Leamington will once again offer free transit to voters.
Council met Tuesday evening and approved a report to allow free LT-Go Transit rides on municipal election day on October 26.
In-person voting will be held on election day with a ‘Vote Anywhere’ method, allowing eligible electors to vote at any location in the municipality.
The municipality aims to reduce potential transportation and financial barriers to voting.
LT-Go operates from 6 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Mondays, fully encompassing election day voting hours of 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The municipality operates three buses daily and doesn’t anticipate the need for additional buses on election day.
Kelly Sfetkidis, the municipality’s Manager of Communications and Corporate Identity, says they want to make it as accessible as possible for voters.
“Four of our five election day voting locations are within the LT-Go service area; one is outside the service area. However, because we’re using a vote anywhere model, electors using LT-Go can vote at any of the four locations within the service area.”
She says fares will be waived for all passengers, all day.
“This is much simpler to administer and communicate, and it avoids having to ask passengers whether they are travelling specifically to vote.”
Sfetkidis says they don’t anticipate needing any additional service on voting day.
“Average Monday ridership is approximately 124 passenger trips, representing approximately $370 in typical fare revenue, so the financial impact of waiving fares for the day is expected to be minimal.”
Fare-free service will not be offered during advance voting.
All transit fares waived on election day will be funded through the contingency reserve.