About five weeks after restoring transit service in Thompson following a three-month hiatus, council is poised to possibly hike bus fares by 66 to 100 per cent and eliminate monthly passes at its March 18 meeting.
If the resolution is approved, adult bus fares will double from $2 per ride to $4 while student and senior fares will increase by two-thirds, from $1.50 to $2.50 per ride. The resolution also calls for the elimination of monthly bus passes, which currently cost $76 for adults and $40 for students and seniors.
As a result, the cost for a former student pass holder who takes the bus to and from school five days a week will rise more than two-and-half times to $105 for April, when there are 21 school days. For an adult who takes the bus twice a day, five days a week in April, the cost would then be $168, almost two-and-a-quarter times what it previously cost with a monthly pass.
The change would see Thompson have a higher bus fare than Flin Flon, where fares are $2 for adults and $1.50 for students and seniors. It would also be higher than in Brandon ($1.50 for an adult and $1.25 for a youth or senior) and Winnipeg, where cash fares are $2.95 for an adult and $2.45 for senior and youth riders.
