2.5% Transpo fare hike clears another hurdle
The city’s transit commission voted Wednesday to increase OC Transpo fares by an average of 2.5 per cent.
The decision, which still needs to be ratified by council and won’t take effect until Canada Day, came after several hours of debate and presentations by both OC Transpo staff and members of the public.
Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper moved a pair of motions to try to hold the line on fares.
The first would have frozen the regular cash fare, which is set to rise a dime to $3.55 per trip.
The second would have gone even further, freezing all fares at the current level and funding OC Transpo’s projected $2.4-million revenue shortfall through other means, such as property taxes.
Leiper ultimately withdrew both motions before the committee voted on either of them, but he said after the meeting that he would raise the issue again when council meets to debate the 2015 budget.
“I think council is on notice that this is something that I want to bring to it . It puts it on the table that this is something we should be thinking about,” Leiper said.
“Whether or not a motion passes today, I’m glad it’s become an important part of the discussion, and we’ll deal with it at the committee-of-the-whole.”
Leiper said he targeted regular cash fares in one of the motions because that’s the preferred option for many of the system’s most vulnerable users.
But, he said, he wants the fare structure to be fair to other vulnerable groups who rely on transit, such as seniors and students.
Offsetting the freeze for one fare class could have meant larger increases of up to 3.1 per cent for other fare classes, according to OC Transpo figures presented to the committee.
Leiper said he will take to council a motion to transfer more of the revenue generated by fare increases to property taxes. He said that would cost the average urban homeowner an extra $8 per month.
But, he added, he’s also open to finding offsets elsewhere in the city’s $3.073-billion budget, instead of adding it to property tax bills.
“That’s some of the discussion we’ll be having over the next few weeks,” he said.
Transit commission chairman Stephen Blais said the matter would ultimately be up to council, but he didn’t sound confident.
“I don’t think there will be broad support around the council table to increase taxes to further subsidize artificially low bus fares,” he said.
Cities with average fares lower than Ottawa’s include Calgary, Montreal and Gatineau.
OC Transpo’s $478-million budget for 2015 is based on ridership projections of 97.3 million customer trips on bus and train service, 779,000 trips on Para Transpo, and the fare increases, which together are expected to yield revenue from fares of $187.2 million.
The fare increase, if passed, would mean that, as of July 1, regular adult monthly passes will rise by $2.50, to $103.25, while adult express passes will rise to $127.25, up from $124.25. Adult single trip fares using Presto’s e-purse will be $2.84, up from $2.77.
Council will vote on the 2015 budget at its Mar ch 11 meeting.