Seniors, students line up to give transit commission an earful about fare increases

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A motion to reduce proposed OC Transpo fare increases for seniors will be moving forward to city council.

OC Transpo is facing a $120-million shortfall. One of the measures to increase revenue in the 2025 draft budget is increasing the cost of the seniors’ monthly bus pass to $108 from the current $49, as well as rescinding free fare days for seniors on Wednesdays and Saturdays. 

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The 120 per cent increase blindsided seniors and other groups, including youth and post-secondary students, who also face new or increased fares.  

“The sticker shock of this increase is that kind of thing that will discourage many people from using the bus,” Centretown resident Alayne McGregor warned the transit commission on Nov. 25. “And let’s be honest, public safety is better if people are on the bus than driving their cars when they’re over 80.”

On Nov. 25, about three dozen speakers lined up to give the transit commission an earful about fare increases.

The major motion on the table was from Beacon Hill-Cyrville Coun. Tim Tierney, a pitch to reduce the proposed monthly fare increase from $108 to $78.50 at a cost $530,000, and to reinstate free fares for seniors on Wednesdays at a cost of $290,000.

The costs would be covered by reducing contributions to the transit capital reserves by $820,000. The $78.50 monthly fare is 42 per cent of the cost of an adult fare.

Tierney said efforts should also be made to let low-income seniors know that they qualify for an EquiPass for those who are below the low-income threshold, currently around $24,000 a household.

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At $58.25 a month, the EquiPass is about half the cost of an adult pass, but applying for one takes time, and it’s unclear how many applications can be processed by Jan.1, considering that the budget won’t be finalized by city council until Dec. 11.

Tierney, who is a member of the working group on the long-range financial plan for transit that includes Mayor Mark Sutcliffe and councillors Jeff Leiper and Glen Gower, said he “drew the short straw” in bringing the motion forward.

“And I’m fine with it. I have a thick skin,” he said. “People are willing to pay if it (public transit) works.  And we all agree that it doesn’t.”

Sutcliffe had signalled last week that the increase to seniors fees was too high.

“Over the past few days, we’ve all heard from Ottawa residents about the proposed increases in transit fares for seniors included in the draft budget,” Sutcliffe wrote in an email to councillors, adding that he had spoken to the other members of the working group, and the members all agreed it had to be addressed.

“When we heard about getting rid of the Wednesday (free fare) specifically, we were all saying, ‘Wow, this is not game on,’ ” said Tierney on Monday, pointing out that many seniors work their medical appointments, social gatherings and trips to the grocery store around getting free transit fares on Wednesdays.

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But Stuart MacKay, one of the co-founders of Ottawa Transit Riders, said even cutting the proposed fare increase for seniors in half would lose transit riders. When fares go up significantly, riders make financial choices. Some users might choose to take on the debt of buying a cheap used car, he said.

MacKay said he fears OC Transpo is losing a generation of transit riders who will not be coming back because the system has become too unaffordable. Seniors may buy passes on a regular basis. That means they will use transit less and face more social isolation.

In the budget, the transit commission faces reaching a workable balance between raising fares for transit users and increasing the transit levy for taxpayers. Most fares have gone up by five per cent. There are no increases to the deeply discounted EquiPass for low-income residents and the community pass for ODSP recipients.

Gower, the chair of the transit commission, said for all fares and trips combined, the average fare paid in 2024 was $2.15 per trip compared to a regular adult fare of $3.80. A five per cent increase to the U-Pass for post-secondary students will add up to about $3 a month and is still only about 60 per cent of the regular monthly adult pass, he said.

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“More and more people are using our discounted fare categories, and that’s not a bad thing. But it’s a big shift in our ridership and revenue,” said Gower.

“We tried to structure these changes to be fair and aligned with what other cities offer, while keeping increases as manageable as possible. For example, the adult fare increase is about 20 cents per ride.”

Gower said Sutcliffe asked him to share with the transit commission that he continues to have “regular and constructive” discussions with other levels of government about the funding gap for transit.

“The gap is too large to address on our own as a city, and their support is going to be crucial in 2025 and especially in future years to ensure not only that we can deliver a sustainable transit service, but that we can actually keep expanding and improving our service to serve Ottawa’s growing population,” said Gower.

Student leaders say they were not consulted about the five per cent increase to the U-Pass. The discounted cost of the U-Pass is included in student fees at the University of Ottawa, Carleton, Algonquin College and Saint Paul University. 

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Students account for 27 per cent of fare revenue through the U-Pass agreement, said University of Ottawa Student Union president Delphine Robitaille. 

The contract with the city limits fare increases to 2.5 per cent, she said.

“Let me be very clear, should students opt to part ways with U-Pass, it would not totally be in response to a potential five per cent increase. The proposed breach of contract is only the latest example of the de-prioritization of transit riders in the city, particularly students,” said Robitaille.

“It was misguided to cut off peak service that stakeholders of one of your largest contracts depend on to get to class and work, and it would be misguided to increase their fare in violation of our agreement. You can’t afford to lose a $20 million contract, either. As for students, they can’t afford to lose access to affordable public transportation, but they can’t afford to spend nearly $500 a year on dwindling service that doesn’t meet their needs.”

Meanwhile, a motion from Gloucester-Southgate Coun. Jessica Bradley proposes to keep the seniors pass at the current level and retain free fare Wednesdays by reducing the 2025 contribution to the transit capital reserve by $850,000, and by increasing the transit levy by $440,000 — or 94 cents per urban household.

That will be before the committee of the whole before the budget is finalized.

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