Burlington, Ont., considers making transit free for all, after reducing fares for youth, seniors
CBC
As council in Burlington, Ont., considers making it free to ride public transit, the city is looking to hear from its residents on what they think of the idea.
Council has asked its transit service to look into offering fare-free public transit and report back by the end of this year. The city has tasked the consulting firm Left Turn Right Turn to look into the matter. The firm is expected to complete a report later this year.
In an interview with CBC Hamilton, Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward said if implemented, Burlington wouldn't be the first city in Ontario to do so, as Orangeville is currently piloting a two-year pilot program which began in January 2023.
"I'm an avid transit user myself and a huge believer that transit is really more than a way to get around, it's how people can participate in the life of our community," Meed Ward said.
"We know that if we're serious about giving people the option to take transit, reducing or eliminating fares is one of the best ways to do that."
The city is also looking for public feedback on the idea. A survey opened on Aug. 26 and will close Sept. 15.
"The purpose of this study is to really get the community's input on free transit and really understand what our community wants," said Catherine Baldelli, director of transit with the City of Burlington.
Over the last five years, Burlington has tried fare-free transit for several groups, including youths and seniors.
The city first tried giving seniors free transit during off-peak hours in 2019. As a result, the number of seniors using transit increased by 41 per cent, according to the city's website.
Last year, the city implemented free transit for youth during evenings and weekends. It also made transit free for seniors at any time during the day.
Meed Ward said that looking into making transit free for everyone is feasible because the city has already implemented it for those demographics.
"It's not as dramatic as going from everybody pays to nobody pays all in one year, which would have been probably difficult for any municipality to do. But that's not where we are," she said.
Baldelli added that ridership with Burlington Transit has exceeded pre-pandemic levels, and that the service saw more than three million trips throughout 2023.
Meed Ward said that the money needed to make transit free doesn't have to come entirely from the property tax base as it can also come through the province's gas tax program, which is calculated based on transit ridership and population. But she said those are questions the consultants will have to look into.
It's small things, like a cigarette or a pair of clean socks, Rachel Montour says, that can go a long way to make you feel more human when you’re out on the street.
Several dozen members of Windsor's Chaldean community and its supporters celebrated in the cold at the corner of Marentette Avenue and Wyandotte Street East Friday, as city officials gave a secondary name to the section of Marentette between Wyandotte and Tuscarora Street: Chaldean Way.
Allison Hill says she tries to make people’s experience at the Thunder Bay Food Bank “as pleasant as possible.”
Two years after a man went missing in Scarborough, Toronto police are renewing the investigation in hopes that the public will bring forward more information.
A musical instrument created in Guelph, Ont., has been thrust onto the international stage — or rather, screen.
More than 1,000 Maritime Electric customers are without power after high winds blew across the Island Friday night into Saturday.
The Supreme Court of Canada is deliberating a case that could shape the way sentences are handed down in cases where both the offender and victim are Indigenous, which some Nunavut lawyers say could have ramifications for the Inuit-majority territory.
A man barricaded in a former church in Welland, Ont., was taken into custody early Saturday, nearly 24 hours into a standoff that began over a fence dispute.
Peel police are investigating after a Friday night shooting in Mississauga left one person dead, police said.
Another busy construction season has come to an end in London, and the city is already looking ahead to next spring when a slew of new projects are expected to begin.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has begun to lay out publicly what he sees as boundaries when dealing with China, as his government wades into a new relationship with the economic giant.
Ferry crossings are cancelled and over a thousand households are left without power Saturday morning, due to high winds and severe weather conditions.
Tens of thousands of Nova Scotia Power customers are waking up without power on Saturday morning after high winds and rain hit the province on Friday night.