Transit users will pay more for bus fares and monthly passes next year under the proposed 2012 Municipal Fees and Charges, which will go before council as part of the master rates bylaw at its regularly scheduled meeting Nov. 28. Council, sitting as committee of the whole, was scheduled to discuss the issue Thursday night.
Although voting occurred after the Gazette went to press, councillors were expected to sign off on the proposed increases, which affect every almost every service the city provides for which residents and businesses must pay. All fees were increased approximately three per cent, according to a council agenda report received in September.
"There's two bylaws — one is called a master rates bylaw and the other is setting all of the fees like arena rates or signs for not doing anything," explained Mayor Nolan Crouse. "I wish we could combine them all into the same one."
No transit fare is exempt from an increase under the proposed changes. Cash local fares will increase 25 cents and commuter fares 50 cents. Monthly local passes will cost $5 more, with commuter passes up $10. High school passes will increase by $8, handibus fares will climb $1 for a return trip into Edmonton and a book of 15 commuter tickets will now cost $57.75, compared to last year's $52.50.
The only line item that could be potentially spared is the monthly pass for recipients of Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) payments. Coun. Cam MacKay has put forward a motion to hold the cost at $38, instead of increasing it to $42 as proposed. The motion was scheduled for debate Thursday night.
"Part of the [AISH] program with the province is recipients can find work, but you have to get there," said MacKay. "When you're on AISH, you're already on a limited income to begin with. My motion was just to the effect that bus rates cannot be raised higher than what recipients get from the province."
Because the transit continues to incur costs, such as higher wages for its privately contracted bus drivers, those costs have to be covered. Every additional cost affects how much users pay back into transit revenue, which is heavily subsidized by the city. While a bylaw passed several years ago stated transit needed to recoup 40 per cent of costs from users, that number has since slipped to 36 per cent.
Crouse said these proposed increases will hold St. Albert Transit's recovery at 36 per cent. Getting back to 40 per cent, he said, would cost users a lot more.
"I don't know what the numbers would look like, but it would be substantially more," Crouse said. "We're going to have to take it as proposed."
Councillors Cathy Heron and MacKay agree the increases are necessary, but wonder if the role of transit in St. Albert needs to be reviewed at a fundamental level.
"Cam and I were saying we need to revisit the entire system," Heron said. "I'm a huge supporter of public transit, but we get a lot of people complaining about it. Should we keep it or not keep it or just keep commuter service?
"Right now, with a month to do something, the only thing we can do is raise the fees."
"St. Albert has more cars per capita than any community I know," MacKay said. "We'll probably never get to that 40 per cent mark."
Other changes
Other fee increases the public can expect include:
• Rental rates at the Arden Theatre
• Clubhouse, outdoor arena and city arena rental rates
• Hourly pool rental rates
• Servus Credit Union Place room and facility rentals
• Resident and non-resident business licences
• Fines for false alarms
• All building permit fees
• All heating, ventilation and air conditioning permit fees
The story "Transit fares on their way up" in the Saturday Nov. 12 Gazette mistakenly reported that council, sitting as committee of the whole, would pass the 2012 municipal fees and charges on Nov. 10. The matter will go before council at its regularly scheduled meeting Nov. 28 with the Master Rates Bylaw. The Gazette regrets the error.
