Low income transit pass program to grow this year, but passes will still be out of reach for poorest of the poor

Halifax is poised to make its低收入运输通行证pilot program永久性，并开始与该省谈论过境通行证的收入援助接收者手中。

If council approves the recommendation from their Transportation Standing Committee, the city will start accepting applications for the new permanent program in May, with a plan to have up to 1,000 people who make $33,000 or less eligible to purchase half-price monthly transit passes starting in July.

工作人员对该计划进行了一项重要的调整：他们将不再将室友视为个人家庭的一部分，因此我们中的那些共享生活空间以实现生计的人不会受到惩罚。

There is of course room for further improvement. The system could use a mechanism to adjust the household income threshold (currently $33,000) according to number of dependents, so that low income parents can afford to get their kids around on the bus.

1,000的限制似乎很低。虽然花了几个星期的时间才能填写足够的申请，以填补飞行员的500个景点，但一旦该单词出来，纽约市在关闭大门之前接受了573个申请。结果，五个申请并获得该计划资格的遗憾灵魂被拒之门外。（另有68个申请不完整或不符合标准。）

Considering that 100 per cent of surveyed participants said they would participate again if it was offered, and considering the buildup of publicity and word of mouth, I fear that limiting the number to 1,000 means we’ll be turning away far more than five low income earners in 2017.

然后，当前计划中有一个很大的漏洞，人们从第一天开始就一直指出：这并不能真正帮助我们最贫穷的公民。

低收入交通通行证计划完全不包括大约6,000名收入援助接收者，他们从社区服务中获得运输津贴。至于其他7,000名左右的收入援助人员（大概是根据社区服务不需要运输需求），从技术上讲，他们可以参加该计划的资格，但是谁知道他们将如何将仍然存在的$ 39/月的股份划分为39美元当一个成年人的收入率在每月550美元的范围内时，过境通行证。

市政府工作人员不再改变规则，以允许该计划中有运输津贴的人，但他们表示打算“与新斯科舍省进行讨论，以评估向目前获得运输补贴的人提供过境通行证的机会。”

这可能是什么意思？

去年五月，我写道about the potential for the Department of Community Service to buy a year’s worth of transit passes for all 13,000 of its Halifax clients, and still only use half of its current budget for transportation allowances. Such is the power of the bulk purchase. Just ask university students who have been getting $19/month transit passes negotiated by Halifax Transit and their student unions.

该省说，讨论细节还为时过早，但承认他们“与哈利法克斯地区的市政当局就可能的伙伴关系机会进行了初步对话，”社区服务部发言人希瑟·费尔贝恩（Heather Fairbairn）表示。

解决超高收入的问题的另一个可能解决的问题是确定过境通行证价格的滑动量表，例如卡尔加里市使用的系统并由艾伯塔省的补贴。Calgary Slid Scale System不仅仅是两个类别：我们中的少于或超过33,000美元的$ 33,000，具有三个收入门槛，每月三个运输通行证价格：5.05美元，35.35美元或50.50美元。

卡尔加里的系统不仅因其滑动量表而引人注目，而且是其简单性和效率。这是一个较大的系统的一部分Fair Entry, which centralizes the application process for all low income programs run by the city, from discounted recreation programs to property tax relief to transit passes. This makes a heck of a lot of sense, especially when you consider that in Halifax there’s at least two current programs focussed on low income earners, and there probably would be more if it weren’t such a bureaucratic nightmare just figuring out who gets to call themselves “low income.” Not to mention that the people planning and executing the low income transit pass program are transit planners. It’s hardly their wheelhouse.

人力资源管理能否达到类似滑动scales or Fair Entry is anyone’s guess. There are fans on council. During committee discussion last week, councillors Waye Mason and Sam Austin put in a good word for sliding scales, and Mayor Mike Savage’s election platform from the fall specifically mentions Calgary’s Fair Entry program. We don’t yet know where the Department of Community Services stands, though we do know that either a bulk purchase or sliding scale system will likely require some provincial funding support.

In the end, if Halifax Transit is focused on getting more people on buses (by getting more passes in wallets), and if the Department of Community Services is focussed on getting better transportation access for its clients, then their collaboration on something — anything — to help our poorest citizens is inevitable. For the sake of the income assistance recipients among us who can’t afford to get to work, volunteering, or educational opportunities in our fair city, let’s hope it’s sooner rather than later.