Pilot project will give free or discounted transit to up to 100 low income earners in Vancouver

The group behind a new pilot project in Vancouver that will provide free or discounted transit fare for some low-income residentshopesit leads to themore ambitious goal of free transit for everyone in B.C. living in poverty.

TheReduced Fare Transit Pilot was announced by the City of Vancouver on Tuesday after council approved the plan. It relies on $50,000 from the Union of B.C. Municipalities.

In a written statement, the city said the pilot will include 50-100 people experiencing poverty, with priority given to Indigenous residents and peopleof colour.

"We're extremely excited because we know that the pilot has an opportunity to really reveal the impacts of mobility poverty on low-income communities and paint a portrait of some of the policy solutions we know will make a difference," saidViveca Ellis, interim community organizer with the B.C. Poverty Reduction Coalition.

Ellis said she has worked to secure the funding for the pilot and get it started, but she hopes it leads to a far broaderapproach in the province to ensurepeople in poverty have access to public transit.

'This is one step'

She said 421,000 people live in poverty in the province, and she's advocating for transit systems across B.C. to provide free transportation.

"One hundredper cent, the B.C. Poverty Reduction Coalition has been advocating for, ultimately, free fares," said Ellis, adding that to start, they want children and teens to have free transit, and then low-income adults on a sliding scale.

She also wants a stop to issuingfare evasion fines.

But Ellis said her group has heard pushback from TransLink and municipalities when it comes to makingthe case that people living in poverty struggle to access transportationand that has a negative impact on their lives. This projectwill be a chance to study the issue and show the results.

"This is one step, a positive step forward towardcapturing truly free and affordable transit for thousands of low-income community members that are still shut out of our system right now," said Ellis. "The city's commitment to gathering more data helps fuel the advocacy that we're trying to accomplish."

Ellis said she hopesthe City of Vancouver or other municipalities will match the funding from UBCM, and she's still advocating to increase the size of the pilot project.

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