REGINA – It may cost you a bit more money to get on a Regina bus in the near future.
Regina City Council will be asked to consider a recommendation from a committee to raise bus fares by 25 cents.
The current fare to ride a city bus is $2.50, and if the recommendation is approved the price would jump to $2.75.
Regina transit said the proposed increase would put our fares more in line with comparable cities, like Saskatoon where its cash fare sits at $3.10 to ride the bus.
“We haven’t had an increase since June 2010 and over the last four years our expenses have increased, just with maintenance costs, labour, and fuel alone,” said Brad Bells, Regina’s director of transit services.
Bus riders on tight budgets will likely feel the biggest pinch if the city’s proposed rate hike is approved, including seniors on fixed incomes.
“As people get older they find themselves in a situation where they are no longer able to drive,” said Holly Schick, executive director with the Saskatchewan Seniors Mechanism. “Any kind of an increase in expenses for them is significant.”
Post secondary students might also feel an impact.
“I was quite shocked when I first heard it,” said Anna Dipple, executive director with the Regina Public Interest Research Group (RPIRG). “I think that’s really going to take a toll on students who are also facing increased rent in the city and increased tuition costs.”
If the bus fare hike is approved, it would go into effect on January 1, 2015.
With files from Global Regina’s Kim Smith.
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