OttawaNearly 800 people sent emails calling on OC Transpo to rescind a decision to scrap the youth monthly pass, in a campaign organized by a progressive advocacy groupHorizon Ottawa says nearly 800 people have emailed city over decision to kill passCBC News · Posted: Aug 10, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoOC Transpo has received hundreds of emails from people opposed to its decision to scrap its discounted youth pass at the end of the month, according to advocacy group Horizon Ottawa. (Francis Ferland/CBC)Nearly 800 people have sent emails calling on OC Transpo to rescind a decision to scrap the youth monthly transit pass, according to a progressive advocacy group that’s launched a campaign against the decision. In a memo late last month, the city announced that — as of Sept. 1 — the pass would be eliminated, part of cost-cutting measures to reduce the $120-million deficit in the 2025 budget.It currently costs $104 a month, compared to $135 for an adult pass. Horizon Ottawa launched its campaign on Thursday, saying the decision would result in Ottawa’s youth paying some of the highest fares in the country and would diverge from policies of other big Canadian cities where youth discounts are common.”It’s shameful that now youth are having to pay as much as an adult,” Horizon Ottawa board member Sam Hersh told Radio-Canada.”The fact that close to 800 people have already sent emails signifies that people aren’t just frustrated with this particular policy, but they’re frustrated in general with the transit system.”The root cause of the deficit, Hersh said, is “decades of cuts” to transit funding.”We need to start investing in our transit system, not cutting it.”The decision to eliminate the youth pass is ‘shameful’ and out of step with what other Canadian cities have been doing, said Horizon Ottawa board member Sam Hersh. (Elyse Skura/CBC)In a statement to Radio-Canada, the city said provincially funded school boards purchase about 92 per cent of all monthly youth passes, an average of 19,100 a month. Those students would continue receiving a monthly pass from their school at no cost, the city said.About 1,700 customers who purchased the youth pass themselves would no longer be able to do so, the statement said.But student transit passes purchased by school boards aren’t available in the summer months or for students who live too close to their school, said Laura Shantz, a public transport advocate.”That would be the situation for my family,” she told Radio-Canada. “We’ll start to rethink whether my child needs a bus pass the entire school year or only the months where it’s not pleasant to walk or bike or get to school in other ways.”The additional $30 a month for an adult monthly pass is a lot for some families, she added. The campaign likely won’t change the city’s decision to eliminate the pass, although it could spark discussions further down the line, said Alta Vista Coun. Marty Carr. (Michel Aspirot/CBC)Pass likely won’t be saved, says councillor”We acknowledge that this change may result in increased costs for some families who are ineligible to receive a student transit pass from their school,” said David Jones, the team lead for transit media relations, in the city’s statement.Other options remain available, he said, including the EquiPass, a discounted monthly transit pass and single-ride fare option for low income families.Horizon Ottawa’s campaign is unlikely to cause the city to reverse its decision, according to Alta Vista Coun. Marty Carr.”I haven’t had the chance to speak to my colleagues or to OC Transport staff to see if there’s any opportunity to change it before September, I would suspect no,” said Carr, who sits on the transit committee.”But it is something that I think many people around the council table want to make sure that we look after in our upcoming discussions of budget 2026.”
Scrapping youth transit pass ‘shameful,’ says group behind email campaign
