Mississauga.com: Half-priced transit passes made permanent for eligible low-income riders
Posted October 4, 2017
Peel has made permanent a program that offers reduced public transit fares to low-income residents.
Posted October 4, 2017
Peel has made permanent a program that offers reduced public transit fares to low-income residents.
The region is implementing a permanent Affordable Transportation Program, which had been operating temporarily in partnership with the City of Mississauga as a pilot project in that municipality.
The program will also be extended to serve residents in Brampton.
Mississauga’s pilot offered eligible transit users a 50 per cent subsidy on monthly transit passes.
Surveys during the pilot project revealed about 22 per cent of participants in the program used transit to get to work and 44 per cent used public transit to access employment services.
Plans are to implement the program in Mississauga on Jan. 1 and consult with Brampton officials to determine an implementation schedule for that city.
The income threshold for subsidy eligibility would be $22,000 for an individual and $31,000 for a couple, and the region will also look at children under 12 years old riding for free.
Before approving the permanent program, Peel council heard members of ACORN Canada, an organization advocating for social and economic justice.
The organization, which considers access to public transit a basic need, called on politicians to make the program permanent.
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Article by Roger Belgrave for Mississauga.com