it seems.

Over the summer they quietly changed some routes again....meaning chopped them..like the route 53's 6:20 a.m. run which connected remote Bathurst St. dwellers in Newmarket to work and schools and amenities. What were those people supposed to do that relied on that? Did you not know the route covered an area rife with low income earners? This route is changed constantly as well it seems so how do they expect to grow ridership?...One man I spoke to last year was late for the 1st time in 12 years after another one of the silly route 53 changes which, when changed, made him miss his usual connecting bus....and this without any strike!! And did they need to cancel completely their transportation to Walmart Sundays too for those working there? And shorten the last bus time so students from the mall can't catch it home after work whereas before there was one more that ran? Those workers can't afford the 30 buck cab fares on the wages paid ... even with a union! That is, short of labour laws that ensure they make a living wage so they could afford a car to drive...and to top it off Y.R.T. already charges more than the T.T.C. which offers much better and frequent service with talk of another fare raise in early 2012.Please! Improve your service and you'll improve your ridership and in turn more revenue. Just gouging the poor riders for more doesn't cut it. Terrible service. Terrible planning.

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