More Saskatoon bus riders not paying fares. Here’s where it’s happening most

A report before the city’s transportation committee shows fare evasion has more than tripled in recent years. Keenan Sorokan reports.

People taking the bus for free have become a growing problem for Saskatoon Transit.

A report before the city’s transportation committee on Tuesday showed fare evasion has more than tripled in recent years, and a new transit bylaw is looking to alleviate the “operational challenge.”

The city defines fare evasion as a passenger using public transit without paying the required fare or possessing the required fare product or valid proof of fare payment.

Data is only recorded when drivers, who are instructed not to interfere for safety reasons, hit a button on the mobile data terminal in each bus at the time and location the instance occurs.

Looking through the city’s report on fare evasion, here is where the 131,532 instances of fare evasion -– or 1.8 per cent of all ridership last year – occurred:

More than two-thirds, or 68.3 per cent, of the recorded fare evasions occurred on the 10 most affected routes. The most common route with reported fare evasion was Route 2, traveling from downtown to Meadowgreen, which accounted for 20.56 per cent of all instances.

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Eleven per cent were reported on Route 65, travelling from downtown to Kensington.

The report shows the most common location for fare evasion is at the downtown terminal, followed by the Confederation terminal and the nearby stop at Superstore Confederation.

The city is looking at creating a new transit bylaw to help with safety concerns and to restrict fare evasion, but Robert Clipperton with the advocacy group Bus Riders of Saskatoon warned the city to be cautious.

“There won’t be a one-to-one conversion of fare evaders to paying passengers,” he said. “There are examples from the United States where cities have decided to clamp down on fare evasion. And at times, the reports are that money spent on these efforts actually exceeded the amount of lost fares they were trying to recoup, so that’s another trip we want to avoid.”

One person ready to catch the bus on Tuesday has seen groups of people get on to the bus without having to pay, where drivers are left helpless and feeling threatened if they tried to intervene.

“So, it’s a real concern that the bus driver is not safe and then we’re not safe,” Simon said.

The city estimates that lost revenue to fare evasion is $394,596 last year, from $24,500 in 2021.

The city says “larger Canadian transit agencies” estimate three per cent to 15 per cent of fare revenue lost annually.

Officials are also noticing an increase in fare evasion at busy stops where larger groups of people board, like high schools and post-secondary campuses. The fare evasion report says a rush to board the bus before it fills up at a busy time causes some riders not to take out their pass or ticket and scan it properly.

Once there are nine officers working dedicated specifically to transit by next year, the city plans on targeting the most common locations and routes as initial pressure points, while also having officers do random sweeps on buses to ensure fares have been paid.

“We know that there are instances of big fare evasion in certain spots, so those would be places that we would target to encourage and change this culture of low fare payment,” city solicitor Cindy Yelland said.

“So, it’s going to be a multi-pronged approach with respect to the enforcement of this bylaw in general and in spirit, with derivation in particular.”

Council will vote on the new transit bylaw at its regular business meeting next month. Planned implementation is set for Sept. 1.