Regional directors voted for a $5 Penticton to Kelowna bus fare at a Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen board meeting.

(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)

PENTICTON - The new bus service from Penticton to Kelowna promises to be a bargain following a regional district board decision on the route’s fare structure yesterday.

After some consideration, the board overturned a staff recommendation in favour of a $5 fare on the new regional bus service linking Penticton to Kelowna.

The board looked at two possible choices presented by staff in making the decision.

Option one would integrate fares with regional partners and also allow the use of UPASS which would promote student ridership.

The option one fare was expected to generate $120,000 in revenue, according to a staff report presented to the board yesterday, April 4, and would cost $8.

In option two, the fare structure would not integrate regional and local fares, requiring riders to pay a separate fare when transferring from the regional Penticton-Kelowna bus to local bus services. This option, which is estimated to generate around $75,000 in revenue, would result in a cost of $5 for a ticket on the Penticton Kelowna bus.

The staff recommendation for option one was overturned by the board in favour of the $5 unintegrated second fare option following board discussion.

The board's decision to select the $5 fare was based on the desire to give the rider more flexibility in fare options, in addition to making the service as affordable as possible, regional district planner Apollo Figueriedo said after the meeting. He said board discussion was fairly lengthy, prior to a vote that was split roughly 60-40 in favour of option two.

The new service is expected to be implemented in September.

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