Saskatoon promising to refund bus pass holders
The City of Saskatoon is promising to provide refunds to people who bought bus passes, only to find the transit system shut down due to a lockout.
The move comes on the same day that University of Saskatchewan student leadership said they would not be forwarding money that 14,780 undergraduate students have already paid for a U-Pass, a program the students' union runs in conjunction with the city.
On Tuesday afternoon, in a statement, the city said refunds will be provided for everyone who uses a bus pass, including U-Pass holders and EcoPass cardholders.
The city said customers would receive "refunds/extensions" but it was not immediately clear how that would work.
"We are currently developing a plan for effectively and efficiently managing refunds/extensions for the large number of pass holders; each type of pass has unique requirements," the statement said, adding that more details would be provided in about one week.
The city said officials hoped the lockout would be a "short-term" situation.
The city noted that the essential service Access Transit is not affected by the lockout.