fare increases, which are borne solely by transit riders, and the transit levy, which is spread across all city residents, are two “levers” available to increase revenue for oc transpo. service reduction and other cuts are other levers that can be used to reduce transit costs.
fare payments only account for about 35 per cent of oc transpo’s revenue, well below the 55 per cent target set by council years ago, sutcliffe said
“we’re not meeting our objectives. we’re already using tax dollars to subsidize public transit beyond what was intended by council going back 20 years.”
since municipalities are required to deliver a balanced operating budget without more money from the feds or the province, raising fares, raising taxes or cutting services are the city’s only three options. “there is no other way,” sutcliffe said.
sutcliffe’s briefing was an advance on the “proposed 2025 budget directions, timeline and consultation process” that will be delivered monday to councillors on the city’s finance and corporate services committee. the 75 per cent fare hike and the 37 per cent increase in the transit levy are the upper-end extremes that will be needed to balance oc transpo’s books.
the 2.9 per cent increase for the non-transit portion of the budget is in keeping with sutcliffe’s election promise, he said. but critics, including some councillors, say ottawa’s increases have been far below those of other canadian cities. property taxes in toronto jumped 9.5 per cent in 2024, while they climbed 7.5 per cent in london and 6.1 per cent in waterloo.