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Halifax students will keep free transit passes after funding deal

From Global News · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources New plan
  • Halifax Regional Municipality and Nova Scotia agreed to continue free public transit passes for eligible students in grades 7 to 12.
  • The province will fund passes for more than 1,700 youth connected to income assistance, while the municipality will cover the remaining eligible students.
  • The deal also expands the program to private-school and homeschooled students, though a Halifax councillor said the dispute exposed broader uncertainty around provincial transit funding.

Halifax students in grades 7 to 12 will once again ride public transit for free after months of uncertainty over the program’s future. The agreement between Nova Scotia and Halifax Regional Municipality came just one day before the school year began.

The Halifax Regional Centre for Education will distribute passes at five schools where public transit offers a more practical option than school buses. The province’s Department of Opportunities and Social Development will provide passes to youth aged 13 to 18 who receive or are connected to Employment Support and Income Assistance. That covers more than 1,700 students.

We’re excited that the program will now be expanding to include private schools as well as homeschooled students and students at public schools who were included in the program last year.

· Anthony EdmondsHe described the expanded eligibility for Halifax’s student transit pass program.

Halifax will fund passes for the remaining students in grades 7 through 12. Anthony Edmonds, Halifax Transit’s acting director of planning, said the program would also expand to private-school students, homeschooled students and public-school students who participated last year.

What we were going to pay for, and always were going to pay for, is any access that those kids needed to get to school and our OSD clients. So I think it just became who’s responsible for what.

· Brendan MaguireThe Nova Scotia education minister explained the division of funding responsibilities.

Nova Scotia announced in February that it would end its $1.2 million contribution, leaving the municipality unsure whether it could take on the cost. Education Minister Brendan Maguire said the province had not intended to eliminate the program. He said $600,000 had instead been redirected to income-assistance clients, while another $500,000 would support students at the five schools requiring transit passes.

Coun. Kathryn Morse said the uncertainty pointed to a larger problem with transit funding in Nova Scotia. She said other provinces generally provide predictable operating support for transit systems, while Nova Scotia does not provide the same continuity.

Most other provinces provide predictable operational funding for transit systems. Here in Nova Scotia, we don’t have that from the province.

· Kathryn MorseThe Halifax councillor criticized the lack of predictable provincial transit funding.
About this summary

Originally published by Global News in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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