Calgary Transit is a vital service to thousands of Calgarians every day and while ridership (and revenues) dropped during COVID-19, ridership is recovering close to pre-pandemic levels, but a massive drop in revenues remains. On Wednesday, Calgarians learned the drop in revenue was $33 million, with an ask of council to increase transit’s base operating funding by $13 million to offset a predicted shortfall in 2025. In addition, $19 million is being asked to support the Low-Income Transit Pass Program, with costs of the program having risen to $52 million. Sharon Fleming, director of Calgary Transit, said a lot of former riders are still working from home. "With hybrid work, we're not seeing as many monthly passes being sold. And that was our bread and butter," said Fleming. “That was a commitment by the user to continue to use our pass throughout the month and when we don’t see that, we see single fare tickets. There’s a little more variance in how many they would buy because they may not choose transit every time the way they have in the past.” “What this budget does is protect the current service levels that we have.” The low-income transit program is the only transportation many Calgarians can access, offering reduced fares based on incomes. In 2024, the costs for a monthly pass varied from $5.80 to $57.50 for those who qualify, while a regular adult monthly pass costs $115. "If we don't get that (additional) funding, we'll have to look at a variety of different options. One might be service reductions, it could also include increases to fares and finally, maybe changes to some of the services we're used to having," Fleming said. The low-income program is a social support program and some members of council, including Mayor Jyoti Gondek, say that the Alberta Government and federal government should pay more for the program, if not all of it. "The deal was that municipalities would take care of core services, but that we would do it in partnership with the other two orders of government who are enjoying the amount of income tax that they're collecting from our city," said Gondek "I've heard commentary that transit is a Calgary problem. Absolutely, delivery of transit and operating budgets are our responsibility, but low-income supplement is not our responsibility and yet we take it on." In May, the provincial government reversed course on a decision to pull its funding from the program and following public feedback and calls from councillors, Alberta's minister of seniors, community and social services recommitted to providing $6.2 million to the City of Calgary On Wednesday, the Alberta government released a statement saying transit is a city responsibility and it does not plan to increase its funding. With the federal government’s huge (now reduced) immigration levels, Cllr. Andre Chabot said the feds have a responsibility to take some of the financial responsibility off of Calgarians. "Ultimately, immigration and adding more people to our city is contributing to our deficiency in our transit funding, specifically on low-income transit buses," said Chabot. "We should be going to the federal government to see if we can get some additional support for that additional cost that we've incurred." Fleming said if council votes against a budget increase for transit costs, the shortfall would need to be covered by increasing fares for all rider, adding every $3 million in lost revenue equates to about a 10-cent fare increase. Discussions about transportation included Calgary's roads and justifying an increase in funds to improve the quality of pavement in the city, with administration asking for a $10-million increase. Wednesday's budget discussion also included justification for increases to improve the quality of pavement use in Calgary, with administration asking for $10 million to rehabilitate or reconstruct high-speed arterial roadways that are in poor condition. After Wednesday’s council session, Gondek said, “We have heard from the public and we have heard from many of our administrative departments and the message has been clear. There is a critical need to invest in infrastructure, we heard that from roads today.” “We talked about public transit and we have heard there is a desperate need to make sure we are funding the low-income transit pass and we have heard from our first responders and we have talked about public safety and how incredibly important it is to make investments in that area.” “So this budget, once again, is a reality budget, it is rooted in delivering essential services to Calgarians.” Thursday in council, debates and voting will take place, with the highlight possibly being a list of 20 amendments being brought forward by councillors Sonya Sharp, Dan McLean, Andre Chabot, Terry Wong and Jennifer Wyness. More to come...
Calgary Transit is a vital service to thousands of Calgarians every day and while ridership (and revenues) dropped during COVID-19, ridership is recovering close to pre-pandemic levels, but a massive drop in revenues remains. On Wednesday, Calgarians learned the drop in revenue was $33 million, with an ask of council to increase transit’s base operating funding by $13 million to offset a predicted shortfall in 2025. In addition, $19 million is being asked to support the Low-Income Transit Pass Program, with costs of the program having risen to $52 million. Sharon Fleming, director of Calgary Transit, said a lot of former riders are still working from home. "With hybrid work, we're not seeing as many monthly passes being sold. And that was our bread and butter," said Fleming. “That was a commitment by the user to continue to use our pass throughout the month and when we don’t see that, we see single fare tickets. There’s a little more variance in how many they would buy because they may not choose transit every time the way they have in the past.” “What this budget does is protect the current service levels that we have.” The low-income transit program is the only transportation many Calgarians can access, offering reduced fares based on incomes. In 2024, the costs for a monthly pass varied from $5.80 to $57.50 for those who qualify, while a regular adult monthly pass costs $115. "If we don't get that (additional) funding, we'll have to look at a variety of different options. One might be service reductions, it could also include increases to fares and finally, maybe changes to some of the services we're used to having," Fleming said. The low-income program is a social support program and some members of council, including Mayor Jyoti Gondek, say that the Alberta Government and federal government should pay more for the program, if not all of it. "The deal was that municipalities would take care of core services, but that we would do it in partnership with the other two orders of government who are enjoying the amount of income tax that they're collecting from our city," said Gondek "I've heard commentary that transit is a Calgary problem. Absolutely, delivery of transit and operating budgets are our responsibility, but low-income supplement is not our responsibility and yet we take it on." In May, the provincial government reversed course on a decision to pull its funding from the program and following public feedback and calls from councillors, Alberta's minister of seniors, community and social services recommitted to providing $6.2 million to the City of Calgary On Wednesday, the Alberta government released a statement saying transit is a city responsibility and it does not plan to increase its funding. With the federal government’s huge (now reduced) immigration levels, Cllr. Andre Chabot said the feds have a responsibility to take some of the financial responsibility off of Calgarians. "Ultimately, immigration and adding more people to our city is contributing to our deficiency in our transit funding, specifically on low-income transit buses," said Chabot. "We should be going to the federal government to see if we can get some additional support for that additional cost that we've incurred." Fleming said if council votes against a budget increase for transit costs, the shortfall would need to be covered by increasing fares for all rider, adding every $3 million in lost revenue equates to about a 10-cent fare increase. Discussions about transportation included Calgary's roads and justifying an increase in funds to improve the quality of pavement in the city, with administration asking for a $10-million increase. Wednesday's budget discussion also included justification for increases to improve the quality of pavement use in Calgary, with administration asking for $10 million to rehabilitate or reconstruct high-speed arterial roadways that are in poor condition. After Wednesday’s council session, Gondek said, “We have heard from the public and we have heard from many of our administrative departments and the message has been clear. There is a critical need to invest in infrastructure, we heard that from roads today.” “We talked about public transit and we have heard there is a desperate need to make sure we are funding the low-income transit pass and we have heard from our first responders and we have talked about public safety and how incredibly important it is to make investments in that area.” “So this budget, once again, is a reality budget, it is rooted in delivering essential services to Calgarians.” Thursday in council, debates and voting will take place, with the highlight possibly being a list of 20 amendments being brought forward by councillors Sonya Sharp, Dan McLean, Andre Chabot, Terry Wong and Jennifer Wyness. More to come...
