The City of New Westminster will continue to advocate for free transit for teenagers.
New West council recently considered a motion to endorse the Single Mothers’ Alliance’s Transit for Teens campaign. Council will write to the province asking that it develop a plan to provide free public transit for B.C. teens aged 13 to 18.
Coun. Daniel Fontaine, who proposed the motion, applauded the efforts of school trustee Danielle Connelly, who raised the issue at the New Westminster school board and encouraged him to bring it to council.
“As we all know, transit is very important. And I think if you can hardwire that transit mode, and if you can get younger people into buses and on SkyTrain and in transit and you can hardwire that, when they're in that that age group, I think that that's awesome,” he said. “We know that kids up to age 12 currently have that access. But for some reason, once they turn 13 they're no longer eligible to receive free transit.”
Council unanimously supported the motion.
Coun. Nadine Nakagawa said she supports efforts to get people out of their cars and to make transit more accessible. She noted that council endorsed the All on Board campaign in December 2018 and championed that initiative at the Lower Mainland Local Government Association and the Union of B.C. Municipalities.
“It was campaign led by the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition, and so I definitely will support this motion, which really just reaffirms the work that the city of New West has already done and championed and reminds the province that we do want more transit ridership and making it more accessible for people, for youth, for people of lower incomes,” she said.
In addition to making transit free for all children up until 18 years, Nakagawa said the All on Board campaign also supported a sliding scale monthly transit pass system based on income.
Coun. Jaimie McEvoy said the revenue generated by ridership is important to the providers of transit service s.
“But this motion makes it clear that it's seeking provincial government coverage of that cost in support of this campaign,” he said. “The benefit of having more teenagers riding transit, and potentially be more lifelong users, is a tremendous benefit to our society in terms of health and movement, and climate. … I think it's a no-brainer.”
📢 SOUND OFF: Should teens be able to ride public transit for free? Would your family benefit from the idea? How would it help? Share your thoughts — send us a letter.
