Concerns over strike impact stall free transit rides for seniors
Posted May 2, 2012 06:12:59 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Councillors in HRM have decided to hold off on free bus rides for seniors, for now.
Coun. Jerry Blumenthal (Halifax-North End) has been lobbying the city to provide seniors with free access to transit one day a week during off-peak hours, and tabled a motion Tuesday to move ahead with the plan.
However, after an animated discussion, Coun. Jennifer Watts (Connaught-Quinpool) called for a delay, suggesting it’s premature to give away free rides before fully understanding the impact of the recent transit strike.
“I need to hear this, coming out of a situation that was very difficult for our whole community and had really I think, a significant financial impact on ridership,” she said. “Has our ridership come up, have you been able to tell that? Are we anticipating that the 32 million that we thought we’d bring in through the fare box, are we going to be on target for that?”
Metro Transit estimates the free rides will cost $300,000 annually – but several councillors took issue with that figure.
“We lost the Number 3 Manor (bus route) after reinstating it because the amount of seniors still were not using the bus,” said Coun. Sue Uteck. “So, it’s my personal thing, that these figures are grossly inflated.”
Metro Transit director Eddie Robar said the estimate is based on figures from Codiac Transit, where an average of 1100 riders use free access every week.
“We’ve just extrapolated that number based on Metro Transit’s ridership numbers. Is it an assumption? It absolutely is,” he said. It’s not a program we provide or have provided, so we’re looking at other transit properties close to us, looking at their experience and extrapolating the numbers.”
Metro Transit will provide a report to council on the impact of the strike, based on three months of normal usage, at the end of July.
