REGINA — Free fare transit at F.W. Johnson Collegiate will continue next year.
In a close 6–5 vote, Mayor Chad Bachynski and Couns. David Froh (Ward 3), Sarah Turnbull (Ward 5), Victoria Flores (Ward 6), Shobna Radons (Ward 7), and Shanon Zachidniak (Ward 8) supported the motion, approving free transit for the school for the entire 2026–27 school year at Wednesday’s council meeting.
As part of a report detailing the results of a four-month fare-free transit pilot at the school from 2025, Zachidniak said she wanted to continue the success shown.
“We’ve seen triple ridership, and when the pilot was over, we saw 32 per cent of students continue to use transit. So, we got new revenue from students continuing to ride once the pilot was over.”
Need for action
Terri Sleeva of the Regina Citizens Transit Public Coalition said high school students need fare-free transit.
“There will be barriers to education, employment, recreation, and community partnership for young people.”
Sleeva said this can impact the future success of youth, but also cause greater social inequity in Regina.
“Increased reliance on vehicles, more traffic congestion and higher greenhouse gas emissions.”
Musfirah Jamal of the Regina Youth Climate Justice Coalition said that if action isn’t taken, young people will ultimately bear the consequences of climate impacts.
“We can take 1,000 cars off Regina’s roads, slash our city’s carbon footprint, and build a sustainable future before it’s too late."
Opposing views
Despite the rise in ridership, the report found only slight increases in attendance among Grade 9 and Grade 12 students when free transit was introduced. Meanwhile, average attendance for Grade 10 and Grade 11 students did not change between free transit and paid transit.
It also noted that implementing a future city-wide fare-free program would cost more than $16 million, and the city would lose over $4 million from lost revenue and operations, a direction Ward 4 Coun. Mark Burton said he opposes pursuing.
“We have many other pressing items [needing funding], I am not willing to support another pilot, which is leading to a $20 million expense, of which a majority of Ward 4 residents will shoulder the cost.”
Zachidniak argued that the attendance data did not provide an accurate picture of how many students were actually attending school, noting that the Canadian organization Get on the Bus has agreed to help track data throughout the 2026/2027 school year.
Other councillors didn’t oppose investing in transit, but felt the money could be better spent.
“I would be more interested in taking this equivalent amount and distributing it to the principals across our city to help out the most [in-need] families, which will have a positive effect on the education of students making it to school,” said Ward 9 Coun. Jason Mancinelli, referring to schools giving away bus tickets students from low-income families.
As the ultimate deciding vote, Bachynski said it was important to continue building on investing in transit.
“It was important to continue on. We can collect more data, do a bit of a jurisdictional scan, and see what role the city and potentially the province may want to play in that.”
As for where free transit in the city will head, Bachynski said this will depend on conversations with stakeholders.
“They [the city council school board liaison] would help guide us if we were to change that up or expand or work with the province on that.”
The cost of extending the transit pilot project for a full year remains unclear, though the temporary four-month pilot carried a price tag of approximately $49,000.
Administration will also return with a report to council on the results by the third quarter of 2027.
