Investing in your City: Free All-Day Transit for Seniors & Study of a Free Transit for All Program
Our weekly "Investing in your City" series continues, highlighting some of the significant investments being made in Burlington and that our community will benefit from.
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Did you know the City of Burlington now offers free transit for seniors (aged 65 and older) all day, every day and free transit for youth (aged 13-19) in the evenings (after 6 p.m.) and on weekends. The free transit for seniors pilot program was made permanent in August 2023.Seniors and youth can ride Burlington Transit for free when they tap their PRESTO card when getting on Burlington Transit. PRESTO cards can be purchased with the Senior or Youth category applied at several locations in Burlington including:
- The Downtown Burlington Transit Bus Terminal, 430 John St.
- All Shoppers Drug Mart locations in Burlington
PRESTO cards can be purchased for $6 at any of the PRESTO service locations. Youth and Senior PRESTO cards are also available at no charge during July and August -- these cards are only available at the Downtown Burlington Transit Bus Terminal, 430 John St., while supplies last.This is all about getting more people on buses and that translates to being better for the environment, social connections, other road users and transit users, and the economy, among other benefits. Increased ridership helps us meet our climate targets and modal split goals, and qualifies us for increased Gas Tax Revenue — with a greater number of people taking transit relative to vehicles, currently. For folks who can’t or don’t drive, transit provides the only option to get around the city and participate in civic life, work and recreation/social activities.In addition to these significant investments in free transit for some of our residents, Council also directed staff to:
- Look into implementing free transit for youth, all day, every day -- cost estimates and implementation recommendations; and
- Look into offering free transit for all with a detailed analysis of:
- Budget impacts and 10-year forecast for both Operating Budget and Capital Budget;
- Impacts to transit service and service requirements for a successful rollout. To include resourcing, assets (conventional and specialized);
- PRESTO contract and fare integration impacts;
- Gas tax impacts;
- Regional Transit Operationalization impacts;
- Benefits for free transit including environmental, economic;
- Risks of free transit to City’s financial sustainability and service impacts and expansion;
- Impacts to specialized transit;
- Potential funding sources.
Staff will seek out a consultant to undertake this review and report back to Committee and Council by Q4 2024.
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RELATED LINKS:
- Joint Statement from Mayor & Deputy Mayor for Strategy & Budgets: Joint Statement on Burlington’s 2024 Budget: Focusing on Essentials, Frontline Services & Planning for Future Growth
- City of Burlington News Release: Burlington Council Finalizes Budget Focused on Essentials, Frontline Services & Preparing for Growth
- Previous Investment Highlights: