Changing My Mind About Bus Fare

Six minute read

It’s okay to change your mind! It’s great actually. Adam Grant wrote a whole book about it. And I wrote a whole blog about it. But on a truly specific, niche, and on brand subject: paying for train fare.

FIRST A STORY

I have in the recent past, been reluctant to pay when I ride the LRT. In Edmonton, we use ARC cards, “convenient, reloadable transit fare cards that you can use to pay your fares by tapping on and off buses and LRT across the Edmonton region” (ARC). Each tap on gets you 90 minutes of riding, where you can tap on and off as many times as you can for one rate. There are day rates, and monthly rates, and discounted cards for seniors or impoverished folks. And up until a few months ago, no one was checking if you paid for the train. And thankfully, Edmonton hasn’t yet started down the scary route of fare gates. (We just have cops on trains…ugh, that’s another blog post). I would just walk up to the LRT station, ignore the ARC readers, and get on the next train.

I recognize now that this represented my frustrations with our current transit fares. I was trying to find a way to live in the world I want and perhaps give a middle finger to the inequities of our current system.

Upon reflection, reading, and chatting with different folks, I am now super diligent about tapping my ARC on and off the train

WHAT CHANGED MY MIND?

A few events happened within two days of each other, and also I read a lot!

1. A city employee – not in the transit department – was talking about stats. Knowing which stops people are using, how long their trips are, how many trips they’re taking helpsplan future transit routes and make changes now to better serve people. Sounds great!
2. There is a ripple effect when I don’t pay that directly impacts the most marginalized (and poor) people – no thanks!
3. Transit is improperly funded, but I can make a statement about its importance to me and the community in better ways. I can join an advocacy group, write letters to politicians, and talk to my friends and family about why it is important.

CANCEL ME

Just the other day, I thought I was sharing my opinion about the stating of homelessness in Edmonton. I was interrupted so someone else could share their differing opinion, I was not allowed to finish my announcement, and this person said to me: “whatever, you will never change my mind on this.” Emphasis mine, but wow! That sentence really startled me, and set in motion a chain of events that drastically altered how I operate and imagine Not Ladylike.

People are reluctant to change their minds! This I know first hand, and I consider it one of my main personal goals to be more flexible in my understanding of the world and listening to differing perspectives. It is hard, I don’t want to downplay this. And it’s hard for a reason.

Have you ever tried to hold two competing beliefs? Are maybe as you’re learning new information that contradicts what you thought about the topic previously? It feels really, truly uncomfortable. That’s called cognitive dissonance, a fancy term for “mental discomfort experienced by a person who simultaneously holds two or more contradictory beliefs” (Psychology Today). To feel better, you either have to change or mind or ignore the new evidence.

Next up, our opinions can get locked together with our emotions and our identity. Once you invest your identity in something external, it becomes really hard to let go of. And if you’ve tied your emotions up in it as well, it causes all sorts of trouble in your heart and mind.

I struggled to change my mind on this! I dug my heels, and would “preach” to anyone who asked why I had made this decision for myself. I didn’t go as far as telling people what to do with their own transit fare, but I was very committed to “my side”.

Now that I am on the other side, it feels okay, good in fact! I learned things, listened to other people’s experiences, and moved ahead using that new information. The story I told myself wasn’t stuck. And I’m glad for it.

Mental agility and flexibility is a good thing and rigidity gets us into trouble. It can also get us cancelled. I feel like that is another important piece of people’s reluctance to change their minds, or talk openly about it.

“When you think and behave in ways that separate you from members of your close community, you’re likely to experience at least some level of exclusion.” – Greater Good Magazine

“Cancel culture” is the name your looking for, a concept or reaction that has been weaponized by all spots on the political spectrum, and used as a bludgeon against people in our community who do great harm or make a small misstep.

I am in a point in my life where I am not concerned about being cancelled, and I also want to be mindful of swinging the other way and cancelling someone because of their outdated beliefs. I have enough flexibility and bandwidth to discuss, answer questions, and guide people into new knowledge. And I also know when to say no if someone is being overly beligerent (or says “you will never change my mind”).

I am grateful for the people who have been flexible with me, and given me their patience and attention as I move through my knowledge and opinions in a more capitalism critical state of being.

CAPITALISM CRITICAL

Now, this train of thought has the built-in threat of spinning out of control. So I’m going to keep it as tight as possible within this topic.

Capitalism is the soup we ALL swim in…today. And y’know it is the foundation of a lot of our problems. Transit that does not serve our communities is one of those problems.

Transit is a key piece of solving our climate crisis, and addressing equity in communities. But governments fund it well below other services, and residents find easy reasons to blame transit for traffic congestion, safety concerns, and fiscal constraints.

It’s so complicated, and I think my tiny dilemma and the resulting conversations I had on social media prove truly how difficult it will be to change our minds on this.

I try to start all delicate conversations with folks with flexibility, curiousity, and anti-capitalism.

Perhaps that’s showing my bias! But I have a lot of flexibility within that opinion, trust.

And I also recognize that we still have to live in capitalism! That’s one reason why my one-man bus fare protest wasn’t going to accomplish much.

I love learning lessons, I learn them every day it seems. This whole entire escapade gave me evidence of some facts I’ve long suspected.

We must balance many delicate and often competing actions:

• Do what we need to do to survive in this world
• Support the people and communities who are really struggling right now with whatever means we have access to, even if those actions are not 100% in line with that new world we want to build
• Get imaginative and take radical steps to start dismantling our current mess, minimizing harm, while simultaneously building up areas to create the equitable, thriving future for everyone!

This was a big lesson for me, and I am grateful for it! It gives me insight into where I can better put my energy to build the system that I want, and work toward liberation for everyone. And it allowed me to practice changing my mind.

What have you changed your mind about recently?

FURTHER READING AND RESOURCES

Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know, Adam Grant

Edmonton Transit Riders advocacy group

Why Many People Stubbornly Refuse to Change Their Minds (Psychology Today)

Why is it so Hard to Change People’s Minds? (Greater Good Magazine)

We Will Not Cancel Us, adrienne maree brown