Edmonton transit cash fares could soar to $4 in 2022

EDMONTON -

Edmonton transit could soon have one of the most expensive cash fares in Canada, as the cost for a single trip is set to increase to $4 in February next year.

Transit fares are decided as part of the city's four-year base operating budget. In 2018, city council decided that fares would climb to $4 by 2022 to cover rising cost pressure like fuel, labour, and power. Other fare products, including monthly bus passes, are set to increase by two per cent.

The adult monthly bus pass price would rank seventh in Canada compared to other transit providers, just behind Vancouver and Winnipeg.

MORE BARRIERS TO TRANSIT

Transit advocate Carter Gorzitza says the fare increases will negatively impact ridership, especially after the bus network redesign changes.

"It'll make ours one of the most expensive transit systems in the country, which is pretty absurd," Gorzitza said.

As a member of Free Transit Edmonton, Gorzitza believes the fare increase will create further barriers to accessing public transit.

"Increasing fares does decrease ridership in the city, which is not something the system needs to be facing right now," Gorzitza added.

The city predicts that transit will earn $13 million less than projected pre-pandemic due to lower ridership levels. City administration says it is not expecting pre-pandemic ridership levels to recover until fall 2022.

"We are still at the tail end of the pandemic," said Mayor Amarjeet Sohi. "There has been a lot of hardship on Edmontonians. I don't think this is the time to be looking at raising transit fares."

According to the city, a $4 fare would bring in an extra $1.5 million in 2022.

"We have to recognize, it's not going to make us money," said Andrew Knack, Ward Nakota Isga councillor.

TIME TO APPROPRIATELY RESOURCE ETS: KNACK

Knack believes the city should not raise transit fares further until the long-promised smart fare system is fully operational. In his view, the city should increase the overall transit budget to help drive improvements for the system — something he says hasn't happened his entire eight years on council.

"Let's resource it appropriately," Knack added. "Let's not always do it on the backs of those who are potentially in the hardest economic situation."

Currently, the cash fare is $3.50, but the previous city council decided to postpone any price increases for two years in a row due to the pandemic and delays in implementing the Arc Card smart fare system. Council decided to draw funds from city reserves to make up the difference.

The electronic payment system will feature a discounted-single trip fare of $3 to incentivize users to switch from cash. Once brought online, the system would allow transit users to load money onto their online account and use the card to board buses or the LRTs.

As of this fall, post-secondary students are the only users of the Arc Card. The city says it is working towards launching the platform for all adult users throughout 2022 in phases.

Budget deliberations are scheduled to continue at city hall on Wednesday.

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