Prince George residents will have to fork up an extra quarter for a ride on the bus, starting in September.
At last night’s (Monday) meeting, Prince George City Council was presented with a review of fares in the Prince George Transit System.
According to BC Transit Business Development Advisor Midhat Malik, a fare review hasn’t been conducted in a number of years because of safe restart funding, which prevented fare changes from being increased until last year.
“We’ve been going around the province to review fares,” Malik said. “We typically conduct fare reviews every three to five years to consider opportunities for fare adjustment, and considering we want to optimize revenue, attract and retain ridership and maintain affordability for both the transit system and the passengers of the local system.”
For the adjustment, BC Transit is recommending an increase of 25 cents for 2026/27, bringing the single ride to $2.75, with similar relative adjustments for other products. They are recommending the same increase for 2027/28, which would then bring the single ride fare to $3.00.
While a ten per cent increase is suggested for most products, a 22 per cent increase is suggested for the four-month Semester Pass, reflecting a $30 increase for 2026/27. It was noted the Semester Pass is already a heavily discounted product.
BC Transit is recommending a 25 cent increase for custom transit (handyDART) as well.
“While it is more resources to offer a custom solution, we believe for equity to maintain the same price, and to continue to offer an aligned single-ride fare for both the conventional fixed-rate service and the custom service,” Malik said.
It was estimated these changes would bring an approximate eight per cent increase to revenues.
It was also estimated a ‘worst case scenario’ would be a loss of a couple of rides per day.
According to the presentation, approval would include a marketing campaign to notify riders of the changes, with changes expected to take effect in September.
The motion to approve the changes for implementation on Monday, September 7 was carried with a 4-3 vote.
Councillors Tim Bennett, Ron Polillo and Cori Ramsay voted against the increases. Mayor Simon Yu and Councillor Brian Skakun were absent from the meeting.
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