Article content

Mayor Brian Bowman is jacking up bus fares by up to 10% in 2018 — the single largest increase in recent memory — and he wants Winnipeggers to believe the provincial government is to blame for the hike.

But Bowman is not telling the public the truth.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Transit fare hike has nothing to do with provincial funding Back to video

The city released its 2018 operating and capital budgets Wednesday, which includes a 25-cent fare increase for Transit riders. Full fare will rise to $2.95 from $2.70, a 9.3% increase. And a full-fare monthly bus pass will jump to $100.10 from $90.50, a staggering 10.6% increase.

“The prospect of raising the fares in the manner that we’re proposing here is not something we wanted to do,” said Bowman. “This is being imposed on us based on a $10-million cut by the province.”

No it isn’t.

The province isn’t cutting $10-million in funding to the city for Transit. In fact, it hasn’t cut any funding to Transit. What it has done is frozen funding in 2017 at 2016 levels. That’s not a cut, that’s a freeze. And overall, Transit is getting 21% more in provincial funding in 2017 from the province than it received in 2012. Transit funding in 2018 has not been announced by the province.