No appetite for hybrid worker discount pass at committee

Ottawa transit commissioners have soured on the idea of offering discount passes to hybrid workers.

Rene Amilcar, the city's general manager of transit services, expressed little confidence at a Thursday meetingthe discounted pass wouldattract new riders.

She said the new O-Payment system, which allows riders to use credit cards to pay on all buses and train gates, is more promising.

Kitchissippi Coun.Jeff Leiper, who sits on the transit commission, told reporters that he thinks the idea of hybrid worker passesis now basically dead.

"I don't foresee it," said Leiper. "I don't think I heard any appetite on the part of transit commissioners to pursue this any further. We've heard that it's a very complex system to try to implement."

The model OC Transpo studied envisioned a prepaid card loaded with discounted trips that would remain valid for a fixed period. Twelve trips over 14 days was proposed as one option.

The idea emergedfrom a councillor motion amid worries that monthly passesmight not appeal to riders staying home two or three days a week.

OC Transpo is trying to lure people back to the system after ridership plummeted at the start ofthe pandemic. As of June, it was carrying about two-thirds as many riders as in June 2019. The same comparisonfor major urban transit serviceswas nearly 80 per cent.

Staff said thehybrid worker discountwouldn't work withPresto cards, however, and would require users to go to a ticket machine. It also wouldn't be valid on Gatineau'sSTO buses.

Reliablity vs. cost

Leipersaidthe system sounded complicated. He also worried that the scale of the discount, which he estimated at perhaps $10 a month, would be unlikely to motivate anyone to take transit who isn't already using it.

"The barrier, I think we would all agree, is not necessarily that there's not a specificdiscount for hybrid workers," he said. "The barrier is that people are afraid to take the bus or train because they don't know if it's going to work."

Leiper said he hasn't heard from any constituents pushing for the discounted passes for hybrid workers, even though he represents a large number of public servants.

"I'm trying to think if one federal public servant has written to me about a new fare class," said RiverCoun. Riley Brockington."I don'tthink that's the case."

He agreed with Leiper that fares aren't what holds those workers back.

"Transit can be free and there will still be people who will choose not to take it because of the reliability issues," he said. "That's always been the Achilles heel of OC Transpo."

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