Transit for Teens Youth Response to a Broken Transit System
By the Transit for Teens Youth Coalition

Released April 22nd, 2025

Public transportation is woven into the fabric of daily life for youth and low-income and at-risk youth most of all. For many, it’s the bridge between home, school, work, community, and vital services. Last year, we called on the BC government to extend the successful Get on Board program to provide free transit to all youth up to age 18. One year later, we’re still waiting — and watching as transit systems across the province struggle under the weight of an unsustainable model overreliant on the fare box.

We’re still calling for free transit for youth. But now, we’re also calling out the broken foundation that makes fare hikes and service reductions feel inevitable. Because let’s be clear: this crisis isn’t just about tough budget years or one-time miscalculations. It’s about a transit system that functions like a business when it should operate as a public good.

TransLink has received significant bailout funding from both the provincial and federal governments. Yet, the agency continues to face a deep structural deficit, and riders are bracing for what might come next — whether that’s service reductions, more fare increases, or both. A recent Vancouver Sun column put it plainly: these bailouts are just buying time. They’re not solving the problem. We can’t just call for more and more funding to mop up the crisis and uphold the status quo of the system we have; it must be used to shift to a new model that no longer downloads funding shortfalls onto already cash-strapped riders.

It’s like CERB during the pandemic — a short-term lifeline that showed what bold public policy could achieve, only to be withdrawn without lasting reform. We can’t keep patching over broken systems and calling it progress. Real solutions require rethinking the very way we fund and value public services.

Transit for Teens Youth Leadership Coalition member Harper Stoelting sees the inequity in relying on fares and hiking them during a cost-of-living crisis: “Everyone deserves a right to sustainable transit, and any person or youth’s income should not inhibit their ability to get to where they need to be.”

The current model — relying heavily on fare revenue in a publicly funded system— means that in times of crisis, the costs fall directly on riders. It’s an approach that fails the most vulnerable first: youth, seniors, and low-income workers, many of whom are racialized and of marginalized genders. Transit for Teens Youth Leadership Coalition Ellie Goelman sees the dual benefit of more accessible transit. “Transit is much more energy efficient than privately owned vehicles and the climate crisis is out of control. Expanding public transit in BC and making it accessible to all teenagers, regardless of financial situation, is a crucial next step in the fight against climate change and inequity in this province.” 

If we’re serious about affordability, climate action, and equity, we need to stop asking transit to turn a profit and start treating it like the essential service it is.

Transit is a public good. It should be free, frequent, and fully funded — not policed, cut, or made unaffordable. Riders in Vancouver and Toronto are currently seeing what happens when enforcement is prioritized over service: fare blitzes and public dollars funneled into policing riders instead of improving their daily experience–potentially leading to further fare box losses as frustrated riders turn to ride-sharing services instead.

That’s why we’re organizing a youth-led Earth Day rally — to call for a better transit future for BC. A future where environmentally sustainable transit is accessible to all youth. Where service isn’t threatened every year by budget shortfalls. Where public investments reflect our climate commitments and community needs.

This isn’t just about expanding Get on Board up to age 18. It’s about a future where the transit system works — for riders, for workers, for the planet. It’s about choosing to build equitably accessible systems that serve us all.

Members of the Transit for Teens Youth Leadership Coalition who contributed to this article include Harper Stoelting and Ellie Goelman.

The Transit for Teens Youth Leadership Coalition will be hosting an Earth Day rally at the Premier’s Office, 2909 W. Broadway, today, April 22, 2025 from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Come join us to celebrate transit, Transit for Teens, and our vision for a sustainable, equitable transit future for all youth.