Regional Transit’s slow start

Niagara Regional Transit is off to a slow start, only earning half the revenue that was predicted during its first few months of service.

The inter-municipality system, which connects St. Catharines, Welland, Niagara Falls, Fort Erie and Port Colborne, began its trial in September, and since then has only seen about a quarter of the ridership that was initially expected.  

A ridership revenue report was heard by regional council members on Jan. 31, where it was reported that only 28 per cent of the expected 63,000 riders actually used the system, equal to around 240 riders a day.

This means that the system also did not reach its cash target of $143,000, only pulling in approximately $70,929 from September through December.

Tim Rigby, a St. Catharines Councillor, said that based on the reports and on what was expected, the system just is not meeting any of the expectations.

"It wasn't as well promoted as expected," said Rigby.

The system's overall intake over the first few months was a little over $88,000. However, the Region must share the earnings with the three municipal transit systems: St. Catharines, Welland and Niagara Falls.

The system costs around 2.7 million annually to run, and the Region was banking on making just over $650,000 in revenue from bus fares.

"It's a three year experiment, and if it does not pan out, it will not be happening," said Rigby.

Hopefully helping to increase the revenue the system will see an increase in cash fares in March.

Kumar Ranjan, a representative from Niagara Region Transportation Services, said that the $5 fare was part of a promotional pilot and will increase to $6 in March.

However, the fare increase will be accompanied by monthly passes and 10-ride cards.

"These passes will be substantially lower than paying cash fare," said Ranjan.  

A 10-fare ticket will cost $45 and a monthly pass $160, and will be $40 and $130 for students and seniors, with children under five-years-old riding for free.

The inter-municipality transit system in Niagara is young, and it has seen monthly increases in both ridership and revenue that will hopefully keep it running.

"It is a new service and a pilot project, so we are watchful of its ridership," said Ranjan.

On Feb. 6 students from Niagara Collage became able to use their U-Passes on the Regional buses just as they do for St.Catharines buses. Ranjan explained that the hopes that making the U-Passes effective on Regional transit will encourage students to use all of the transit options available to them.

There has been a significant increase in enrollment, said Ranjan, and that means more riders.

"We are trying to match supply and demand."

With the introduction of the new 10-ride and monthly passes, use of the U-Pass and more media coverage, the Region is hopeful that ridership and revenue of this service will increase enough to make it last past its three year trial period.