I don’t know about that: People seem to be attracted to deeply discounted crap. Look at the popularity of ‘Dollar Stores’.
(My experience with a ‘Dollar Store’ hammer – and, NO, I wasn’t the one who bought it. It was a brand-new hammer – still with the sticker on it that proudly proclaimed “Finest Chinese Quality”. I had a 3” spiral nail that needed pulling from a 2x4. I pounded it back so that only the one-and-a-half inches remained in the wood, flipped the board, set the claw, and pulled. The “Finest Chinese Quality” tubular ‘steel’ handle buckled and bent. I handed it back to its shocked owner and went to get my old reliable Estwing.)
But, seriously, looking at the numbers presented:
A 50% future discount for monthly pass-holders will cost about $2M per month. So that means that the revenue from pass-holders is about $4M per month, or $48M per year. The actual fares collected in 2025 were $177.6M. Clearly, pass-holders account for a smaller portion of riders these days. I expect that a lot fewer customers are buying a monthly pass when they are only traveling to work three days a week. Once they need to travel more often (4, or even 5, days a week), more passes will be purchased. That is probably why the report says “at least $2 million per month”.
If it would cost about $3M for a retroactive 50% refund for single-ride fares for more than 2 months (Jan. 22-Mar.31), why is it $3M for a month of future 50% discount for single-rides? Has the number of single-ride customers suddenly more than doubled? That’s not the case for passes. Three months of retroactive 50% rebate is only $5.2M for passes. So, a bit less than 3x the $2M per month for a future 50% discount.
And. It seems to me that, at this point, any future discount would be set for the summer months; which, historically, have had lower ridership – so should have smaller losses.
If I recall correctly, OC Transpo used to buy articulated buses for about $1M-$1.2M each. Has the price really jumped up to $1.65M each?
Seriously; forget about discounts for unreliable, uncomfortable service. Even free, it will not draw back many riders. What people need if a good, dependable service.
- Ditch the ‘Capacity Planning’. Make the rides comfortable. Transit riders are not sardines, and, thus, shouldn't be treated as such.
- Strive to unwind the tangle of inter-lining buses. Let buses go back and forth along the routes (with reasonable layup/catch-up times), allowing people to get to know the operators.
- Add frequency so that ‘FREQUENT’ routes truly are frequent. (Or, at least, start being truthful and get rid of the moniker ‘FREQUENT’.)
- Create a reasonable NIGHT SERVICE bus network, where most walks are reduced to less than 2 kilometres.
One of the advertised features of the LRT is that you can just go to the station, and a train will soon happen along. That should be the same for all ‘FREQUENT’ bus routes, at all times (except during late evening). A schedule should not be necessary. (Oh, and every quarter of an hour is not really ‘frequent’, is it?)
(Actually, I have found that I don’t need to look at schedules any more for most of the buses that I take. Not because the buses arrive frequently enough, but because they arrive when/if they arrive – schedule be damned. I now often get comments like: “Your appointment isn’t for another hour.” They understand when I tell them that I travel by bus.)
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