Any change to fares on Kamloops buses has been put off for now.

Council has voted to defer a decision on fare changes that were proposed by city staff, which staff say would’ve brought in an additional $191,000 per year as proposed.

The hot-button topic was on the replacing the transfer system with a $4-dollar day pass. Several residents voiced concern to council on that matter, including Jesse Ritcey.

“I took the bus here, I plan to take a transfer home, as long as I’m out of here by 2:45 it will be valid. So it cost me $2 dollars today, and under these changes it would cost me $4 dollars, so my monthly transit costs would go from $24 dollars to closed to $50 dollars,” Ritcey says.

“So I did want to make sure council was aware that with the changes under consideration, depending on your transit use activity, some occassional users – like myself – would experience that doubling of costs. So I did want you to know that there will be winners and losers.”

Other parts of the changes included a modest decrease in the cost for all monthly passes, and the city says by getting rid of the transfer system it would get ahead of fare evaders.

“That’s probably revenue we should be collecting, but the systems that are in place are allowing it to sort of slip through our fingers so to speak. The other way is with cheaper monthly passes and the convenience, we’re expecting increases in ridership,” engineering manager Deven Matkowski says.

Councillor Kathy Sinclair was one of many at the council table who voiced concern that bus users in Kamloops may not all be on board.

“We’re really trying to encourage multi-model transportation; through our Transportation Master Plan we’re trying to make transit more accessible. I think there’s a lot of users who want that as an option, and they don’t necessarily want to buy a day pass, and they don’t necessarily want to buy a monthly pass.”

The matter will be brought up at a committee of the whole meeting at a later date.