Whitehorse city council has voted to give free access to city transit to all accredited volunteers, staff and athletes attending the 2026 Arctic Winter Games next spring.
On April 7, city staff proposed offering free transit to all 4,000 participants. The participants would include athletes, volunteers, officials, coaches, and performers coming to Whitehorse from across the Yukon, Alaska, Greenland, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Nunavik-Quebec, Alberta and Sapmi.
The cost to provide free transit to these participants would be around $35,000 — however, the number is already factored into the city’s contributions towards the games, and thus wouldn’t be an additional cost, staff told councillors.
Staff also told council that approximately half of the accredited participants in the 2007 Canada Winter Games and 2012 Arctic Winter Games took advantage of free transit offered those years, with many individuals taking transit multiple times.
Staff also said it is not expected that transit service levels would increase, as bus service hours have increased since previous years. Also, the Games will happen at the same time as March break, so there will be additional capacity on busses due to students not needing to get to school during that time, said director of community services Krista Mroz on April 7.
Providing free transit would help to alleviate parking congestion at venues for the Games, and improve traffic through the city, according to the city staff report presented. Other benefits listed in the staff report include familiarizing residents with the benefits of public transit and increasing long-term ridership.
The resolution passed unanimously during April 14’s city council meeting.
Coun. Paolo Gallina excused himself from the room ahead of the discussion and vote, due to a conflict of interest as he works as the marketing and sponsorship manager for the 2026 Arctic Winter Games.
Contact Talar Stockton at talar.stockton@yukon-news.com
