The cost of keeping the buses rolling in Salmon Arm wasn't lost on city council when it supported an operating agreement with BC Transit.
The annual operating agreement (AOA) specifies overall funding commitments between the city and B.C. Transit, while setting the fares, service area, service hours and holiday service hours. At its June 23 meeting, council authorized an agreement for 2025/26.
City staff pointed out notable changes to the agreement, which include an forecasted 15.2 per cent decline in bus pass revenue, a 12.4 per cent increase in variable hourly costs, a 10.2 per cent increase in vehicle lease fees and a 28.7 per cent increase in ridership (including youth who ride for free at certain times of the year), all resulting in an 8.5 per cent increase in operating costs for the city, or $767,020. This represents about 46 per cent of total operating costs, with the B.C. government funding the remainder – $926,219.
"Public transit is heavily subsidized…," said Coun. Tim Lavery, referring to a table in the council agenda comparing year-over-year revenue and expenses between 2024/25 and 2025/26.
"When we look at predictions for going into next year, total revenue, $162,000, total cost $1.879 million… transit revenue produces less than 10 per cent of the cost including expenditures, fixed costs, operating costs and those sort of things.
"I bring that up not to begrudge that, but again as a conversation I regularly have with folks who say let’s increase this ,why can’t we do that – it’s all about what we can afford…"
From the 4,258 transit rides in 2024/25, the total operating cost of $1,633,753, Mayor Alan Harrison calculated each ride to have been subsidized by $14.10.
"I think it’s important for people to know we subsidize lots of things, we subsidize recreation, we subsidize the arts… transit is also subsidized and heavily," commented Harrison. "What we’ve done is we’ve added to our transit routes in the most efficient way we can, which is by not adding capital, like buses. We’ve extended the days, we’ve extended the time, but we’re at a point now where if we want to expand further we have to add more buses, and that is very expensive. So it has to be thoughtful, knowing what the actual financial implications of adding to transit are."
