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MONDAY, MARCH 6, 2017
ELIZABETH CAMERON/FOR METRO
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Metro | Calgary Ridership is down, revenue is down and Calgary Transit’s director Doug Morgan is concerned about the slow burn effect the economy has had on the transit system. In 2016, fare revenue was down nine per cent. That translated to a decrease of $17 million. Revenues from adult ridership fares were hit hardest falling 12 per cent last year. Transit travel overall is down 6.8 per cent. “Congestion is down, parking is cheaper, there’s a lot of people not working, so what we’ve seen is that impact on our major mar-
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ket, which is downtown commuters,” said Morgan. Instead of riders dropping the system all together in the downturn, Morgan said they’re seeing a five per cent uptick in low-income pass holders for adults and 22 per cent for youth. And faithful monthly pass holders now opt for a ticket book here and there for their transportation needs. According to council direction, Calgary Transit is supposed to cover at least 50 per cent of their costs with revenue. But as of the end of 2016, Morgan said they are now sitting at 49 per cent. “We’re very concerned, but we haven’t seen it get any worse,” said Morgan.“We bobbed and weaved and made adjustments last year in order to balance our budget. We delayed some of the improvements we had planned.” He describes the changes as “slowing growth.” They’ve relied on attrition and the freezing of new hires, as well as tweaks in the bus frequency (running buses every seven minutes instead of five).
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