The Corporation of the City of Burlington (the “City”) wishes to retain services of a qualified and experienced consultant (the “Vendor” or “Consultant”) to undertake a study to examine the benefits, risks, impacts and implications, and the fiscal sustainability of providing free fare transit to all Burlington Transit riders and provide a detailed assessment report on the impacts of fare free transit.

Fare-free is defined as public transportation service that requires no payment or proof of payment by any passenger when they board a transit vehicle.

The study must provide a detailed analysis of the following:

1. Fiscal impacts and 10-year forecast for both operating and capital budgets.
2. Impacts to transit service and service requirements, including required resourcing and assets for (conventional and specialized).
3. PRESTO contract and fare integration impacts.
4. Gas tax and/or other senior level government funding impacts.
5. Region of Halton Transit operationalization impacts.
6. Benefits and risks for free transit including environmental, community, economic, and socio-economic impacts.
7. Benefits and risks for free transit to City’s financial sustainability, service, and expansion impacts.
8. Impacts to specialized transit including Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) requirement.
9. Potential alternative funding/revenue sources to sustain and maintain a high quality and reliable transit service.
10. Benefits and risks to operators and operations supervisors, maintenance personnel, etc.
11. Other options to increase transit usage and a cost comparison of these options to fare free programs.