St. Albert’s plan to start collecting public transit fares again as of July 1 is a sign the city is coming out of the “COVID-19 black box,” said Coun. Wes Brodhead at Monday’s city council meeting.
Councillors voted unanimously to reinstate public transit fares as part of its gradual COVID-19 restart plan, a recommendation brought forward by public works and transit director Anthony Lake. The decision follows the City of Edmonton's decision to reinstate transit fares as of June 15.
St. Albert had originally suspended fares until May 31, with the intention of staying in line with other regional partners when it came time to start charging for public transit again, Lake said, but it would have been difficult for the city to start charging fares again by mid-June.
"We are operating at 50 per cent capacity with no COVID-19 prevention devices other than physical distancing. Knowing what we may have to do to reinstate front boarding (on our buses) is a big ambiguous aspect right now," he said. For the past couple months, St. Albert Transit has been implementing rear boarding for buses.Transit passes are typically sold two weeks before the end of the month, and the city still needs to re-establish places where people can buy them. Then it will take some time to figure out what procedures to put in place so riders can use transit in St. Albert safely amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
"At this point, we do not have confirmation on specifics that will be required. We anticipate that it will be PPE (personal protective equipment) or masks for passengers, PPE for the drivers, and hopefully that will be sufficient to reinstate fares," Lake said.
Waiting for the bus at the Village Transit Station on Grange Drive, 16-year-old Mary Pal told the Gazette the extension of free transit to July 1 will help as people recover from job losses and other economic hardships brought on by COVID-19.
Her mother stopped working because of the pandemic, she said, and this gives her family more time to save up to buy bus passes.
"The economy is starting to open back up again, and people are just starting to work again. Maybe they don't have enough (money) to catch the bus," she said. "If it restarts on July 1, then they might have enough money to buy a bus pass again. I think it's a good idea."
Scott Fowler was also waiting at the transit station for his bus. He just moved from Edmonton to St. Albert a week ago, he said. The extension means he won't have to buy multiple bus passes to get from St. Albert to Sherwood Park.
"I travel from St. Albert to Edmonton, and I have a son who lives in Sherwood Park. So this helps a lot," he said.
For residents commuting between St. Albert and Edmonton, March and April transit passes will still be honoured so users don't have to pay once they transfer over to Edmonton's transit system.
