Image Credit: CFJC Today

By James Peters

Kamloops Transit

Push to offer seniors free transit during off-peak hours killed by Kamloops council

Jun 11, 2019 | 3:18 PM

KAMLOOPS — Kamloops council has shot down a request to offer seniors free transit service during off-peak hours.

The motion was one of eleven put forward by former councillor Donovan Cavers during his last council meeting last fall. It was debated at Tuesday’s regular council meeting.

Cavers reasoned that, during non-rush hours, transit buses have plenty of capacity to take seniors around, and would be a positive acknowledgement for their contributions to the community over their lifetimes.

The idea was initially championed by Councillor Denis Walsh.

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“Especially the way it’s worded here: it’s non-rush hour traffic. We definitely have the capacity to do this, and I just think it’s the right thing to do for the seniors in town here to give them a little bit more mobility,” said Walsh.

As discussion carried on, though, more questions arose surrounding the details and cost of the move.

“Some seniors have money and they can buy a bus pass. So are we subsidizing some people unnecessarily who can actually afford to take a bus? That’s a question we should be asking, too,” noted Councillor Arjun Singh. “There are lots of questions to ask around this.”

Several councillors noted the timing of the request, after council recently wrapped its budget process and a new agreement with B.C. Transit.

“I don’t think it’s a bad idea. But my hesitation with this is that we just went through the whole process of approving our budget annually, and the [agreement] with B.C. Transit for this year,” said Councillor Sadie Hunter. “To me, the timing of this just doesn’t make sense and we don’t have a lot of the data that’s required to make an informed decision.”

“I’m having trouble, noting that we seem to be all of the sudden having a priority and an issue that we want staff to redirect their energies toward when this has never been an issue that we have discussed at these other opportunities,” echoed Mayor Ken Christian.

A motion to defer the move to staff for more data and background information was defeated, as was Cavers’ motion.