School transit authority revisiting student passes over fare hike

The looming hike in transit fares could see thousands of Ottawa high school students bumped off OC Transpo and onto yellow school buses by next September.

The warning comes from the Ottawa Student Transportation Authority (OSTA), the consortium that manages student transportation for both the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and the Ottawa Catholic School Board.

OSTA spends $7.8 million a year on OC Transpo passes for 9,600 students in Grade 7 through Grade 12, according to general manager Vicky Kyriaco.

But with the price of monthly passes set to increase again, Kyriaco said paying for public transit may no longer be the cheaper choice. She said OSTA will carry out a review in January to determine whether it should instead start providing school buses for older students, starting with the 2017 school year.

"We could possibly be pulling thousands of bus passes away from students," Kyriaco told CBC on Wednesday. "We would prefer avoiding doing that, but we need to be as efficient as we possibly can."

Not consulted over fare changes, OSTA says

Ottawa's transit commission approved across-the-board fare increases in June. They're set to go into effect in January 2017 instead of the typical July 1 implementation.

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Under the new fare structure, the cost of a student pass will rise $3.50 to $87.75. A $99 express pass used by a few hundred students will disappear entirely.

Kyriaco said OSTA was not consulted about either the fare hike or the earlier implementation date, and did not budget for it. The changes will leave the transportation authority short $198,000 for the first half of 2017, Kyriaco said.

But the city's transportation manager, John Manconi, said OC Transpo consulted with OSTA in June.

Kyriaco insisted Manconi never met with her, and said OSTA should have been consulted before councillors began debating the new fare structure in June.

'Great way to train the next generation'

Should the fare increases pass in next week's budget, Kyriaco said OSTA will communicate with schools about a January review comparing transit options.

While one of those options is giving up passes for yellow buses, Kyriaco maintained students benefit from using public transit.

"The fact that they use those bus passes after hours to get to their part-time jobs, to get to extracurricular activities, it's a great way to train the next generation to adopt sustainable modes of transportation as opposed to personal cars."