On Wednesday June 18th, 2014 Calgary Transit presented a review of its fare strategy to assist seniors and people on low-income to be able to afford transit.
Council has asked Transit to come back to the committee on Friday, July 18th with a report of recommendations to also include a look at off-peak hour service for seniors.
To see the July 18th report, visit this link.
Concerns from Fair Fares:
Members from the public living on low-income simply stated even at the $ 44 a month, the pass is still too far out of reach for Calgarians, the monthly discounted transit pass is unaffordable.
We support a single ride fare discount based at 50%. This will help people who cannot afford to pay out the costs of a discounted transit monthly pass.
However the monthly pass fare structure is still not treating all persons living on low-income the same and the monthly pass is simply not affordable.
We do not support off-peak hour service as it is problematic, hard to enforce and limits seniors mobility rights to access affordable transit at all hours of the day,
Some City Councillors continue to direct transit to create inequities between seniors and people below the age of 65. We think this is not fair.
Having two different discounted monthly and annual passes does not comply with the 2020 Sustainability Strategy trying to align and balance the fares and treat people the same. The deep discounts given to seniors and not also to people who live on low-income create inequality.
Fair Fares plans on attending the Friday, July 18th committee meeting held in the basement of the old City Hall beginning at 9:30 am to speak about the updates to the original June 18th report.
If you would like to see a fare strategy that is fair and simple, please join us on Friday, July 18th beginning at 9:30 am or call 311 to register your concerns.
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