Gregor Robertson has paid a $173 fine for travelling two zones on a one-zone fare, the Vision Vancouver mayoral candidate announced yesterday.
Robertson had planned to dispute the fine at a Dec. 4 hearing to highlight what he sees as a disproportionate penalty for a $1 mistake.
“As a mayoral candidate, and I hope as mayor, I have better ways to raise these issues,” Robertson said in a release yesterday.
“Under these circumstances, it was a mistake to challenge the fine in this way, and I apologize for this mistake and take full responsibility for it.”
In June 2007, Robertson — then the MLA for Vancouver-Fairview — was heading from Burnaby to Vancouver on SkyTrain when transit police checked his ticket.
Robertson had purchased a one-zone fare, instead of the required two-zone fare, and was issued a $173 fine.
Robertson’s political opponents, past and present, have seized on the issue.
On Monday, NPA mayoral candidate Peter Ladner told Metro that not paying the fine was “not a good example for a mayor to set.”And on Tuesday, Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon told the CBC that transit fines deter cheaters and freeloaders.
Robertson said he never planned to avoid the fare and said the issue had become an unfortunate distraction in the campaign.
