City Budget 2025: A mess of Ottawa Council’s own making - The Leveller
leveller.ca
By Sam Hersh Each year Ottawa’s city council and Mayor are faced with what should not be a difficult decision: what to fund and how to fund it. Of course, this is not to say budgets are not complex processes with competing priorities. However, as Ottawa residents we should be able to feel confident that …
  • veeeEnglish
    9·
    13 days ago

    Instead, the Mayor has opted to raise fares significantly, moving us towards having some of the most expensive fares in North America. Most notably, his transit working group consisting of several councillors proposed many changes. These consist of raising the monthly seniors’ pass by 120%, eliminating free passes for 11 and 12 year olds and raising fares by 5% for all riders. This brings Ottawa’s fares past the $4.00 mark.

    This might be have been an acceptable solution if the service was reliable and valued as such.

    • streetfestivalEnglish
      6·
      12 days ago

      That is @#$%ing ridiculous. We should be encouraging people to take public transit, not trying to gouge those that do as much as possible. Hopefully this mayor’s days in office are numbered if they’re this dumb

      • BedSharkPal
        5·
        12 days ago

        I’m on team free transit personally. Yes that means higher taxes, but it just makes sense.

        • FiveMacs
          2·
          11 days ago

          Higher taxes means higher rents/groceries means second job means more travel means more busses means more taxes

          It will always be passed down. I agree it’s broken and reducing fares or free would serious help a LOT of people but I can see if spinning right back to them in other costs just as easily. Nobody absorbs costs but us