The Off Topic Topic

[Barrister]

This may be an Edmonton-only fear, but the problem I would see with free public transit is homeless people camping out on public transit all day using drugs.

But I don`t think it`s an Edmonton-only concern.

[Josquius]

This may be an Edmonton-only fear, but the problem I would see with free public transit is homeless people camping out on public transit all day using drugs.

But I don`t think it`s an Edmonton-only concern.

Sounds like the actual problem there isn't related to public transit.

[mongers]

This may be an Edmonton-only fear, but the problem I would see with free public transit is homeless people camping out on public transit all day using drugs.

But I don`t think it`s an Edmonton-only concern.

Sounds like the actual problem there isn't related to public transit.

Indeed.

[celedhring]

Spain's Telefonica has just announced it's pulling the last 360 phone booths remaining in Barcelona. This made me think, are there still public payphones in your towns?

[Zanza]

According to Wikipedia there are still 14,200 public payphones in Germany, apparently mainly in train stations, airports etc. This is less than 10% of the peak number. I honestly could not tell you where a payphone is nearby.

[The Brain]

Spain's Telefonica has just announced it's pulling the last 360 phone booths remaining in Barcelona. This made me think, are there still public payphones in your towns?

Haven't seen one in ages. Wiki says that the last one in Sweden was removed in 2015.

[Josquius]

Plenty still around in the UK.
I think there's a legal contract that has never been repealed because what if there's an emergency or something.
Increasingly in town centres you also see modern ones which are basically advertising boards with mics and speakers on the side from which you can make free calls.

[Sheilbh]

Plenty still around in the UK.
I think there's a legal contract that has never been repealed because what if there's an emergency or something.
Increasingly in town centres you also see modern ones which are basically advertising boards with mics and speakers on the side from which you can make free calls.

Yeah lots have been re-purposed - some into the modern ones which are free Wifi hubs with charging points and ad boards.

Apparently there's 5,000 that can't be decommissioned by BT. The regulator's said they can't get rid of them if:

its location is not already covered by all four mobile networks; or
it is located at an accident or suicide hotspot; or
more than 52 calls have been made from it over the past 12 months; or
exceptional circumstances mean there is a need for a public call box (e.g. it's in a coastal location where mobile reception is less resilient or it's still being used for helpline calls).

Which sounds pretty sensible and a way of still meeting the universal service requirement. Apparently despite massive decline in use in 2021 they were still used for 150,000 999 calls, 25,000 Childline calls (and that strikes me as a real risk over who controls access to mobiles) and about 25,000 calls to the Samaritans.

[Grey Fox]

Yes, some. Those I Know about are in the subway stations.

[Barrister]

This may be an Edmonton-only fear, but the problem I would see with free public transit is homeless people camping out on public transit all day using drugs.

But I don`t think it`s an Edmonton-only concern.

Sounds like the actual problem there isn't related to public transit.

Yes, but it isn't not related to transit either.

In Edmonton (and I suspect many other communities) we're struggling to get people to use public transit at the best of times.  Having to step over homeless people camped out on the LRT doesn't help.

[crazy canuck]

This may be an Edmonton-only fear, but the problem I would see with free public transit is homeless people camping out on public transit all day using drugs.

But I don`t think it`s an Edmonton-only concern.

Sounds like the actual problem there isn't related to public transit.

Yes, but it isn't not related to transit either.

In Edmonton (and I suspect many other communities) we're struggling to get people to use public transit at the best of times.  Having to step over homeless people camped out on the LRT doesn't help.

A government motivated by the public good in order to subsidize transit ridership will likely also have policies to address homelessness and drug use. For example, if Edmonton provided safe injection sites which are warm and dry, chances are people would not to be camping out all day using drugs while riding transit.

[Josquius]

This may be an Edmonton-only fear, but the problem I would see with free public transit is homeless people camping out on public transit all day using drugs.

But I don`t think it`s an Edmonton-only concern.

Sounds like the actual problem there isn't related to public transit.

Yes, but it isn't not related to transit either.

In Edmonton (and I suspect many other communities) we're struggling to get people to use public transit at the best of times.  Having to step over homeless people camped out on the LRT doesn't help.

As I've said elsewhere, having a good transit system is a big factor in helping to relieve poverty. But the links are pretty abstract.
More directly here the problem is clearly.
1: There are large numbers of homeless people.
2: There's nowhere for the homeless people to go so they feel they have to shelter on transit.

If the government was in a position where it was considering free transit then I wager they'd also be the type of government to have already took a lot of steps against the above issues so the issue of homeless people camping on the train just wouldn't be an issue.

[crazy canuck]

If only I had said that, just one post before you 

[The Brain]

Doesn't the Crown have Machiavellian jack-booted thugs to keep addicts from shooting up on the bus?

[Barrister]

A government motivated by the public good in order to subsidize transit ridership will likely also have policies to address homelessness and drug use. For example, if Edmonton provided safe injection sites which are warm and dry, chances are people would not to be camping out all day using drugs while riding transit.

Yet it is not only right-wing jurisdictions that have problems with homeless populations.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/homelessness-deaths-bc-up-75-per-cent-2021-1.6614161

There's no panacea to homelessness, and different public policy choices have different outcomes, both good and bad.  Alberta does in fact have safe injection sites for example.  The model Edmonton has gone with is safe injection is done through medical facilities, and access to a wider range of health care facilities is also available.

When more wider-spread open-air safe injection sites were available they became associated with dramatically higher crime rates in the surrounding neighbourhoods.