Edmonton mayor wants Alberta government's help to keep low-income transit program afloat

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Edmonton’s mayor says the city needs the province’s help to keep its low-income transit program alive in the long run as the city faces a $10 million hole created by a big spike in riders needing subsidies.

Mayor Amarjeet Sohi says the number of people signing up for a low-income transit pass has grown to 30,000 in 2024 from 6,000 in 2017 — a 400 per cent increase. The provincial government nearly cut the ride transit program entirely this year but reinstated it after public backlash, giving Edmonton $5.8 million this year.

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Sohi says he’s grateful the province renewed funding and increased it this year, but a long-term solution is needed because of the increasing demand. If council approves, the mayor will write a letter asking the province for a meeting about long-term funding.

“Close to 100,000 Edmontonians live in poverty and they need support in order to have access to services and public transit and we want to (find ways to) work together with the provincial government and federal government,” he told reporters Wednesday.

“We have seen the growth and the need, and we need to sustain this program. The only way we can sustain it is if we work together with the provincial government. Let’s have a conversation, because this really ties to economic growth.”

Alysha Wishloff, spokesperson for Seniors, Community and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon, said transit is a municipal responsibility and the City of Edmonton is responsible for managing it and setting eligibility requirements.

“We expect the City of Edmonton to fulfill their responsibilities and are not planning to further increase provincial funding,” she stated in an email. “To ensure supports are available to low-income Albertans, the province additionally provides direct transit subsidies for Albertans on income support and AISH.”

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Council asked Edmonton Transit Service (ETS) to come up with a plan to fill the $10-million gap but didn’t like the solution — the highest fare hikes in a decade, raising most fares by at least 20 per cent and doubling monthly charges for seniors.

Instead, council’s executive committee on Wednesday decided to stick to the smaller fare increases already planned to begin in February 2025. This will mean about 25 cents more per trip and $1-$2 more monthly for most groups.

The mayor says other transit riders shouldn’t be on the hook to fill the gap by paying significantly higher fares.

“Many, many Edmontonians who live in low-income or in middle-income are struggling with their own affordability crisis. So asking them to pay more to access public transit at this time, it is not something that we should be looking at,” he said.

Ward Dene Coun. Aaron Paquette agrees that transit fares shouldn’t rise drastically. He thinks there should be $10 million available from other city programs to cover this gap.

“When it comes to low-income people, seniors, why kick them when they’re down? Things are tough enough already,” he said. “Frankly, there’s, in my opinion, there’s probably about $10 million in the system already that we can reallocate. Does that mean pinching a few things, letting go of a few initiatives? Absolutely.

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“But we have to get right back to what are the main priorities. These are tough times. These are tough budgets.”

While the city hopes the province will increase funding to account for the pace of growth, in the meantime city administrators will scour the city’s finances and pitch $10 million in cuts to reallocate to the low-income transit program in time for budget discussions in the fall.

New ETS online merch store, Commonwealth surcharges

The city is also going ahead with two new ways to make money for public transit — opening an online store for ETS merchandise and new surcharges for events at Commonwealth Stadium.

City administration will put out a request for proposals to find a company to run the new ETS online store and co-develop designs for merchandise. Other Canadian transit agencies — like Metrolink and TransLink — have something similar.

The store also gives the city a way to do public engagement and promote the transit system, a staff report states.

As for events at Commonwealth Stadium, the city will collect an additional event fee for events that will also allow eventgoers to use their tickets as proof of payment for public transit. There’s already a program like this in place for Edmonton Elks games.

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lboothby@postmedia.com

@laurby

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