I totally forgot about this until just now but over the summer I had wandered into a community event on my way home, and went to the public transit tent they had set up to promote the new project in the area and answer questions. I was looking for the Green party tent (all the other political parties where there, where the hell where they??)
But so I hang out at the tent, ask a few questions, show my excitement, etc.. and they have this "spin the wheel for a prize" game. Ranging from stickers to a bus pass. I was wanting a sticker bc the design was super cool and I'm a nerd. I wasn't optimistic enough to expect the bus pass.
>>I spin, I get the bus pass.
And the power I felt getting this prize?? I had already gotten my pass for the month. This was a spare one. The possibilities of who to give it to where endless and would legit alter someone I knew entire month.
>> Do I give it to the next person who asks me for change? Going from hoping tinget enough change to get enough for fare or something to eat and to be suddenly given this pass? The freedom from harassment of the transit police, the ability to get to all the free meal events that are all over the city but all are just awkward enough its an hour walk there. Actually get use the food bank and take more than a backpack or 2 of stuff for the month bc you have to carry it all yourself. To be able to visit a park, a library, To have the world open up without using all your energy getting there? How much would this bus pass alter their entire month? Who am I to now deny someone that freedom?
>>Do I give it as a gift to a coworker? Someone who doesn't go out or do anything other than work and rest at home bc it's too expensive for her to buy a pass bc she lives JUST close enough to work for walking to be a better option. Counting her bus tickets everytime she wants to go to the library, to see a friend/family member, to visit a park that's nearby, hang out downtown. Every outting you have to justify. Suddenly having just 1 month of freedom would help her mental health so much. She would have so much fun for the first time in ages! She could be a person in public, she could have fun without worry or need to justify. She's my friend. Who am I to not give it to her?
>>Do I sell it off to someone to get a grocery top up? To have a second of breathing room between paychecks? If I'm short on a bill this month I'll be kicking myself for not doing the survivalist thing to do.
In the end while I was having this crisis my roommate took it, so she could look for jobs and do a bunch of interviews without worrying about how to get there.
And it hits me as particularly horrific that so many ppls lives would be so positively altered by this single bus pass from a silly contest at a community event. How lucky was I to have this option? And alteranticely how so many ppls lives would open up and improve by simple access to a public service that they should have free access to not being held hostage by. And that's just the ppl I know who would benefit from monetary access to the system much less the good having physical accessibility added to it.
The for profit transit system is horrifying. This is meant to be a public feature, and yet the accessibility to actually use it is so limited. we deserve so much better.
