Refugee Bus Pass Program extended additional two months

The Refugee Bus Pass Support Program in our city was extended for an additional two months. In July of last year, Lethbridge city council approved $90,000 of funding for Lethbridge Transit to provide a free six month bus pass to all new refugees arriving in our city. In September, council allocated $15,000 from the contingencies fund to continue with the program. Staff from the city say they will use up the remaining money until the end of February.

“We had several bus passes from both sections that were unallocated, so that ended up allowing us to have about $4,000. And in the December uptake on the passes was actually less than we were projecting. So that actually allowed us to have some additional funding that we believe will get us through the two months until- until the new policy can be adopted,” states Mike Fox, the director of community services for the city.

“It’s great that Council recognized this gap in the community, and it’s really doing a lot of good, and we’re really seeing a huge positive impact on this,” says Tim Sanderson, the general manager of Lethbridge Transit.

Lethbridge Transit will issue two-month bus passes for residents in January and one-month passes to applicants in February until funding runs out. A Transit Support Pass Program policy will be presented to the Governance Standing Policy Committee meeting on February 23 for ongoing operations of the program.

For more information or to apply you can visit https://www.lethbridge.ca/Things-To-Do/Pages/BusPassSupport.aspx