Ottawa youth will be paying the highest monthly transit fares in Canada this fall, as OC Transpo hits the brakes on offering discounted youth passes. The youth monthly pass for 11- to 19-year-olds will be scrapped at the end of August, as part of OC Transpo’s plan to boost revenue to address a projected budget shortfall. As of Sept. 1, youth ages 11- to 19-year-olds will have to pay the adult monthly pass of $135 a month, instead of the current youth monthly pass cost of $104 a month. A look at transit fares across Canada shows transit riders ages 11 to 19 in Ottawa will be paying the highest transit fares for a monthly pass in Canada at $135 a month. The Toronto Transit Commission offers a monthly transit pass for 13- to 19-year-olds at $128.15 a month, while Brampton Transit offers a pass for $118 a month for 13–19-year-olds and a monthly pass of $84 a month for 6- to 12-year-olds. In Gatineau, the cost of a monthly transit pass for 13- to 20-year-olds is $69 a month, while Kingston Transit offers a transit pass of $61.75 a month for 15- to 24-year-olds. Council approved the elimination of the youth pass as part of the 2025 City of Ottawa budget. “I voted against this,” Capital Coun. Shawn Menard said on X. “This isn’t ‘fixing transit’. Instead of this, Ottawa should have a universal bus pass for youth 18 and under to build lifelong transit users.” Transit advocates warn higher costs will drive away transit users. “I think it’s a mistake,” David Jeannes of Transport Action Canada told Newstalk 580 CFRA’s Ottawa Now with Kristy Cameron. “It’s a big increase. It’s a 30 per cent increase in the price for youth. To get an increase this large with such short notice is not good. It’s at this age group that we really want to encourage the habit of using transit and if we make it too expensive, we’re going to get a whole generation of people who are not transit users and that will be a big problem in the years ago come.” Children ages 10 and under can still ride OC Transpo for free in Ottawa. In Ottawa, many students receive OC Transpo passes from the Ottawa Student Transportation Authority for travel to schools. A report for the Ottawa Student Transportation Authority shows the 2025-26 draft budget projected a $4.8 million increase in public transit costs due to the elimination of free transit for students 12 and under and scrapping the youth fare pass in September. The cost of youth transit fares across Canada
