Burlington public transit free for seniors any time, free for youth evenings and weekends – Hamilton | 24CA News
The metropolis of Burlington, Ont., has taken an enormous step towards making public transit extra accessible for seniors and college students.
Starting Aug. 1, adults aged 65 and older will be capable of take the bus freed from cost any time of the day, whereas youth aged 13 to 19 will get free rides on Burlington buses on evenings and weekends.
The determination was permitted by Burlington metropolis council on Tuesday.
The metropolis started providing free transit to seniors as a pilot program in 2019 and Catherine Baldelli, Burlington’s director of transit, stated that pilot resulted in a rise in ridership amongst older adults by 41 per cent.
She stated the hope is that increasing free transit service to youngsters will result in the identical type of increase for that demographic, because it’s one thing that the neighbouring city of Oakville has additionally carried out.
“We’re going to gauge the ridership and determine how students have changed their behavior with these evenings and weekends,” stated Baldelli.
Burlington mayor Marianne Meed Ward stated the initiative is about getting extra folks on buses, which has a optimistic influence on the atmosphere, the financial system, and site visitors.
“One of our delegates at committee, Jim Young – who also represents Burlington for Accessible Sustainable Transit (BFAST), said it best: If we put 40 people on a bus, you’ve now taken 40 people off the road in cars, and removed the greenhouse gases those cars would generate,” wrote Meed Ward in a put up on her web site.
City workers have additionally been directed to analyze the associated fee and potential service influence if free transit had been expanded to riders of any age.
Seniors make up about 11 per cent of these taking the bus in Burlington and youth comprise 12 per cent, whereas adults make up the majority of the rest of ridership – about 75 per cent.
Expanding free transit for youth was a part of the 2023 funds at a price of $84,000.
It will price $160,000 to develop free service for seniors; Baldelli stated that will probably be a part of subsequent yr’s funds course of.
Youth and seniors can decide into the free transit program via Presto by visiting the downtown Burlington terminal or going to a Shopper’s Drug Mart or GO station to register with their identification.
“By providing that ID, it’s already attached to the Presto card – so we don’t have to ask for ID when a person boards the bus, that information is just stored on their Presto card,” stated Baldelli of the reasoning for registration.
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