Transit Takes Major Hit In Budget Deliberations

High costs and low ridership has finally caused some major changes to Moose Jaw Transit - changes that are not going to please people who depend on the bus to get around town.

During Wednesday night’s special Council meeting to debate the 2021 Budget the decision was made to curtail Saturday transit service for at least one year and increase fares.

Effective February 1st Council voted to eliminate the Saturday regular transit service for one year and then re-evaluate if the service should be re-vamped and re-started. The Saturday bus service has seen anemically low ridership. The paratransit service will not see any service cuts.

At the same time as service is being cut there will also be fare increases for both services effective February 1, 2021. Regular transit riders will see fares increase from $1.25 to $2.25 and paratransit riders will see the fare increase from 50 cents to $1.50 per ride.

In a background report Council was advised that Transit cost the City $1.2 million in 2020 to subsidize and with no changes a six day service would require a $1.3 million subsidy.

The report went on to state at the start of the pandemic, when the City cut the regular Transit service and went to a Dial A Bus system, that only two people took advantage of the service. Dial A Bus is where the bus does not follow a regular route but riders can call the day before and take the bus between pre-determined points.

“Saturday ridership has historically been low,” the report read indicating the pandemic did not factor into the decision to cut Saturday service.

“When full service returned in September, 2020 an average of 180 passengers used Saturday service. This equates to a per trip cost of $8.39. The remainder of the service, while low, has a per trip cost of $7.10 and an average daily passenger count of 500 including the school extra routes.,” the report stated.

The report further stated “the City did also consult with a number of groups with regards to Saturday service and received mixed messages with newcomers to Canada generally purchasing a vehicle as soon as possible while students seemed more likely to use a Saturday service, but somewhat seasonal or in limited numbers.”

Chart showing the effects of Council’s decision on top and the financial implications of other options - source City of Moose Jaw report

The COVID - 19 pandemic though has had a major impact on Transit with annual ridership post-pandemic being 135,000 compared to 235,000 pre-pandemic.

City manager Jim Puffalt said the statistics prove more people walk during the Summer. This trend is evident with SaskPolytechnic students who come back to riding the bus in the cooler Winter months.

It should be noted that the loss of ridership post-pandemic could also be attributed to the pandemic as SaskPolytechnic has yet to re-institute full on campus classes but relies heavily on virtual learning.

An attempt to stimulate the service was made in 2017 with fares reduced from $2.50 to $1.25. The fare reduction also eliminated the practice of giving out transfers. The $1.25 only to a rider as far as the main bus depot Downtown and to travel further an additional $1.25 fare was required. At the time Mayor Fraser Tolmie said he was going to ride the bus whenever he could to help encourage increased ridership.

The 2017 fare reduction did not result in the sought after increase in ridership but did result in a loss of income generated by the Transit system.

“For the amount of money we spend on Transit people could be taking a taxi. We could be paying for the taxi,” Councillor Heather Eby said.

Councillor Dawn Luhning spoke in favour of deeper cuts to the service including eliminating the regular Transit service all together when the pandemic hit.

“We should have possibly looked at maybe stopping transit completely except for paratransit and seeing how it went,” Councillor Luhning said.

The City will also work on rationalizing the routes to determine if the 40 minute routes can be restored to the traditional 30 minute routes as well as perhaps stopping at the Yara Centre.

It does also need to be state the now defunct Multiplex Builders Inc made claims the City had promised a bus to the Yara Centre to the community but when analyzed the claim was untrue when in fact it was a member of the Builders group who attempted to make the commitment on the City’s behalf.

The report to Council also put forward maintaining the Transit service as is or eliminating it completely - both options were rejected.

There was no mention about the once touted inter-city route to Regina that was floated as an idea in 2018 after a request from SaskPolytechnic to establish the route.

The changes were approved unanimously.