When you are as old as I am, you take the transit seniors discount for granted. Such discounts are an everyday fact of life, but do you know that as a matter of interest, the senior’s transit fare is a relatively recent innovation? July 1st 1972 to be exact. Which in terms of transit history, that’s pretty recent!
When Vancouver’s streetcars began operating in 1890, there was only one fare: 5 cents. Everybody paid that. Well, I’m not sure how much children paid — that’s a whole ‘nother story for another day. The five cent adult fare stayed in place until 1918, but in 1900, the BC Electric offered a discounted rate of 25 tickets for $1, or 4 cents per ride. In 1904 special “workmen’s” tickets were offered at 8 for 25 cents (3.1 cents/ride). As the First World War came to a close, soldiers were also given a one penny discount. To encourage passengers in newly developed areas, the company also offered “Settler’s” tickets. They were available in South Vancouver and Point Grey before amalgamation with Vancouver. There is evidence of such a fare being offered in Burnaby in 1918. It was an application to the council to increase the fare, so this fare would have been in evidence some years earlier. (Not much is known about this fare, but interestingly it was still being offered in North Vancouver in 1949! Where the adult Vancouver fare was 10 cents, residents of North Vancouver could buy 10 tickets for 90 cents or 9 cents/ride.)
The Senior concession fare was introduced was on July 1st, 1972 on all BC Hydro buses in the Vancouver and Victoria areas. (Also introduced on this day was a special pass for recipients of assistance payments. It cost $5 for 6 months.) Seniors could apply to the Provincial government for a “Courtesy Card” to allow payment of 15 cents for single zone ride, which would normally be 25 cents. This equated to a 40% discount– in the ensuing years this discount has averaged 30-33%. (Although with the introduction of Compass, the discount on a stored value fare can be as low as 15-20%)
When the subject of fares arises (if at all) in discussions of transit history, we seem to restrict discussion to adult fares. Throughout out “transit timeline” back to 1890, there were many attempts to appeal to other demographics or encourage transit adoption. It’s an area that’s sadly under-researched.