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LETTER: Surrey's transit system is weird but I still wouldn't live anywhere else

The Editor,

Re: "TransLink must be kept single system," the Now letters, Feb. 25.

Why stop at pay-per-use roads when we can make everyone wear pedometers and charge for distances walked on the sidewalk? And why not add to that a reader that charges a toll whenever a road is crossed? The way I see it - compared to other places I've been to and lived in - transit riders already pay a toll for travelling between zones.

For example, if I get on the SkyTrain at Scott Road and get off at Columbia Street station - the distance of one stop - I have to pay a two-zone fair to avoid a fine, hence I am actually paying a toll to cross the bridge.

The same applies if I were to get on the last stop in Burnaby, near the boundary and get off at the first stop in Vancouver. Or taking a single bus ride of only a few stops from New Westminster into Coquitlam - again you pay a toll to go from city to city (or really from city to suburb).

Back in Hamilton, Ont., I could get on a city bus and, using a transfer, get about three cities away on a single fare and Hamilton Street Railway does nothing to collect all the road taxes they do out here.

Don't get me wrong - with all our faults, I still very much like it out here and have never even gone back for a visit and don't intend to either - the benefits here far outweigh the downsides.

Scott Thackeray, Surrey