While public transit in many Canadian cities struggles with fares going up and ridership going down, in one community the passenger count has more than doubled in the past two years.
Transit ridership in the town of Orangeville, Ont., will, by the end of the year, have increased by 150 to 160 per cent, according to Mayor Lisa Post.
“It’s really impacting the entire community positively,” she said.
The reason for that big spike? Orangeville’s buses became free in 2023 as part of a test program which the town just pledged to continue until 2027.
The experiment is sparking discussion about whether some form of free transit is possible in bigger cities and how it might work.
WATCH | Free transit in Orangeville:Ridership has doubled since Orangeville, Ont., started a fare-free pilot project, but experts caution the concept would be an uphill climb in bigger communities that need the money transit brings in.
The community of 30,000 people, some 60 kilometres northwest of Toronto, may not be known for trendsetting, …