Fare hike en route

Ron Seymour  The Daily Courier  2011-07-26
Bus riders will have to dig a little deeper into their pockets when they climb aboard Kelowna Regional Transit next year.  Single-trip adult fares will rise from $2 to $2.25 under a new rate schedule approved yesterday by city council. The fare increase - the first in more than four years - is justified because of all the service upgrades made to the system since 2007, a majority of city councillors said.  "The quality of the transit system is so much higher than it was in 2007," said Coun. Kevin Craig, a university student who uses public transit to get to the UBC Okanagan campus. "I think a very good rationale has been made for an increase in the fee," said Coun. Robert Hobson.  Total budget for the Kelowna area transit system, including the subsidies from local and provincial taxpayers that currently account for 74 per cent of all expenses, has doubled from $9 million in 2005 to $18 million this year.  The extra investment has increased total annual service hours by 55 per cent, from 113,000 to 176,000, and paid for other improvements such as the introduction of RapidBus along Highway 97, and fancier and more numerous bus stops. But total system costs actually recovered from fares paid by passengers has fallen from 35 per cent in 2005 to 26 per cent today. The fee increases are an attempt to boost that ratio back up to the 30 per cent target set by B.C. Transit, the Crown corporation that assists municipalities in paying for local bus systems.  The new fares, to take effect Jan. 1, 2012, are in line with those charged by similar-sized systems such as the one that serves Kamloops, city councillors heard.  Collectively, the higher fares are expected to generate $550,000 of extra revenue for Kelowna Regional Transit. The system, which operates from Oyama to Peachland, carried more than four million individual rides last year, but less than three per cent of workers rely on it for their daily commutes. Craig and Hobson joined councillors Andre Blanleil, Luke Stack, Angela Reid-Nagy, Graeme James and Mayor Sharon Shepherd in voting for the fare increases. Councillors Michele Rule and Charlie Hodge were opposed. Hodge said the higher fees would be a hardship on poor people, and Rule said she had a philosophical position that riding public transit should be free to users.

Other details of the fare increase:

• Single-trip rate for seniors & students up to Grade 12 will rise from $1.75 to $2 
• A monthly pass for adults will rise from $53 to $60 
• The UPass for UBCO students will rise from $50 to $60 per semester in September 2012, pending approval from students in a campus referendum expected to be held in January.