Oc Transpo Fare Free Transit Study Could Cost City Nearly 1 Million

In a memo to the city council sent Monday, Renée Amilcar, GM of transit services, and Wendy Stephanson, the city’s chief financial officer, said a public transportation consultant, Brendon Hemily, worked with the city to develop a possible structure for a study to answer the questions identified by the Council regarding fare structures. According to the memo, staff estimates — based on Hemily’s advice — that a full study on the topic would take up to a year to complete and cost between $700,000 and $900,000, including staff time to administer it. project. Currently, the memo says, there is no funding available to conduct this study unless other work is postponed to find the money. The cash could be included in the 2023 budget if council directs staff to do so. Staff is considering three possible fare structures for OC Transpo: free transportation for all riders, changing the revenue-to-cost ratio and eliminating the 2.5 percent annual fare increase. Eliminating the fares would cost about $209 million, based on transit usage before the pandemic. Staff say the move will increase the transit tax for the average property owner by an additional $482 in the first year. Shifting the revenue-to-cost ratio from the current 45:55 to the proposed 30:70, meaning fares would account for 30 percent of transit funding and taxes would cover 70 percent, would increase property taxes by $162 per year, on average. . Eliminating the 2.5 percent annual rate increase would cost the average property taxpayer an additional $11 per year. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly reduced ridership in Ottawa and has yet to recover. While senior levels of government have helped cover lost revenue during the pandemic, the board asked staff last spring to prepare an outline of a study on different fare structures for future policy decisions. The city council is currently on summer break and approaching its election season where financial decisions are limited. Municipal elections will be held on October 24.

title: “Oc Transpo Fare Free Transit Study Could Cost City Nearly 1 Million " ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-19” author: “Jennifer Oates”

In a memo to the city council sent Monday, Renée Amilcar, GM of transit services, and Wendy Stephanson, the city’s chief financial officer, said a public transportation consultant, Brendon Hemily, worked with the city to develop a possible structure for a study to answer the questions identified by the Council regarding fare structures. “We need to look at other cities, what they’re doing. There are some good examples out there and we can learn from them. We want it to be a success and that’s why this proposal was brought forward,” said Coun. Theresa Kavanagh told CTV News Ottawa. According to the memo, staff estimates — based on Hemily’s advice — that a full study on the topic would take up to a year to complete and cost between $700,000 and $900,000, including staff time to administer it. project. Currently, the memo says, there is no funding available to conduct this study unless other work is postponed to find the money. The cash could be included in the 2023 budget if council directs staff to do so. Staff is considering three possible fare structures for OC Transpo: free transportation for all riders, changing the revenue-to-cost ratio and eliminating the 2.5 percent annual fare increase. Eliminating the fares would cost about $209 million, based on transit usage before the pandemic. Staff say the move will increase the transit tax for the average property owner by an additional $482 in the first year. An adult rider using a monthly pass pays $1,506 in the current fare for a full year of service. Some riders say eliminating fares could help. “I definitely think it would be very beneficial. There are a lot of people who can’t afford it. It’s very expensive,” said transit user Kayla Taylor. Others, however, don’t like the idea of ​​raising property taxes. “Getting free rides and so on, yeah, that would be good for us, but once again, property taxes are going to go up. I don’t think that’s fair to people,” said rider Emile Rutledge. Shifting the revenue-to-cost ratio from the current 45:55 to the proposed 30:70, meaning fares would account for 30 percent of transit funding and taxes would cover 70 percent, would increase property taxes by $162 per year, on average. . Eliminating the 2.5 percent annual rate increase would cost the average property taxpayer an additional $11 per year. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly reduced ridership in Ottawa and has yet to recover. While senior levels of government have helped cover lost revenue during the pandemic, the board asked staff last spring to prepare an outline of a study on different fare structures for future policy decisions. Kavanagh says getting the driver back is critical. “The bottom line is we need to have more bums in the seats in transit to use it properly,” he said. The city council is currently on summer break and approaching its election season where financial decisions are limited. Municipal elections will be held on October 24. At least two mayoral candidates have weighed in on the issue. Mark Sutcliffe tweeted that Ottawa “can’t afford to make transit free” and pledged instead to “fix the train and improve the bus service.”

We don’t need to spend $900,000 on a consultant’s study to tell us what every taxpayer already knows: we can’t afford to free carry. Let’s work together to fix the train and improve the bus service.https://t.co/mPPfozdP6W — Mark Sutcliffe (@_MarkSutcliffe) July 12, 2022 Param Singh also said a study would not be necessary and said he would prefer to see the money spent on affordable housing.

We don’t need to spend nearly $900,000 on a consultation for something that is currently not sustainable. We need 2 repairs, make it reliable and affordable. If the city has $900,000 to spare, I’d spend it on affordable housing and give some families a place to call home. — VoteParamSingh2022 (@VoteParam2022) July 13, 2022 –With files from CTV’s Dave Charbonneau.