Mayor Patrick Brown says the city will begin offering Brampton seniors over 65 years of age free transit starting next fall.

In April, Brampton council slashed the price for a monthly seniors’ Presto to $15. It also maintained the $1 single-trip seniors cash fare instituted in 2011.

However, according to Brown, neither of those rates will apply come September 2020.

“We cut the seniors’ transit fares in half this year and it’s slated to be free for seniors next September. We’ll be the first big city in Canada with free transit for seniors,” he said in a recent interview.

“We passed the motion. So, this September it got cut in half and next September it becomes free,” added the mayor.

Free transit for seniors was among the first ideas brought forward by the current council after officially taking office at the end of 2018.

A staff report provided to council in March 2019 estimated reducing monthly seniors' fares to $15 came at an annual cost of between $400,000 to $450,000.

The report estimated making transit free for all senior residents would cost an additional $750,000, bringing the cost to taxpayers up to as high as $1.2 million per year at current service levels. The report added that annual cost estimate could grow as high as $1.8 million by 2031 based on current demographic trends.

“Who is more appropriate to start with free transit than seniors? They’re the ones who have built our community,” said Brown in March.