Edmonton looks for alternative funding sources to run public transit
CBC
Edmonton will start looking outside the conventional revenue box to help pay for a public transit system that's struggled to find new riders over the past few years.
Council agreed Tuesday that city administration should explore different ways to generate revenue, outlined in a report to council by the city operations branch.
Options include implementing community revitalization levies, parking fees, vehicle registration fees, and pursuing an agreement to receive a portion of the provincial government's motor fuel tax.
Currently, Edmonton Transit Service relies largely on property tax and transit fares, which are strained sources of revenue, the report says.
Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said it's time to branch out from conventional revenue sources.
"We cannot continue to rely on property taxes in order to create the kind of conditions that are necessary for us to shift that mode of transportation," Sohi said at the council meeting.
Despite the focus on getting revenues from vehicle-related activities like parking and registration fees, Coun. Aaron Paquette said he doesn't believe the goal is to discourage people from driving.
"What it is about is making transit more attractive — to fund transit properly," Paquette said. "It's time to modernize how we fund our system to step up with reality of what other municipalities are doing."
More people taking transit means fewer vehicles on the roads, cutting back commute times and headaches, Paquette said.
City managers have reported that over the past two years, ridership on ETS dropped to about half compared to what it was before the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The pandemic has shown us the need for secure, predictable, stable funding," Paquette said. "So there's no better time than now to start exploring those things."
Coun. Anne Stevenson suggested the city could add an extra dollar to event tickets in the city, such as hockey and football games, especially at city-owned facilities like Commonwealth Stadium.
"It just occurs to me — you know the last event I attended at Commonwealth, there was such a huge crowd getting on to the platform, I don't think anyone was paying for transit," Stevenson said.
Carrie Hotton-MacDonald, manager of ETS, said they have considered the option of a single event ticket with a transit fee built-in.
About 125 people came out for a town hall meeting on health care in Charlottetown Monday night.
This is the second of two-part CBC News report on Taser use by Edmonton police. To read the previous story, click here.
A Merritt, B.C., father is urging parents to be on the lookout for ticks while the weather warms up, after his six-year-old son was partially paralyzed by a tick bite last week.
About that heartbreaking loss to the U.S. at the 2026 Olympic women's hockey final last month, Sarah Nurse says, “that was the most fun I’ve had in a hockey game in a very long time.”
The U.S. government on Monday said electric vehicle (EV) maker Tesla and South Korea's LG Energy Solution had signed a supply agreement to build a $4.3 billion lithium iron phosphate (LFP) prismatic battery cell manufacturing facility in Lansing, Mich., with an expected production launch in 2027.
In one small town in Alberta, the assistant principal says teachers almost never meet alone with parents anymore.
Tens of thousands of customers are without power and four parts of Highway 401 are closed Tuesday morning as blasts of blowing snow hit the Ottawa-Gatineau area.
Melody Macsemchuk says volunteers at Grace Place in Thunder Bay, Ont., serve between 300 and 350 meals a day.
Groups of volunteers continue to search alongside police for a man who went missing in late January near Owen Sound, Ont., covering land on foot, and using drones for a view of the conservation area where his car was found.
Jessica Hay says her daughter Charlie loves to be included in everything — and a new accessible shopping cart at her local grocery store in Cornwall makes it possible for Charlie to come along for the ride.
The N.W.T. cabinet says it will review whether or not the territory needs an independent child and youth advocate after a motion by Range Lake MLA Kieron Testart calling on it to establish such a position was carried in the legislative assembly.
From affordable housing in Alberta to high taxes in Quebec, there are many widely accepted claims about the cost of living in different parts of the country. But are these preconceptions accurate?
An Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) report examining the conduct of investigators from a high-profile murder trial into the death of a Toronto police officer where a judge accused responding officers of lying and collusion is expected to be unveiled Tuesday.