City seeks to help homeless who need bus pass

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This article was published 13/10/2021 (1617 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s a weekly occurrence for Chantal Smith: somebody who’s homeless, maybe couch surfing, goes to her workplace in the North End in need of bus tickets.

The city launched a low-income bus pass on May 1, 2020. However, applicants must use a fixed address.

Smith, the leader of a housing and eviction prevention program at the North End Community Renewal Corp., calls the reduced rate bus pass set-up ironic.

“(Busing) becomes more critical when you’re in that hidden homelessness area, because if you’re looking for housing, how do you get to viewings?” she said. “You need a means of transportation, and that’s a really big missing link right now.”

City bureaucrats are looking at allowing non-profits to help people without a fixed address get a low-income bus pass.

Smith said her employer would be willing to work with the city to pair up homeless people with low-income passes.

“You have people who are living in poverty dealing with myriad different issues connected to their poverty having to go, by foot, to medical appointments, to groceries, to food banks,” she said.

This includes seniors and people with mobility issues.

Couns. Vivian Santos (Point Douglas) and Ross Eadie (Mynarski) forwarded the motion to the public works committee. Impoverished people don’t always file income taxes, and those who couch-surf may use their temporary stay’s address to establish themselves before moving on, the councillors wrote in their motion. So, requiring such personal information for a low-income bus pass could reduce accessibility.

“You need to list an address in the city of Winnipeg… I don’t understand that,” Eadie told council Tuesday, adding most people who live outside Winnipeg drive in using their own vehicles.

The public works committee instructed staff to weave information about the policy change into a poverty reduction study, which will be presented to the city’s executive policy committee at a later date.

“The cost is going to be, I think, fairly significant,” Coun. Jeff Browaty (North Kildonan) said. “I don’t think it’s something we can do right now.”

The low-income bus pass, or Winnpass, has a monthly fee. Coun. Matt Allard, the committee’s chair, asked staff to research shorter term passes that have proportionally subsidized fees to Winnpasses.

“For low-income people, just gathering even the monthly bus fare together can be a challenge,” Allard said. “If we can apply that benefit and open it up to people on a per-trip basis, I think we’ll see even larger uptake.”

In its first year, 1,017 people applied for the Winnpass — about 15 per cent of predicted demand. It was launched during the pandemic. City staff relayed to council Tuesday that people had lost their jobs or weren’t commuting to school, so there was a lack of uptake.

Winnipeggers also reported the monthly pass was for too long a period, and the fee was too expensive.

“If they’re taking money out to buy a bus pass or to buy bus tickets, then they’re going to need to juggle their other needs, such as food or possibly paying a Hydro bill,” Smith said.

Last year, the low-income bus pass was $71.45 per month. This year, it’s $62.40, and is expected to drop to $53 in 2022.

A full-fare monthly bus pass costs $104.

A deeper look at reduced fare per trip passes will be included in a report on transit fees next May.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com