By Charlene Tebbutt

Little support for transit fare hike

Sep 21, 2018 | 5:00 PM

A proposed increase to transit fares in Prince Albert was shot down by city council earlier this week, with some councillors saying increasing rates is not the way to build ridership.

The city’s public works department requested the rate increase, bringing the issue forward at an executive committee meeting earlier this week. If approved, the proposed hike would have seen rates increased for seniors, post-secondary students and social services clients starting in January.

Keri Sapsford, Transportation and Traffic Manager with the city, told council that an increase was necessary to offset revenue decreases and the cost of new buses for the city’s transit fleet. Earlier this year, the city unveiled seven new buses for public transit.

In a report to council this week, Sapsford said discounts for seniors, students and low-income riders in 2017 did not lead to an increase in ridership as hoped.

“The fees that you see, we feel that they aren’t too low that we’ll lose revenue, but they aren’t too high that we’re going to lose ridership,” Sapsford told council.

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However, the request to increase fares did not generate support from council, with Ward 2 Coun. Terra Lennox-Zepp saying she could not support the notion of raising money off of the city’s more vulnerable clients. She said new buses shouldn’t be a justification for raising rates.

Ward 8 Coun. Ted Zurakowski told council that consistently providing clean and safe buses and reliable drop-off and pickup times was a better way to generate increased ridership in the long term. Still, Zurakowski said subsidies can’t be ignored and in the meantime, the money has to be made up somewhere.

“We can’t stick our heads in the sand and say we want to provide all these services without knowing how we’re going to pay for it, we need to be able to pay for this service,” Zurakowski added.

Mayor Greg Dionne supported the idea of raising rates, saying the public supported new buses for the city, and those cost money. He said the increase in rates would only amount to a small daily increase for many riders.

“We don’t expect something for nothing,” Dionne added.

The issue will be reviewed further during council’s upcoming budget talks. 

Charlene.tebbutt@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @CharleneTebbutt