March 21, 2013Dear Sir,On March 18, the House of Assembly approved the new pricing system for public transportation, leaving the fees for monthly and quarterly passes unchanged as well as keeping the bus free for students.On March 19, the honourable members approved legislation to end the exemption for vehicle licensing fees for seniors (although still providing a helpful 50 percent discount) and at the same time increased the cost of all fees by three precent. Those amendments were to make the system “fair” according to the Transport Minister, as the previous pricing system was “unsustainable”.Currently, a monthly bus pass costs $55 and is purchased almost entirely by the working population. Who else would require a bus pass? Even if the person who buys this $55 pass only uses the bus to go to and from work (without making more than those two trips in a day and with no usage on weekends), the minimum value of the bus pass is $120 given the previous bus price of $3 ($6 per day, five days per week, four weeks per month).On one day, the honourable members approved the continuation of a $65 (minimum) subsidy per bus pass (over 50 percent), and then the next day approved increasing the costs to seniors for their transport. Continuing a giveaway to those who work while making the elderly pay more isn’t right to me.I would think that the public would be more open to an increase of maybe $5 or $10 to a monthly pass than they would be to enacting legislation that forces senior citizens to have to pay more.JUSTIN BRANGMANHamilton