Ottawa mayoral candidate opposed to tax hike to fund free transit

One of Ottawa’s candidates for mayor says he is opposed to having property taxpayers cover the cost of transit fares to provide fare-free transit on OC Transpo.

Speaking on Newstalk 580 CFRA’s The Morning Rush with Bill Carroll, Mark Sutcliffe expanded upon a tweet he sent Tuesday following a CTV News story about the costs of studying OC Transpo’s long-term fare structure.

“I’m a big supporter of public transit, I use public transit, my family uses it, but I think even I can save taxpayers almost a million dollars right now,” Sutcliffe said. “We don’t need a consultant to tell us what we already know.”

A memo released Monday from the city’s general manager of transit services and the city’s chief financial officer said studying the transit system’s long-term fare structure could take up to a year and cost between $700,000 and $900,000 to complete, money OC Transpo doesn’t have in its budget right now.

It said three fare structures are being considered: eliminating fares, shifting the cost into the transit levy, reducing fares somewhat and increasing the transit levy (i.e. the revenue-to-cost ratio), or freezing fares at 2022 levels. Staff estimated that, for an average home with an assessed value of $415,000, the options would increase property taxes by $482, $162, or $11, respectively, though some of these figures are based on pre-pandemic ridership levels, which have yet to be achieved.

The memo came following requests by some city councillors to look into the issue.

Sutcliffe said it shows a disconnect between city hall and citizens.

“I find this all really perplexing. Nobody in the community is asking for free transit. They’re worried about the cost of the food, they’re worried about the interest rate on their mortgages. Adding $500 to their property tax bill is going to be devastating for many families,” he said.

Other mayoral candidates have commented on the issue as well. Former Ottawa mayor Bob Chiarelli said he is proposing a “top to bottom review” of OC Transpo and would not be in favour of transferring the full cost of OC Transpo fares onto taxpayers.

“I have called for a top to bottom review of all OC Transportation operations by an outside auditor that would report within 100 days at a fraction of the cost,” Chiarelli said on Twitter. “We can all agree those who need a hand up should be supported, and they are through monthly community and equi-passes.”

Coun. Catherine McKenney, who is also running for mayor, has been a supporter of fare-free transit. They were successful in getting a plan to provide free transit passes to shelter clients approved last fall and their request for a staff review of the possibility of freezing Community Pass, Access Pass, and EquiPass prices for the entire next term of council was also approved.

Speaking to CTV News last November—before they announced their mayoral campaign—McKenney said they hoped the next term of council would work toward reducing fares.

On their website, McKenney says, “We need to make our transit as affordable as possible to reduce congestion and everyone’s commute times.”

Mayoral candidate Param Singh says the cost of the study would be better spent on affordable housing.

Sutcliffe, meanwhile, says cutting fares is not the way to attract riders.

“The way to attract more people to transit is to make the system better. It’s to fix light rail, it’s to get light rail out to Stittsville and Kanata and Barrhaven,” he said.

The city has run a month of fare-free service following the nearly two-month long shutdown of the LRT because of a derailment. There were 3.8 million trips on OC Transpo in December 2021, about 45 per cent of pre-pandemic levels for the month. It was about the same level of ridership as seen in November and lower than in September and October.

Ridership in 2022 so far has peaked at 4.4 million trips per month in March, when the Confederation Line and 15 downtown bus routes were free to ride following the Freedom Convoy occupation. Ridership was at 50 per cent of its 2019 level in May.