The City of Thunder Bay resumed the discussion surrounding lower transit fares.
The Transit Fare Strategy to this point has been planned to align with Council’s desire to provide affordable access to transit in the city.
Along with this the plan is offering “add-on options” for payment, including one day passes, student summer passes, employer passes, and more.
Transit Manager Brad Loroff explains that this could especially help the younger generations in the city, a large number of whom face socio-economic issues.
“Data that comes from the local poverty data that they provided to us, is the high rate of poverty that children under five are facing in the city, which is more than 20 per cent, and youth themselves aged 18 to 24 are experiencing poverty of a rate of more than 19 per cent,” explains Loroff. “That certainly identifies to us that there’s a need to provide a fair pricing relief for those that travel with children and of course for youth themselves.”
The plan could feature free rides for children under 12, and discounts for other youth groups.
Loroff says other examples of similar projects show that it could work in Thunder Bay.
“When we look across at many of our transit agency peers and our municipalities that kind of look like Thunder Bay, they’ve made moves in this direction, not all but many have,” says Loroff. “So far from what we’ve seen in the last year, to two, to three years where we’ve seen neighboring communities that look like Thunder Bay make these moves, it’s been positive, so that’s why we’re proposing to come out with a pilot, a three year pilot and see how it works.”
During the conversation council was very interested in the idea, At-Large Councillor Aldo Ruberto saying this is an issue that extends beyond the financial implication.
“When we look at benefits or when a report comes back, it’s not just all economics in terms of what is the transit making or losing because there’s another way of estimating value for our city,” says Ruberto. “Are these people taking their children to appointments, are people getting to jobs that have low-incomes, are people better off in terms of getting around the city? I know we can’t just do everything for free for everybody, but even these small steps I believe will help our society.”
Administration will continue to review the Transit Fair Strategy, the discussion resuming at the Dec. 6 city council meeting.