As cities across Canada grapple with lower ridership, one town in Ontario seems to have found a solution.
Driving the news: Orangeville has seen its public transit ridership more than double since moving to temporarily eliminate fares in 2023. The pilot will now run until at least 2027.
- The Ontario town joins the likes of Canmore, Alberta, Mont-Tremblant, Québec, and a slew of U.S. cities that have adopted the fare-free model.
- Orangeville is the largest municipality in Canada to make public transit free, but advocates in cities like Victoria, Winnipeg, and Ottawa are pushing for it too.
Why it matters: Passenger fares covered 59% of pre-pandemic transit costs in Canada on average. Free public transit can save residents money and reduce congestion, but the model is less feasible in larger cities that rely on revenue from fares to run and expand.
- Even with fare hikes in cities like Vancouver, Edmonton, and Montréal, almost every major city is facing a growing budget shortfall.
Big picture: With $120 billion in transit expansions underway across the country and revenue proving hard to come by, experts say cities need to find new sources of cash or the quality of public transit is bound to get worse.—LA