ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — People on income support in the St. John’s metro region should find it easier and cheaper to get around this April.
At a news conference Monday in the Foran/Greene room of St. John’s City Hall, Chris Mitchelmore, minister of advanced education, skills and labour, announced the government would follow through on a commitment made last year.
“This two-year pilot program will provide bus passes to all income support clients in the metro St. John’s region,” Mitchelmore said. “It is supported with $2.1 million annually.”
Last year, the Liberal government announced an expenditure of $3.7 million for bus passes. But because of a partnership with the City of St. John’s, it negotiated a better rate for the passes, Mitchelmore said.
Kimberly Yetman Dawson, executive director of Empower, the Disability Resource Centre, said the news is huge for her and the people who use their services, as many of them are on income support.
“It’s about getting access to employment, to education, to community supports, to recreation,” she said. “We’re pretty excited about it. … We’ve been advocating for this for years.”
Many people from community organizations that work directly with people on income support were present for the announcement, all of whom were excited about the impact this will have.
Joanne Thompson, executive director of the Gathering Place, says the news is tremendous.
“Many of them have mobility issues. Transportation is a real concern,” Thompson said. “Often people were left with a very small radius that they could live (in), because they simply had no way of getting back and forth.
“It’s going to be very welcome and lots of cheers of delight when I go back and report this.”
Sheldon Pollett, the executive director of Choices for Youth, said access to stable transportation is a huge issue for the young people they work with.
“It may be for medical reasons, it may be because they need to get to an addictions treatment appointment,” Pollett said.
Many of those young people also desire to get off income support, Pollett says, and having access to transportation to and from educational or employment opportunities helps them get closer to that goal.
Stella’s Circle CEO Lisa Browne said the freedom that comes with having the bus pass will mean a lot for people on income support, especially those with medical issues.
Prior to now, those on income support only qualified for a bus pass if they could prove they had eight or more medical appointments a month, as per the Medical Transportation Assistance Program.
Bus pass pilot announced by @AESL_GovNL @MitchelmoreMHA helps to reduce barriers for many of our participants #buspass #transportation pic.twitter.com/iQphwIqwbt
— Stella's Circle (@StellasCircle) February 17, 2020
Now, anyone on income support will receive the pass in the mail with instructions.
“To eliminate that is really quite significant,” Browne said. “For people who face many barriers, this is the reduction of one barrier.”
Browne says this will help not just people with physical issues, but people who struggle with mental health as well.
“You can actually get out of your house and get on a bus and go somewhere, even if it’s to go to a mall just to see other people,” she said.
Browne said the fact the pilot project is for two years makes her feel like there is a commitment to make it work.
Twitter: @andrewLwaterman
