Sudbury seniors can ride the bus for free on Mondays, council decides

Seniors are getting a transit freebie in Sudbury.

City councillors voted in favour of allowing people 65 years or older to ride the bus at no charge on Mondays.

The perk is part of a six-month pilot project to increase ridership on city transit.

Councillors spent a lot of time debating how many hours the free pass should cover.

Councilor Robert Kirwan successfully argued that seniors should be able to ride transit all day long at no cost on Mondays.

"There is a lot of empty space in those buses, and all we're saying is let's try and fill those buses so there's people on the bus," he said.

"Let's target a demographic that perhaps is not using the buses as much as they could. And let's see if we can increase the ridership."

The age of eligibility for the pilot project starts at 65because councillors voted to bump the definition of senior from 55 up to 65.

A starting date for the pilot project has not been set yet.A representative for the city says further discussion is required before it isimplemented.