Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Fare hikes proposed for OC Transpo

The city's transit commission has suggested a series of fare hikes for OC Transpo fares to get the city closer to the 50/50 funding split between revenue and property taxes. The hikes are typically around the 2.5-4 per cent range, which is much better than the 7.5 per cent range of the past couple of years and much closer to the inflation rate.

Metro Ottawa has the full breakdown of fare and pass hikes. The most significant is a four per cent hike to bus tickets, up from $1.25 per ticket to $1.30 each. Doesn't sound like much, but considering an adult regular fare return trip is four tickets, you're talking about a $0.40 hike.

Beyond just this hike to ticket prices, though, the history of ticket price increases has been massive in recent years. In June 2009, bus tickets were $1 each, and in the 20 months since then they've gone up 30 per cent. That's a pretty massive jump for what was once a pretty affordable option for occassional transit users.

2 comments:

gordon said...

If the price per bus ticket has gone up by 5 cents and the typical return fare is four 4 tickets (2 tickets out, 2 tickets back), that represents a 20 cent fare hike per round trip, not a 40 cent increase. The cash fares, DayPasses and community passes aren't rising, so it sounds like the bus tickets are a little "too popular" to cover the costs.

Anonymous said...

yes ..the tickets where too popular and with 10 to 15 percent fair evasion which represents from 20-30 million in lost revenu a year they find it easier to raise the fare and collect from the people who pay instead of getting it from the free riders.

max-the-mouth