The saying goes you can't squeeze blood from a stone.
Jeff Lowe has made his last donation.
The University of Manitoba urban studies graduate student is calling for a civil disobedience campaign as a form of self-defence against transit fare hikes that go into effect tomorrow morning.
"In essence — yes " I'm asking people to break the law because this is obviously a crises situation," Lowe said yesterday.
"The administration of the city and the transit department believe they can keep sweeping this under the rug."
Starting tomorrow, adult fares will increase to $1.10 from $1, and seniors, students and children will pay 55¢, up a nickel. A monthly bus pass for an adult increases $4 to $38.
Lowe wants people using the transit system to surreptitiously refuse to pay the increase. Adults should pay only $1, everyone else should pay only 50 cents, he suggested.
They won't get caught if they use handfuls of coins, instead of loonies and quarters, he said.
"What I'm suggesting is that people pick up the gauntlet and fling it back in their (civic and transit administration) faces."
During the past 11 years, transit fares in Winnipeg have increased an average of 16.6 per cent annually, he said.
During the same period of time, the rate of inflation has only jumped an average of about five per cent annually.
"The primary users of the transit system are people of modest means, and that's the chief purpose of the system — to move those people to work and back," he said. "If the price of using the system is out of reach of those people, then that defeats the purpose."
"For those people, the transit system is a necessity of life."
Adding insult to injury, while transit fares continually increase, the level of service declines, he said. Because of newer suburban subdivisions, the city lengthens existing routes with the same number of buses, and users have to wait longer for buses.
The city should pay for increases in the cost of supporting the transit system by increasing property and business taxes, he said.
The Social Assistance Coalition of Manitoba doesn't disagree with Lowe, but won't support his campaign.
"We're not going to urge anyone to break the law," Lynn Martin said. "We don't want to see anyone become involved in the courts because of this protest."
What people could do is pay the full fare, but pay it in pennies or nickels, aggravating bus drivers, she said.