Regina highschoolers could soon be allowed to ride the bus for free

WATCH: At Wednesday’s meeting, Regina city council discussed making transit free for high school students. Donovan Maess has the details.

Regina city council has approved a proposal for a pilot program which would allow highschoolers to use public transportation for free.

Better Bus Youth leader Kimberli Kolody-Watt says it costs her $60/month to ride the bus to school or she must walk the 40 minutes to school each day.

“The fare free transit pilot project will create a more of an inclusive Regina by allowing [students] to get to school, work, and other activities,” she told councillors at Wednesday’s meeting. “Transportation is essential for [others] like me.”

In August 2023, Regina became the first Saskatchewan city to allow youth aged 13 and under to ride the bus for free.

The city says in the nearly six months since, transit ridership is up 260 per cent.

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Kolody-Watt believes the same success could be seen in older teens.

“Once in operation, adolescents will be more successful in school by arriving on time,” she said. “It will save money for many low income families and new families in Canada, and help them enjoy a safe trip from point A to point B.”

The motion to create the pilot was first brought forward last year by then-councillors Cheryl Stadnichuk, Andrew Stevens and re-elected Ward 8 Coun. Shanon Zachidniak.

Cities like Victoria, B.C., Kingston, Ont., and Halifax, N.S. already allow highschoolers fare-free transit.

“It’s hard to find investments [council] can make in a municipality that have so many clear benefits,” Zachidniak said. “And so I’m just really excited we can explore a pilot project for one school and one small step forward.”

The motion tasked administration to formulate the pilot project around one school.

Councillors passed it unanimously.

Despite that unanimous approval, there was some pushback from some council members about the program’s eligibility criteria.

“Some of these kids can pay,” said Ward 1 Coun. Dan Rashovich. “If this takes off, it will be millions of dollars. How do [we] cover that?”

Rashovich attempted to amend the motion to include the addition of eligibility criteria, while adding discounted rates for some students.

It did not receive a seconder and therefore was withdrawn.

Ward 10 Coun. Clark Bezo wanted to see additional accountability put on students participating in the pilot.

“We need to see a improvement of 25 per cent in attendance and a 25 per cent increase in your grades,” he said. “Put some tangible [key performance indicators] to this to say this program is an investment in our youth.”

However, because the motion was to task administration with a report, Bezo also withdrew his idea.

Both Rashovich and Bezo may bring forward their amendments again when the pilot recommendations come back to council.

“[Regina] spent millions of dollars on snow removal for our residents so they may get from point A to point B,” Ward 5 Coun. Sarah Turnbull said. “And when we [don’t] do that, we hear it from everyone the barrier it is. That’s for one day.”

“These kids and people who face obstacles every day in our infrastructure have a snow day every single day,” she added.

Councillors want the pilot to be running by the time school starts in the fall.

“[I’m] not saying it’s a good or bad idea,” city manager of operations Kurtis Doney reminded councillors. “But it would really push the timelines. And this is more complex than just looking at the transit system and what we have capacity for.”

Mayor Chad Bachynski feels the program could have benefits.

“A good chunk of why we had the conversation is to make sure we’re getting administration thinking about all the different ways this could come forward to us,” he told reporters after Wednesday’s meeting.

Administration will be bringing back a draft pilot for final council debate and go ahead before September.