Dear Editor:
Myth vs. Math on transit turnstiles:
? MYTH: Turnstiles stop fare evasion.
? MATH: If fare evasion is only 2.5 per cent, why spend $171 million to recover $6.4 million?
No accountant, successful business owner or transit minister or critic would.
An article from TransLink's Buzzer, titled "Transit fare evasion is lower than you think," says fare evasion is only 2.5 per cent, which means over 97 per cent of us are paying!
? MYTH: Turnstiles are the magic solution.
? MATH: For the same reason we still use QWERTY to type on computers. When typewriters were invented, women were too fast and the typewriter keys jammed. So men mixed up the letters QWERTY to slow women down, but women still succeeded.
Turnstiles slow people down, make transit worse, pose a real danger to children and people with physical limitations, damage bikes and strollers, but proprietary turnstile corporations who make and install them get rich!
Greg Pettipas, New Westminster
