Following months of advocacy from Manitobans for increased provincial funding of public transit, the Province has announced that it will commit $10 million to eliminate fares for youth in five municipalities with fixed-route service: Winnipeg, Brandon, Thompson, Selkirk, and Flin Flon.
Based on similar programs in other Canadian municipalities, including Kingston and Burlington, this policy may lead to notable increases in youth ridership, especially among older students as they gain experience and confidence with transit usage. It may also reduce car trips, save caretaker time, improve school attendance, trim household costs, and grow youth independence and opportunities. Fare-free transit for youth has the potential to increase adult ridership in the future, allowing youth who may otherwise start driving to instead experience the many benefits of transit.
These are all clear positives that we should celebrate. At the same time, this policy will likely not succeed without significant improvements to the frequency and reliability of transit service, which will require the restoration of the 50-50 transit funding agreement that the Manitoba NDP previously called for while in opposition. Such improvements are especially necessary in Winnipeg, which is facing a dire collapse in ridership due to inadequate service following the recent bus network redesign. Eliminating fares for youth while maintaining a poor service will not yield the desired benefits. In fact, if governments do not show greater leadership in providing high-quality service, this policy may lead to worse overcrowding and greater resentment towards transit.
The Province must also exercise caution when making claims that eliminating fares for youth constitutes significant climate action and emissions reduction. Data from Kingston found that the policy reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 70 tonnes per year; given that Winnipeg has about five times the population size, the policy could potentially translate into 350 tonnes of emissions reductions per year if we estimate based on Kingston’s experience. Even then, this would only represent less than 0.002% of Manitoba’s annual emissions of 21.3 million tonnes. While not nothing, the Province will need to do much more to improve transit service to enable necessary mode switching from personal automobiles to buses and to make progress on emissions reductions.
Eliminating transit fares for youth is a positive step, particularly given that previous government policies such as the gas tax “holiday” and EV rebates have specifically benefited drivers. However, this should be the start of increased provincial investments in transit, rather than an alternative to restoring the 50-50 transit funding agreement. This budget decision proves that the Province can play a strong and important role in supporting and funding municipal transit services: our job now is to continue pushing for more funding to achieve better transit service that will benefit all transit users and boost ridership in the coming years. Next stop is 50-50 – join us!