The Donovan Elm West Seniors Group went on a bus ride Monday to help promote the city's Seniors Ride Free pilot program, which runs until Aug. 31.
“If seniors don't make themselves available to do that then it isn't going to extend past August,” said group member Delores Higgins. “We're hoping to get other days.”
Last November, Sudbury's city councillors approved a six-month pilot project that would give seniors free rides on Sudbury Transit all day every Monday. The program started March 1.
At the same meeting, councillors also changed the definition of a senior from someone 55 and older to 65 and older, a move they expected to save the city $175,000 next year. Lost revenue from the pilot project was estimated at $51,629.
On Monday, Higgins and a dozen other members of the Donovan West Seniors Group took the bus from the downtown Sudbury Transit terminal to Place Bonaventure Mall in Chelmsford.
Higgins said she had never taken the bus before the group decided to bring more attention to the Seniors Ride Free pilot program.
She said the bus drivers have been very accommodating, and she enjoyed seeing new parts of Greater Sudbury she hadn't had the chance to visit before.
Higgins said that while half of the group's members have their own vehicles, many seniors in Greater Sudbury depend on the municipal bus system to get to appointments and complete daily errands.
The group would like to see the pilot program extended to more days, and have the city change the definition of a senior back to anyone age 55 and older.
During the council meeting last November, Ward 5 Coun. Bob Kirwan said he wanted to expand the pilot project to free rides for seniors seven days a week, year-round.
But the city's finance chief, Lorella Hayes, said such a plan would likely cost the city $1 million per year.
After the pilot program ends, city staff will likely prepare a report for council, who will vote on the program's future, said city of Greater Sudbury spokesperson Shannon Dowling.
