Talk Elections

Sponsor: PJ

I'm fine with the bill, though it should be in the Pacific and not in Colorado :P

Here's an amendment:

Offering an amendment.

I'm fine with the amendment. I wouldn't be for reimbursing the businesses under normal circumstances, but since we have a crisis now, I can live with it.

As I said before think like a business owner. Why would a transport company want to pickup students, when they cant charge them? Any smart business man would save those seats for paying customers.

Yeah, I get your point. You're right. So now let's get this bill passed swiftly, so we can draw our attention fully to the stimulus money.

Since a majority are already in favor of the amendment, let's vote on the final bill.


You have 24 hours to vote Aye, Nay, or Abstain.

Aye

Aye

ye

The bill passes 3-0-0.

That fine is a little steep, and I'm sorry for not commenting on this one - it slipped by. Would a quick rewrite be acceptable? I want to adjust some numbers.

Is $4,000 ok?

I'd offer this rewrite:

I just googled this, and it isn't as radical as I had initially feared. There are cities that basically have this or something very much like it - either free weekday transit for Uni students or else steeply reduced weekday transit. So yeah, that looks good, but let me get back this afternoon.

Ok... So the bill is good, I'd think.

Okay, I want it to read "weekday transit during normal school hours" or something to that effect. But there's got to be a better way to handle reimbursement. Maybe not, IDK.

Why just weekday transit? It's not that expensive for them, and if we reimburse them 50%, I think it's ok.

I'll start a vote:


Councillors, you have 24 hours to vote Aye, Nay, Abstain.

NAY. I apologise for not commenting on this. Why are so many bills up for a vote? Do we not have queues? First of all what businesses are charging transportation fees? That would usually be public transportation agencies. And is this $5,000 per ID or overall? Either way it is extremely ludicrous. Where do school buses fit into this.

I would suggest following New York's example and handing out transit passes. This would however require harmonising the fare collection system across the region (I'm thinking an RFID system)- not a bad idea, provided fares are reasonably similar. Or at least being sure to cover every transit authority. But the bill at present does not make sense.

There was some confusion, as many were open for discussion, so I opened the first three, and then the others. After that there is a queue.

Transit passes would be a good idea. Will you offer an amendment?

NAY, your arguments make sense.

This bill did not pass with 2 votes in opposition / 1 not voted.

I offer another version of the bill here, though:

But what is this bill in response to? Most students go to school and back on school buses. Cities without such services can deal with the matter on their own, no? I fail to see why this is needed.

I don't know much about your American school bus transit system, so I just made a proposal.

Should I just let it be?

Motion to table.

There exists public transportation for primary (elementary) and secondary (high school) schools everywhere.

College, you're on your own. The research I've looked into (Chicago, NY, etc.) have some things with regard to this for college students. Yeah, I could sign off on something that helps college students - they're pinched, squeezed, etc. enough. But public school students have access to transportation.

Alright, I'll offer an amendment for college in the afternoon.

Any thoughts or comments?

I support this 100%.

Thanks.

What do you think, Simfan? You have been a rather critical voice on this bill, what do you think of the amendment?

Okay, I imagine clause 3 should probably be a program that we set up through the universities that grants free transit to students. But I'm not sure what it would cost. We need to do this, though, at least for low income students!

Yes, it needs to be done, you're right. I wouldn't be in opposition of deleting clause 3 alltogether, but I don't think the current council woulr pass the bill then. The problem with calculating the costs however is the different price-structure throughout the Pacific. In LA you could pay $20 for the same distance you would pay $15 in SF, or whatever. I don't think that it will be a large sum.

Maybe just allowing it for lower-income students wouldn't be a bad idea, however it's always hard to determine whether a student is really low-income or not. One could have a very little income, yet be sufficed by one's (rich) parents, and then would be elgible for such a transit pass.

Alright, I'll now open a vote on the amendment.

Councillors, you have 24 hours to vote Aye / Nay / Abstain.

Aye

Aye

The amendment has passed with 2 votes in favour / 1 abstain.

I'll go on and open the final vote?

Yes please.

This is a final vote!

Councillors, you have 48 hours to vote Aye / Nay / Abstain

Aye

Aye

Nay

The final vote passed, with two votes in favour / one in opposition.

Governor, please sign or veto this bill.


Final version. Sponsor: PJ, Amendment: TheCranberry

Bump

DemPGH, could you please sign or veto this?

Sorry, I've been wrestling with this one. I'm not crazy about telling a business they have to accept these passes, but our students deserve a break.

Shouldn't the university or school reimburse the transportation / bus company? Or at least the other 50%?

Well, I think schools and universities already have very big costs to handle, and such would only increase their costs - we could however let the students pay I don't know $100 per card per year (we have it here that way, and it's working great), and then reimburse the businesses with that money?