Council voted Wednesday night to decrease the incentive package for returning transit users after a discussion that inched city staff through a wringer of scrutiny and had tempers flaring.
The revised incentive package says that all O-Train and bus service will be free until February 15, all O-Train and bus service is free on weekends to the end of February and all December bus passes will be valid to the end of February.
Compared to the original package proposed to make all transit service free until the end of February and service to some December pass holders free to the end of April, the new package significantly reduces a $13.3 million revenue loss the city would have absorbed.
But the path to that decision was long and arduous.
As hours ticked away, councillors grilled staff about the consequences and benefits of offering cost cuts versus getting all bus service running more quickly.
“The best message you can give to riders in the west and the south is that buses are back,” said Coun. Diane Deans.
“Because once you get buses back riders can come back.”
The discussion left bite marks on the heels of extensive talks during a special briefing about the resumption of transit service last week and during another special meeting Monday dedicated to strike costs.
This was the first time council as a whole met to vote officially on the original reimbursement package the city had already advertised in local media and on the OC Transpo website.
The councillors’ steady stream of comments – often repetition of previous questions – scrutinized the number crunching and some motions already passed by council in minute detail. Obvious head scratching and frequent calculator use signalled the confusion in the room.
When pressed, transit director Alain Mercier said he thinks returning full bus service is more important to customers than “freebies.”
Mayor Larry O’Brien was openly against the costly mitigation measures. He used the fact that Vancouver only offered three days of free transit service after the four-month strike in that city to support his view.
“We look like Father Christmas. Giving 70 days here and 90 days there.”
Coun. Diane Holmes asked staff to confirm that property tax would not increase even with the less costly revised incentive package.
“We’re not changing the budget, we’re just moving boxes around within what is already decided,” says city treasurer Marian Simulik.