Monday’s Prince George City Council meeting will be discussing the renewal of the Annual Operating Agreement with BC Transit, which comes with a much higher price tag.
A report to council shows a breakdown of the 2021-22 year, compared to what the 2022-23 year requires:
It also notes that there were increased costs in PG due to multiple factors, including:
- Additional service hours (6.6%)
- Additional fleet and associated lease fees (7.4%)
- Fuel (29%)
The provincial government does cover a portion of the costs (47%), and the remainder is funded by local government, but the costs discussed and shown in the report are just the City of PG’s portion.
Because of the pandemic, revenue for the 2021-22 year saw a large dip, but that number is expected to increase by 37% this year ($2.28 million).
The report also noted that ridership for the conventional transit system is currently only 75% of pre-pandemic levels.
Council will look to potentially pull funds from the Local Transit Fund, which is a reserve account set up by BC Transit as an operational reserve, and has had funding supplied by the provincial government.
Monday’s meeting is looking to be a beefy one, as Council tackles a report revolving around PG’s unsheltered population, the City looks at potential new ways to get public notices out, Council approves the new name for O’Grady Road, and looks at a liquor license application for a gentleman’s club in downtown PG.