Seniors advocates are calling for more discount options for Edmonton transit.

In revising the transit fare policy for the first time in four years, city staff have proposed discounts to different groups on a base cost of a regular adult monthly pass.

However, Rosalie Gelderman, project coordinator with Edmonton Seniors Coordinating Council, says the suggested policy would be too expensive for the city’s eldest residents.

“Sixty-five per cent of the monthly pass would be a 300 per cent increase for seniors, so I think that’s much too drastic,” Gelderman said.

An adult monthly pass costs $97. A senior monthly pass costs $15.50.

The new policy would see the latter increase to almost $65—but it would also add a second pass option for low-income seniors that is free.

“Should there be a gradation in between, and what discount should still be in place for seniors? We’re going to do some more work on that, but I think something does need to change there, given the size of our aging population,” Mayor Don Iveson said, adding the proposed policy would be much more effective in how the discount was targeted.

In Edmonton, the city makes back about 40 per cent of what it spends on running the transit system. Most Canadian cities don’t come close to breaking even through the profit of user fees.

Councillors hope to find a balance between running the system and making it affordable for riders.

“The question really is: What’s the value of transit, and how much would we subsidize that as a city?” asked ETS Branch Manager Eddie Robar.

The student and youth passes would also be replaced by one monthly rate for people 24 years and younger.

Council intended to raise the single-ride fare to $4 by 2021, but froze the price at $3.50 during budget talks in November.

It will set exact fares this fall, after a revised fare policy is finished.

Council also hopes the new smart fare system will make it easier to have a sliding price scale.

“We’ll be able to reward people for taking trips on the weekends, incentivize people who are using the bus for just a short hop downtown, say, and also recover more appropriately   the cost for longer trips, which are a higher cost for the system,” Iveson explained.

The new fare system will be implemented in late-2020.

With files from Jeremy Thompson