Cutting Funding to Low-Income Transit Passes is Cruel and Bewildering
This United Conservative government loves to needlessly tease us. A few days ago, they made the announcement that they are going to fund a $9 million dollar master plan to investigate the long-term expansion of a commuter rail system. Finally something worth celebrating from this out-of-touch government. But alas, the feeling was short-lived as the UCP continued their assault on working class Albertans. Yesterday, the United Conservative government announced its intention to cut funding towards low-income transit passes for Calgary and Edmonton.
Low-income transit passes have existed for nearly a couple decades in these cities (Calgary introduced their program in 2005). Currently, Calgary Transit's regular monthly transit passes will run you $115, with low-income transit passes existing on a sliding scale from $5.80 to $57.50 (depending on income-level and household size). This program exists in Alberta’s two largest urban centres due to a mix of municipal and provincial funding, with the province providing around $6 million to each city (which is a small contribution compared to the City of Calgary’s $31.8 million contribution). The benefit of this has been an alleviation of transportation costs for the least well-off, with 119,000 cash-strapped Calgarians using low-income transit passes in the first three months of 2024 (which is an increase from preceding years). While affordable public transit has a bunch of benefits for making our community more accessible, saving on transit fares most notably makes a big difference for budgets of low-income Calgarians. If you have lived experiences of struggling to make ends meet, or even just basic human empathy, you might imagine the financial relief this provides to those hit the hardest by the cost of living crisis. It seems the United Conservative government has neither.
You might wonder what their reason for the cuts is? Well, a spokesperson shed some light for us, stating that: "As transit is a municipal responsibility in the two big cities, we are investing more in core services delivered by the province like homelessness and housing." The first reason strikes me as absolutely bewildering and hypocritical, especially considering their recent Bill 20’s audacious overreach into municipal governance. Additionally, the claim regarding investing in “core services” like housing might be taken more seriously if the government did not recently introduce legislation making it more difficult for the federal government to assist municipalities with housing (among other federal-municipal partnerships). Something is not adding up. This is a government that has a daily routine of scorching public services, starting ridiculous fights, and enriching their corporate friends. Further still, City Council voted unanimously yesterday to call upon the province to offset the cuts by reducing its property tax requisition. Will the provincial government agree? Who knows. It begs the question that Naheed Nenshi recently asked - “is the cruelty actually the point?”
None of this will help to alleviate the anxieties and financial strain felt by low-income transit users. Let’s hope that Calgary finds a way to keep this program running and low-income Calgarians moving around our city.
UPDATE: And just like that, amid heavy criticism, the UCP government has reversed the decision to cut funding to Calgary and Edmonton's low-income transit pass program. This comes a day after they announced they would cut it.