The Editor:
I consider myself still a fairly new immigrant to this country.
Next spring, it will be seven years and I am still learning a lot of things about the culture and life here in Metro Vancouver.
When I first came and started using public transit, I learned how to use the tap card feature and it was very useful and I was also scared that if someday I don't have the money, it will be hard for me to travel, as you sometimes forget to recharge your account.
I remember one time, I was boarding a bus and my card won't tap and the bus driver was lenient enough to still take me in and the SkyTrain station was only few stops away so I did my recharge there.
I was really surprised by the generosity of the bus driver and how Canada has made me feel like home.
Now, every morning in the R5 RapidBus [Hastings Street to SFU], I notice so many people just use the back door and never even try to tap the card.
Do they think it's a free bus service and it's going to pay for itself?
And when I look at their faces, I see no remorse, as if they are not obligated for this fare.
So many of them are students, and often enough they are wearing expensive branded clothes and have iPhones.
Is this what our society has come to, that our new generation takes all the tax paid public service for free.
- Chaitanya B., Burnaby
