Snow Excuse, Skytrain fascists

The bad weather this week does not let Translink off the hook for seriously bad judgment with Skytrain operations. Some of the bad judgment dates back a few years with the design of the Mark II Skytrain cars, which unlike their Mark I predecessors, concentrate the handrails at the doors of each car, making boarding and disembarking at each station look like the BC Lions' goal-line stand that won them the Grey Cup. If passengers could hang on safely, they could move further into the train, more people could ride, and fewer would have been left out in the cold.

Of greater concern to this page is Translink Police pulling Bryce Westerhof off the Skytrain and ticketing him while his wife was in labour. Westerhof may have erred in judgment in moving between Skytrain cars, but treating him like a criminal rather than a frustrated commuter in an emergency situation is a despicable act. Back in the day Westerhof would have been taken to his wife by sympathetic officers in a taxi or even a patrol car, rather than be slapped down by the heavy-handed, zero tolerance, 'broken windows' bullsh*t being imposed by right-wing municipal governments like Sam Sullivan and the NPA in Vancouver.

Note to Translink for the next winter storm: The Skytrain cars are machines. The people inside are human beings: treat them as such.