As presented by Councillor Parent:
WHEREAS the Sudbury Catholic District School Board’s Student Senate, in collaboration with the City of Greater Sudbury, initiated a GOVA bus awareness campaign to promote the use of public transportation and educate students about how to effectively and safely navigate the GOVA Transit system, and where the training was very successful in providing students with information on routes and schedules, fares and passes, bike rack usage, accessibility, safety and security and bus etiquette;
AND WHEREAS User Fees for Student GOVA transit fare may be a barrier for secondary students to access GOVA service on a regular basis;
AND WHEREAS a free transit for secondary student program could be an opportunity to encourage secondary students to use transit to get to school, work and recreational activities, which will increase the likelihood of students using the transit system into adulthood, as seen in the municipality of Kingston;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the City of Greater Sudbury directs staff to consult with the municipality of Kingston, and other municipalities with similar free secondary student transit programs, to analyze the model of service specific to partnerships with local schoolboards in order for the municipality to provide secondary school students with free access to transit services, and provide a report to the Community and Emergency Services Committee by the first quarter of 2025, to determine if a similar program could be implemented in the City of Greater Sudbury.