Posted Nov 11, 2008, 2:44 AM
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Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SteelTown
Poor 'can't afford' HSR hikes
But if you're 80 or older, you'd ride free
November 10, 2008
Nicole Macintyre
The Hamilton Spectator
Riding a Hamilton bus may soon cost you 10 cents more - unless you're 80 or older.
The city is looking at hiking transit fares for the third time in two years.
If approved, fares would rise to $2.50 a trip, and monthly adult bus passes would jump to $84 in January. Last year, the same pass cost $65.
Octogenarians, however, won't need to dig for extra coin if council endorses a plan to let residents 80 and up ride for free.
Council will debate the transit proposals at a meeting Friday.
Lynn Aquin, of the Campaign for Adequate Welfare, has already signed up to fight the fare increase, in what has become an annual battle for poverty advocates.
"People can't afford this increase. They really can't," she said, noting the price of a monthly pass has gone up 22 per cent since the beginning of 2007.
"That's a lot of money and that could be the difference (between) having to go to the food bank or not."
Councillor Sam Merulla said he will oppose the fare increase.
"It's unacceptable," he said, noting fare increases discourage ridership growth. "It's counterproductive. It's not in the best interests of the city."
But city staff believe the 10-cent fare increase is needed to expand the bus service, while avoiding cuts and drawing on transit reserves.
Hamilton's fares would still be below the average price in other Canadian municipalities.
To soften the blow of the proposed increases a little bit, staff are proposing to offer discounted bus passes for young people in the summertime and to also extend its affordable transit pass program.
There's also proposed service improvements along Rymal Road between the Ancaster Industrial Park and the Eastgate transit terminal, and expanded hours for accessible transit.
The transit budget is slated to increase by nearly 6 per cent - or $2.3 million - next year, largely because of pension costs.
An increase in ridership growth this year is expected to boost revenue by $1.2 million, while the proposed fare jump should generate $1.3 million.
Free rides for people over 80 are expected to cost $40,000 a year. If council rejects the fare increases, the only other option is to further increase the general tax levy so homeowners share the tab.
That's just not fair when the city is already facing a tax increase of up to 9 per cent, explained Ancaster councillor Lloyd Ferguson. "Taxpayers are paying enough."
The proposed fare jump isn't as bad as some transit advocates feared, said Peter Hutton, of the Transit Users Group. But he said it's still difficult to swallow when riders don't see service improving.
"They keep raising fares and not improving the availability and quality of service," said Hutton.
2008 fare - proposed 2009 fare
Cash $2.40 - $2.50
Adult Ticket $1.85 - $1.95
Youth $1.50 - $1.60
Monthly adult pass $79 - $84
Monthly Youth pass$63 - $68
Senior yearly pass $205 - $215
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I don't what the hell HSR is doing it's barely worth it to get a monthly pass anymore. They keep shooting themselves in the foot, fares go up no improved service. There's no reason to have fares at $2.50, but still have some buses on 30 min intervals. No bus should take more then 20 mins, unless it's a seasonal route.
Shoot a city(town) like brampton built on sprawl is almost got better service then HSR. They need to freeze fare increases until we get LRT, then they can have fares at $3.50 for all I care.
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