City of Vancouver wants $25 transit passes for people earning under $40k | Daily Hive

City of Vancouver to advocate for $25 monthly public transit passes for people earning under $40,000

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Vancouver City Council voted unanimously to support a low-income public transit pass in the region.

At a City Council meeting this week, COPE councillor Sean Orr introduced a member motion asking City of Vancouver staff to work with TransLink to determine how they could implement a $25 monthly pass for people making under $40,000 a year.

He pointed out that TransLink raised fees by four per cent in 2025 (which increased the one-zone monthly pass from $107.30 to $111.60) and is set to raise prices again this year by five per cent (which will increase that one-zone monthly pass to $117.20).

“And who feels that the most?” said Orr, while introducing the motion.

“It’s the single parent trying to get to their second job. It’s the young person who aged out of youth programs and can’t afford a monthly pass. It’s the person who has chosen between groceries and bus fare. And unfortunately, that’s the reality for a lot of people in this city.”

While the Government of British Columbia has the BC Bus Pass Program that provides subsidized annual bus passes to low-income seniors and people with disabilities, Orr said that Vancouver is the only major city that doesn’t offer a low-income pass for people of all ages.

“Everyone else who is low income, they’re on their own,” said Orr.

For example, Calgary has a low-income monthly pass on a sliding scale (with the lowest band $6.30 a month), and Toronto offers a 21 per cent discount on adult monthly passes.

ABC councillor Brian Montague introduced an amendment to direct City staff to advocate for TransLink and the Province to implement this, pointing out that TransLink is a regional service, not a Vancouver-specific one, and not funded by Vancouver’s municipal government.

Sarah Kirby-Yung, another ABC councillor, pointed out that in 2025, TransLink was on the brink of a budget shortfall of nearly $600 million that could have forced it to cut up to 50 per cent of budget services, 30 per cent of SkyTrain and SeaBus services, and possibly to discontinue the West Coast Express.

While the Province eventually stepped up with a one-time $312 million investment to keep TransLink fully funded until the end of 2027, “it was by hook and by crook that we were almost cutting $300 million of funding,” said Kirby-Yung.

She said that Vancouver’s municipal government doesn’t have jurisdiction over public transit, and that’s why they need to convince senior levels who do have the authority and responsibility for funding it to step in.

The amendment passed unanimously.

Local organizations have been pushing for a low-income public transit pass, including BC Poverty Reduction, which issued a letter in support of Orr’s beforehand.

“Improving transit access for people earning less than $40,000 would support workers in grocery stores, cafes, accommodations, tourism, and retail – industries that keep Vancouver afloat,” they wrote.

They added that a full-time worker on minimum wage in Vancouver earns just under $38,000 before taxes.

TransLink previously looked into expanding discounted fares for low-income individuals in 2024. At the time, they estimated that the costs for an expanded program to include all low-income adults under the Low Income Measure would cost between $60 and $70 million per year.

The public transit authority said that it would depend on receiving more operating subsidy funding from the Province, since they don’t have the capacity to cover the costs.

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