Airdrie city council has endorsed a notice of motion to embed the city’s $25 youth summer transit pass in its User Fees and Charges Policy, directing staff to prepare an amendment that would formalize the reduced summer fare — for July and August only — and ask that council consider reviewing the fee each year.
The motion, brought forward by Deputy Mayor Candice Kolson on June 3, aims to make permanent a long-running seasonal subsidy that had never been written into the city’s user fee schedule.
"I just assumed we were going to do it, and it was like an ad hoc thing that didn’t need to be in the user fees," Kolson told council. "So here we are. This motion is about leaving it in there permanently until such time as we need to re-evaluate."
In her written notice, Kolson proposed:
"...Administration be directed to bring forward an amendment to the User Fees and Charges Policy P-COM-65-C that includes a section that states Transit student monthly passes be reduced to $25 for the months of July and August indefinitely."
During the meeting, Kolson said the use of the word "student" was incorrect.
"I did not want a student transit pass. I wanted a youth pass," she told staff. "It should be youth. I just wanted to make sure that going forward, it'll just be youth."
In a post-meeting summary, Legislative Services recorded council’s direction as a request for administration to reduce youth monthly passes to $25 for July and August and to consider revisiting the fee on a yearly basis.
Kolson said she would have preferred the summer pass remain free, as it was in prior years when bundled with Genesis Place memberships, but accepted the $25 base as a way to support entry-level ridership.
"A lot of parents would let their 14-year-old hop on a bus for 25 bucks," she said. "It’s a low cost to them to give it a try."
As of May 1, the posted youth rate for a local monthly transit pass is $48.75.
Mike Korman, the city’s manager of advocacy and investment, provided recent usage figures for the standalone pass.
"July, they sold 42 student passes at $25 per and in August, they sold 54 student passes," Korman said. "This is compared to… September of 2024, we typically sell about 115 student passes."
He said earlier years with bundled free access showed higher distribution but couldn’t confirm whether youth who held those passes actually used the bus.
"In previous years, they were free with a Genesis pass. That was in 2022 and 2023… there is significant use. 652 in 2022, 614 in 2023," Korman said. "That was with the Genesis pass included."
Kolson questioned that figure.
"So that 600 — that’s the Genesis Place passes that were sold. That doesn’t necessarily mean any of them took the bus," she asked.
"Correct," Korman responded. "We included it as…"
"Not everybody’s going to buy a Genesis Place pass and then ride transit," Kolson said. "This was just a way to make it easier to get youth interested in riding the bus."
Coun. Tina Petrow said she supported the standalone discount.
"I actually like it separate from the Genesis Place pass," she said. "If they’re not a gym user, they still have those options… I would support this for July and August."
Coun. Al Jones also voiced support but urged caution on locking the price indefinitely.
"The only caveat I would have is that we confirm the pricing year to year," Jones said. "Because I mean 10 years from now, the council of the day — $25 might not be anything depending on the valuation of the dollar at that time."
Korman agreed.
"I would suggest revisiting the fee every year," he said. "Just to ensure that you don’t want to lower it or raise it either way."
Kolson said the policy would naturally return as part of the annual user fee review but warned against indexing the price.
"I’d be very, very, very, very disappointed if I seen a CPI [Consumer Price Index] number attached to it, because that’s not the purpose and intent of this for July and August," she said. "This is to give a base rate."
Mayor Peter Brown said all user fees are normally adjusted for inflation.
Kolson replied, "But this is a special fee... It would be no different than doing a $10 swim day once a month or whatever."
Coun. Heather Spearman endorsed the concept and said she would also support making the summer pass free.
"If you ever brought it forward as free, I would also support that," she said. "We also saw today that our transit support and our transit ridership probably needs a bump… Maybe that will change the future of our ridership in a very positive way."
Coun. Darrell Belyk said the Airdrie Board of Youth Affairs backed the proposal.
"We had a great conversation around… transit, and they all supported as well," he said.
The notice of motion also cited earlier council actions, including a 2018 resolution that reduced youth monthly passes from $47.50 to $25 and piloted free July–August fares; a 2022 decision to offer $25 student passes for three summer months; and a 2023 directive to freeze the summer pass at $25 while moving other fees to market rates. Neither the November 2024 nor April 2025 amendments to the User Fees and Charges Bylaw referenced the youth fare.
Kolson closed by thanking council for supporting the motion.
"I would have loved for this to be free, but I understand that’s not the world we live in," she said.
The notice of motion carried without opposition.
The reduced fare would apply only during July and August each year, as proposed. Administration is now expected to return with a formal amendment to the User Fees and Charges Policy for council consideration.
Sign up to get the latest local news headlines delivered directly to your inbox every afternoon.
Send your news tips, story ideas, pictures, and videos to news@discoverairdrie.com. You can also message and follow us on Twitter: @AIR1061FM.
DiscoverAirdrie encourages you to get your news directly from your trusted source by bookmarking this page and downloading the DiscoverAirdrie app.
Best Western Hotels and Resorts