Calgary Transit asks city council for $19M to help pay for low-income pass

City council is being asked to approve a one-time, $19-million investment next year to help fund the low-income monthly transit pass as budget deliberations entered a third day. If council doesn't, Calgary Transit warns the cost could be passed along to riders.

According to the head of Calgary Transit, the money is needed due to a shortfall in provincial funding as well as a growing number of Calgarians signing up for the pass. 

Calgary Transit director Sharon Fleming says 40 per cent of riders now use the low-income pass. Along with a change in commuting habits and an end to federal pandemic-related subsidies, this has contributed to an overall $33-million budget shortage.

She says operations will be directly impacted if council rejects the additional funding for the low-income monthly pass.

"In order to protect the low-income transit pass, we need about $19 million, and if we don't get that funding, we'll have to look at a variety of different options," said Fleming. 

"One might be service reductions, increases to fares and, finally, changes to some of the services we're used to having."

If the one-time money isn't approved by council, Fleming says the organization would have to find other ways to fund the pass as opposed to ending the program completely. 

That could translate into rates becoming more expensive. According to Fleming, upping the cost of riding within Calgary Transit would add from 60 to 70 cents to transit fares. 

"It would be a 14 per cent increase in fares," Fleming told reporters at city hall on Wednesday, adding that fares are already scheduled to increase in 2025 based on previously approved amounts. 

Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot is one of the five councillors who announced 20 proposed amendments to the budget Tuesday, and he says the province — not the city — should be paying more.

He says it's because providing income support is a provincial government responsibility.

"The low-income transit pass is a direct function of income," he told reporters Tuesday. 

"The determination of whether you qualify or not is income-based, therefore it equates to income support. And we know that this is not a municipal responsibility."

Chabot believes that many of the challenges for next year's budget are linked to population and inflationary increases that have put stress on necessary services, such as transit access for low-income Calgarians.