Advertisement

Edmonton councillors back away from transit fare plan that would see price jump for seniors

Click to play video: 'Edmonton City Council considers making changes to transit fares'
Edmonton City Council considers making changes to transit fares
WATCH ABOVE: Changes are on the way for the Edmonton Transit Service that could see revenues take a hit. As Vinesh Pratap reports, that has the city thinking about asking seniors to pay more to make up some of the shortfall – Mar 19, 2019

Councillors on the city’s Urban Planning Committee have rejected the first draft of a new transit fare plan that would have seen many seniors paying substantially more. The original proposal was a monthly rate climbing from $15.50 to $67. Instead, transit staff will devise a sliding scale that’s based on income.

“We do need to adjust our approach to seniors,” Mayor Don Iveson told reporters after the meeting on Tuesday. “We have a very deep discount for low income. We might as well make it free —  it’s not a huge cost — just like we’ve done for expanding it for more children.”

“I would definitely think we need to have that sliding scale, and the threshold has to be certainly higher,” said Rosalie Gelderman, from the Edmonton Seniors Coordinating Council.

Story continues below advertisement

There were plenty of questions on the committee around making it so those seniors who can pay, do.

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

Get daily National news

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

The goal is still to bring in a smart card, electronic fare system for late 2020 when the Valley Line LRT begins running between Mill Woods and downtown.

READ MORE: Edmonton Transit Service’s cash-only fare system lags behind other cities

That smart card system will base fares on distance traveled, and will have the ability to offer discounts during non-peak morning and drive home rush hours, which will encourage seniors to ride when the system is only half full, and won’t be a major cost to operations.

However, transit branch manager Eddie Robar said it can get complicated, especially with seniors staying in the work force.

“People are working longer now than they used to so we when we look at people and seniors travelling in peak hours, there’s probably more of that happening nowadays than there was in previous years as people retired at an earlier age.”

The second attempt at a new fare system will be back before city councillors in November.

It is being designed so fares bring in 40-45 per cent of the revenue needed to run Edmonton Transit. The cost recovery currently sits at 42 per cent.

Advertisement

Sponsored content

AdChoices