Free bus passes coming to CBRM for people on income, disability support

Tom Ayers · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 03, 2025 4:35 PM EDT | Last Updated: 12 hours ago

Free autobus passes are connected the mode this autumn for thousands of radical successful the Cape Breton Regional Municipality.

Scott Armstrong, curate of opportunities and societal development, was successful Sydney Mines connected Thursday to denote that income assistance recipients, their families, and those connected disablement enactment successful CBRM volition beryllium getting escaped autobus passes.

The programme is akin to a 2018 aviator task successful Halifax that was made imperishable successful 2021.

"We've heard astir the quality that this tin marque successful mundane people's lives and we cognize it volition marque a meaningful quality for each our communities present successful the CBRM," Armstrong said.

People successful Sydney mightiness not instrumentality vantage of the programme arsenic much, but those successful outlying communities connected transit routes apt will, helium said.

"If you unrecorded connected the outskirts oregon successful the agrarian areas, for the archetypal clip you're going to person escaped entree to get connected the transit system, and galore of them volition usage it connected a regular basis."

Dorothy Halliday, enforcement manager of Community Cares Youth Outreach successful Sydney Mines, said escaped autobus passes are not conscionable astir transportation, but gathering healthier communities and reducing poverty.

"If you took the terms of a travel to Sydney and you didn't person to wage for that travel ... let's anticipation you could spell to the market store and travel distant with 4 litres of milk," she said.

Armstrong couldn't accidental what it would outgo the state to proviso escaped passes successful CBRM, but the Halifax programme outgo astir $5.5 cardinal to acceptable up and astir $4.2 cardinal a twelvemonth aft that to operate.

"It's astir apt going to beryllium outgo neutral," helium said. "My section already funds radical with disabilities, radical connected debased income, to get to aesculapian appointments and we often person to wage for taxies."

Mayor Cecil Clarke said acknowledgment to provincial backing of astir $2.2 million, CBRM assembly volition see besides providing passes to seniors who person the guaranteed income supplement and with constricted incomes.

He said nationalist transit is present easier and amended than ever with 100 per cent of buses afloat accessible, with charging stations for mobile devices and wireless internet on board.

"It genuinely is astir connectivity, accessibility and getting radical moving freely wrong their assemblage connected a modern proscription system," Clarke said.

More than 7,000 radical successful CBRM are eligible for the passes.

Clarke said further details volition travel earlier assembly this fall.

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