By Alex Cullen, Ottawa Citizen, April 14, 2017
The beginning of April saw the City of Ottawa begin to offer discounted bus passes to low-income residents: those falling below the Statistics Canada Low Income Cut-Offs ($23,298 for a single person in a large city like Ottawa, according to 2011 data).
Called the EquiPass, at $57 a month it is about half the price of the $113.75 adult regular monthly bus pass.Poverty advocates, while lauding the intent, criticized the city’s initiative as not going far enough, particularly as welfare recipients receive far less than people on the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP), who qualify for the current $42.25 a month Community Bus Pass. It will be near-impossible for a single person receiving $690 a month from Ontario Works (the provincial welfare program) to afford rent, food and other necessities, along with a $57 monthly EquiPass.
http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/cullen-alberta-example-could-help-ottawa-with-low-income-bus-pass