City considers bus fare reduction to attract more riders

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This article was published 16/09/2011 (5220 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A shakeup of Brandon Transit’s fare system is coming.

Suggesting that the city’s current slow and steady process of increasing fares by a few cents each year won’t result in the increased ridership it desires, the city is looking at two scenarios to drastically lower the standard cash fare people pay to ride the bus.

Mayor Shari Decter Hirst says while the strategy is risky, it might be the key to getting more people on the bus and putting more cash in the city’s coffers.

“Our population base is sort of at that tipping point where, unlike Winnipeg, where they have a lot of population to move on their buses, we’re trying to build that base and it’s critical that we do,” she said.

“It is a different strategy — I’m not sure that there are many communities that would look at something like this — but I think it’s worth a try to see how it goes.”

Under the first scenario, the current cash fare for an adult rider would be deeply decreased from $2.15 to a mere $1.

The cost of an adult pass would also decrease slightly, from $66 to $60.

The goal, Decter Hirst said, would be to encourage casual ridership among the adult population.

“The price of gas for your car keeps going up, so there is going to be an economic incentive to ride the bus,” she said.

“If people can see the benefit to riding the bus, whether it’s financial or environmental or convenience, then hopefully they will keep riding the bus.”

The fare reduction in that scenario would be balanced off by the elimination of the free transfers given to people who change buses at the downtown bus mall and the elimination of off-peak passes.

However, with analysis showing that most of the system’s current users begin their transit trips from downtown, removing the provision of a paper transfer won’t have a huge impact, Decter Hirst said.

Getting rid of off-peak passes further simplifies the process for riders, who can then ride at any time of the day without worrying about the relevance of their pass, she added.

Through that scenario, it is anticipated that the city could see its transit ridership increase by more than 84 per cent and revenues increase by nearly 15 per cent.

The second proposal centers around a more modest decrease in the cash fare, from $2.15 to $1.50.

It would also involve an elimination of transfers and off-peak passes and a maintenence of all pass costs.

If the above scenario was implemented, it’s estimated that ridership could increase by approximately 56 per cent and revenues could increase by about 21 per cent.

Alternatively, a third scenario could see the city continuing its current process of nominal fee increases by raising adult fares from $2.15 to $2.20 and increasing adult passes from $66 to $68 next year.

However, the city estimates that would result in a 5.9 per cent decrease in ridership and a 4.22 per cent loss in revenue.

Brandon Transit reports its ridership in 2010 was approximately 1.12-million rides.

At a public meeting hosted by the city earlier this week, Decter Hirst said they heard loud and clear that a reduction in transit fares is appealing to residents.

“Everybody likes the idea of something going down in cost,” she said.

Public feedback on the proposed changes is being accepted by the city until Sept. 30 via email at transit@brandon.ca or by calling 729-2279.

A recommendation on fare changes will then be debated by council later this year and, if approved, be incorporated into the city’s 2012 fee schedule.

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