The City of Greater Sudbury is looking into the implications of allowing free transit for seniors, either the first Tuesday of every month or every Tuesday.
Ward 7 Coun. Natalie Labbée tabled a successful motion during the Nov. 4 city council meeting seeking the business case, which is to be tabled in time for 2026-27 budget deliberations.
These deliberations are scheduled to begin on Dec. 2.
Citing an existing effort, which allows seniors free bus rides during Tuesdays in Seniors Month (June), Labbée said free bus trips have helped get seniors out of their homes.
“There are a lot of people who are under these strict financial constraints, as seniors especially, who are experiencing a lot of mental health concerns, isolation,” she said. “It’s growing to the point where people are in our hospitals and long-term care, they’re not aging in place as well because of isolation factors.”
Pressed by city council for context, city Transit Services director Brendan Adair said that GOVA Transit already has a fee schedule in place which offers seniors certain discounts.
Seniors (ages 65 and older) and disability pensioners pay $15 for a six-ride card and $56 for a 31-day pass, where the adult rate is $20 for a six-ride card and $100.50 for a 31-day pass.
One-ride cash fares ($4) and day passes ($11.50) are the same price across the board (children four and younger are free).
Although city council members approved proceeding with a business case, it’s not necessarily indicative of their support for approving the business case once tabled.
As Ward 6 Coun. René Lapierre clarified during his brief remarks, he’s supportive of gathering more information, but skeptical that targetting just seniors is the right approach.
“I am concerned that we’re isolating it to one age group,” he said. “There are a lot of people in different age groups who require the same type of service, so to isolate it to one age group, I’m not sure is the best move for us to do.”
Ward 8 Coun. Al Sizer later echoed this sentiment in noting that some seniors are quite capable of paying for discounted bus cards and passes.
“It’s not all seniors” who are in the tight financial constraints Labbée cited during her remarks, Sizer said.
Per Labbée’s motion, people aged 65 years and older would benefit from the free GOVA Transit days, despite their being in the least-impoverished age group.
This, according to a Statistics Canada report using 2021 poverty rates, which cites a 4.7-per-cent poverty rate among Canadians aged 65 and older as the lowest for any age group.
The poverty rate was 14 per cent among people aged 18 to 24, 7.9 per cent among those aged 25 to 54, and nine per cent for adults aged 55 to 64.
“In addition to private and public pension plans, Canadians 65 years and older with lower incomes are eligible to receive the Guaranteed Income Supplement,” Statistics Canada noted in a report they published on 2021 poverty rates. “These income sources afford many seniors the opportunity to maintain a basic standard of living and stay out of poverty.”
The upcoming business case will include any costs associated with offering free GOVA Transit service, including revenue reductions. In the case of free bus rides for seniors during Tuesdays in June, the annual revenue reduction estimate was $11,200.
Budget deliberations are scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. on Dec. 2, and continue as needed in subsequently scheduled days until its final approval. The meeting can be viewed in-person at the Lionel E. Lalonde Centre or livestreamed by clicking here.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.