Transit operating grants get a new formula, and the cities do the math
The new money follows ridership instead of population. For a city whose trains are full, that changes the ask.
The province posted the new transit operating grant formula Friday afternoon — the traditional hour for numbers someone hopes will not be read closely — and city finance staff spent the weekend reading it closely.
The old grant divided the pot by population. The new one weights boardings at forty per cent, which rewards systems people actually ride and quietly penalizes ones built for ribbon cuttings. Edmonton's early arithmetic lands about $18 million a year better off, phased over three years.
The catch is in the definitions. Boardings are counted from fare data, and the formula is silent on transfers — a rider who takes a feeder bus to the train counts twice in one reading of the document and once in another. On a network being redrawn around feeder buses, the difference is not academic.
Two city administrators, who asked not to be named because the file is before council, offered the same summary in different words: the formula is better, and better arrives in year three. Until then it is a promise, and promises do not run at fifteen-minute frequency.
