Halifax Transit users will be paying a little more to ride the bus and ferry as adult and senior conventional fares went up Monday by 25 cents. But in a move to increase ridership, a pilot project is underway that will allow children under 12 to ride free until the end of March.
“If you never increase your fare, you eventually lead to a situation where it’s more and more a burden on the taxpayer only,” said Dartmouth Centre Coun. Sam Austin. “There’s a balance to be had between taxpayer and user fee, the fare. So if you never raise your fares, you’re shifting all of that onto the taxpayers and eventually what you do is you cash strap your system.”
Halifax regional municipality’s numbers show a 25 cent increase to its transit fares will help bring in more than $1.5 million to support its bus service.
Council approved the fare hike this summer. The move keeps up with the cost of inflation and is the first fare hike since 2013, Austin says.
The pilot project beginning Monday allowing children up to 12 years old to ride the bus for free is part of HRM’s effort to increase future ridership. The pilot won’t increase revenue right away but it might down the road, says Scott Edgar, a transit advocate and chair of More Than Buses.
“Halifax is making moves in the right direction but it’s got a long way to go,” said Edgar. “I think the overwhelming majority of people who live in HRM, the bus isn’t a good use of their time and it doesn’t get them going in time for whatever they need to do.”
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Edgar says the free youth ridership pilot is a good move and a long-term investment.
“If we want to build ridership and build a city where people think riding a bus is good for them, then starting young is the way to go.”
Coun. Lindell Smith believes the pilot might encourage more families to take the bus and help them keep some money in their pocket.
“This would work for the childcare providers who have multiple kids and programs,” said Smith. “This would work for the single mothers or single parents who have multiple kids, who might be at an age that have to pay for it and so that barrier is gone and they don’t have to worry about accessing transit.”
A cross-Canada comparison shows the fare increase keeps up with other communities of similar size to Halifax.
“Halifax Transit does have the lowest or second-lowest transit fares compared to other places in Canada with a similar population and similar transit fleet size,” said HRM spokesperson Brynn Budden.
The free youth transit pilot project ends March 30, 2020.
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