Edmonton planning to hike transit fares next year to make up for $13M budget shortfall

Seniors and adults paying cash could be hardest hit by proposedEdmonton transit hikes next year to meet a $13-million budgetary gap.

City administration says the shortfall is due to higher expenses that come with inflation and lower revenues, especially from unexpected growth in demand for low income transit passes.

After exploring several options, the City of Edmonton told media at a briefing Friday that it would propose increases for next year that include more than doubling seniors' monthly fare cap to $78.

Adults taking Edmonton transit could see a 75-cent hike in cash fares, bringing the cost to $4.25 per trip the first fare hike since 2020.

"Some transit fares have not changed in several years despite our rising operational costs," Carrie Hotton-MacDonald, manager of Edmonton Transit Service, told reporters at a virtual news conference.

"When assessing the need to increase fares during challenging financial times, impacts to riders are carefully considered and our commitment to providing income based fare supports for Edmontonians remains."

The proposed hikes are contained in a report set to be discussed on Aug. 28 at council's executive committee. The report says the growth of the low income passes has created pressure on the Edmonton transit budget, prompting the need for fare hikes.

"There is a funding shortfall within the existing budget for the Ride Transit program due to growth in sales volume for the subsidized passes," reads the report."This growth has put additional pressure on the Edmonton Transit Service (ETS) revenue budget, as the volume of subsidy is not fully funded."

Hotton-MacDonald said an update to the transit fare policy in 2019 outlined that seniors and youth are supposed to pay the same, but seniors have been paying significantly less.

Currently, students pay up to $73 monthly. Administration is proposing a $5 hike.

"It's been a policy exception up to this point and our recommendation is to ensure more equity and to comply with that policy that we actually bring them in line with what the youth riders are going to be paying," Hotton-MacDonald said.

Other proposed increases include:

• Arc single trip: from $2.75 to $3.50.
• Adult monthly pass: from $100 to $120.

An increase to adult cash fares would put Edmonton among cities charging the highest fares in Canada, according to current figures from cityadministration.

Right now, Ottawa charges $3.85 and fees in Vancouver range from $3.20 to $4.65. A cash fare in Calgary costs$3.70 for adults.