VIA Rail may offer $5 fares to vulnerable groups in B.C.

VANCOUVER— Via Rail has joined discussions with the British Columbia government, First Nations and social service agencies to offer rock-bottom fares to vulnerable people who can’t afford to travel along the socalled Highway of Tears.

The railway is collaborating with mayors and multiple groups to determine the criteria for $5 fares along a northern B.C. corridor where 18 girls and women have been murdered or have disappeared since the 1970s.

In June, following a decade of pleas from women’s groups and First Nations, B.C. Transportation Minister Todd Stone announced that bus service would begin in the area by the end of the year.

Chief Joseph Bevan of the Kitselas First Nation near Terrace said he’s part of an advisory group concerned about the safety of people along the 750-kilometre route and that it came together for regular meetings last November after months of discussions.

He said it’s common for people to take a risk and hitchhike in the notorious area because they’re too poor to take the train or a Greyhound bus.

“It’s non-aboriginals as well. It’s everyone who is on social assistance, people with disabilities, who are having trouble moving around. It makes them vulnerable when they’re jumping into a vehicle with somebody else.”

Bevan said that at a meeting in March, a Via Rail official made the proposal to offer a $5 fare along the highway that stretches between Prince Rupert and Prince George.

Michael Woelcke, the railway’s general manager for remote services, said in minutes of the meeting held in Prince George on March 30 that the company would offer the low fare “regardless of origin or destination along the route.”