The City of Whitehorse says that public engagement indicates that it is the frequency of stops and reliability of service, not the price of the fare, that is keeping people from riding its buses.
Whitehorse Mayor Laura Cabott and transit manager Jason Bradshaw offered an update on the city’s study of fare-free transit on March 12. Cabott told reporters that the study was prompted by the increased ridership the city observed when it dropped bus fares following the 2022 landslide closure of Robert Service Way.
More than 900 responses from city residents and organizations were received over the course of a survey circulated in January. They were asked how the city could improve its transit services including whether dropping fares would be beneficial.
Cabott said survey results showed that how often the bus comes, the time of day that it arrives and service reliability were the top three concerns for respondents. Cost of the service ranked last. Fare-free options were explored, but Cabott said the city found that these would reduce fare revenues and impact investments in improving the service.
She said potential riders won’t see transit as a viable alternative if it isn’t a reliable and reasonably quick way to get around the city.
“When it comes to service options, the study found that while service enhancements would cost, would add to our operating costs, those costs could be offset by a boost in revenue from high ridership. Also, of course, it would increase the frequency, the overall travel times and the quality of our service,” the mayor said.
Going forward, Cabott said the city would enter the second phase of planned route improvements. Coupled with the first phase of improvements last summer, she said the result will be a 35 per cent increase in service hours.
Bradshaw said the city’s transit service is growing with a 25 per cent overall ridership increase from 2022 to 2023. Some monthly records have fallen more recently — he said that this January was the busiest one on record and February had the second highest ridership for any month since records were kept.
About 850,000 transit trips are predicted for the coming year. Bradshaw said the city is planning to add five buses in future years, bringing the city’s fleet to 20. He said this would allow increased service during peak hours.
The mayor said it is good that the city has this information in hand but lamented missed opportunities resulting from the lengthy discussion of how territorial money set for Whitehorse’s transit would be used.
“We’ve got a great report here, which I think will inform some discussions going forward with the NDP and the Liberals,” she said. “But it is very disappointing that we’ve missed an entire year of $1.5 million, which could have been used for passes or possibly some of the enhancements that we were looking for.”
The money the mayor is referring to was first pledged by the territorial government under the notion that it would make the city’s transit fare free. The contributions of $1.5 million for three years was found insufficient to cover the costs of dropping fares. In late 2023, city council voted to leave the money earmarked for this fiscal year in Yukon government hands and asked that it be used to purchase transit passes for those in need. Cabott said that as far as she knew that money had not been spent yet.
Speaking of the transit funding and the money the territory gave Whitehorse to implement curbside recycling, Cabott acknowledged some friction between the city and the Yukon’s Community Services department and Minister Richard Mostyn but maintains the working relationship is generally good overall. Both instances involved the territory providing money but Whitehorse becoming concerned that it was not enough to cover the city’s costs.
The mayor pledged continued work with the territorial government transit working group that includes Mostyn and Lane Tredger, Yukon NDP MLA for Whitehorse Centre.
Contact Jim Elliot at jim.elliot@yukon-news.com