Bus Pass Pilot Program for Income Support Recipients in Metro Proceeding

The Provincial Government provided an update on the two-year pilot program to provide Metrobus or GoBus passes to income support recipients in St. John’s, Mount Pearl and Paradise.

The pilot program was initially slated to launch in April, 2020 but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Based on discussions with Metrobus, it will be ready for the province to distribute bus passes to approximately 10,000 income support clients in metro St. John’s in September.

The passes will be sent by mail and come with information packages containing instructions on how to activate.

The Provincial Government committed in 2019 to provide bus passes to all income support clients in the metro St. John’s region by partnering with Metrobus and the City of St. John’s and is investing $2.1 million in 2020-21 and a further $1.575 in fiscal year 2021-22 for the program. The program will be evaluated following the two-year period and this evaluation will inform future delivery.