Halifax teens lament the loss of government program offering free bus passes

HALIFAX — Halifax high school student Teddie Rofe says the Nova Scotia government has just made a decision that will strip away some of her independence.

Rofe, 17, is in Grade 11 and works part-time jobs babysitting and cleaning. She also volunteers every week at a daycare in her community.

But she said all of this is now up in the air after the government announced it was slashing funding to a program that offers free transit passes for all junior and high school students in the Halifax region.

“I wouldn’t be able to do my volunteering, get to my job, or do any of that stuff” without the free bus pass, she said in an interview.

She said she was really sad when she learned about the cuts, delivered in the provincial government’s recently tabled budget.

“The pass gave me a lot of independence and more opportunities to explore and gain more experiences” without having to rely on her parents, Rofe said.

This province’s budget includes a $600,000 cut to the $1.2 million in annual funding to cover the costs of bus passes for junior high and high school students of Halifax Regional Regional Centre for Education and Conseil scolaire acadien provincial schools.

The cuts to the program are not the only area affected by the provincial budget.

Premier Tim Houston’s Progressive Conservative government has said it needs to cut $130 million in grant funding to address the province’s $1.2-billion deficit.

Education Minister Brendan Maguire said Thursday the free transit pass program for students has been “a positive thing” but the government must make tough decisions about cuts as they face fiscal pressure.

Maguire said the student transit pass program will be scaled back, and the remaining funds will be transferred to the Department of Opportunities and Social Development. That department has an existing program that offers youth in families on income assistance a free bus pass.

Dan Hendry, project director with advocacy group Get on the Bus, said the government is making a huge mistake.

“This is so hard to see, because the program’s been doing so well … Halifax had really been one of the leaders,” in terms of youth transit access, he said.

Hendry said about 30 communities across Canada have some form of subsidization or free ridership programming for youth, but Halifax’s model of providing students with an unlimited pass was among the best. He said introducing transit to young people creates transit habits that extend far into adulthood.

“By really normalizing (transit use), it helps create a transit culture,” he said.

Rofe’s mother noted that there are many families who don’t qualify for income assistance but cannot afford a monthly bus pass. A youth bus pass in Halifax costs $66 a month.

She also said the pass has made an enormous difference in her daughter’s life. With it, she said her daughter can keep busy, be social and earn some money without relying on her parents to drive her around.

“We live a very busy lifestyle,” Heidi Rofe told The Canadian Press.

While she runs a small business, her husband does shift work at the airport.

“I work nights and days and all over the place as well,” Heidi Rofe said. “So it’s been incredibly helpful for her to be able to come home from school on the bus and be able go to a babysitting job or work at the daycare.”

A Halifax municipality-run survey of 2,607 students found that 90 per cent of students are using transit for trips to school at least once a week, and 90 per cent reported using it at least once weekly for non-school related travel. Of those surveyed, 33.7 per cent reported that transit was their primary way of getting to and from school, up from 11.5 per cent before receiving the pass.

Rofe is one of many students who are urging the premier to preserve the existing program for all of the students who use it.

“We are young people trying to build our futures … I respectfully ask that you reconsider the decision,” she said in a letter she sent to her MLA and Houston.

Grade 12 student Neil Wang, 18, who works part-time at McDonald’s and as a lifeguard, also relies on the bus pass to get to work and classes.

“It is literally every day I use the bus,” Wang said, including to and from school, to both jobs, to his Cadets events downtown on the weekends and to spend time with his friends.

“It’s basically a ticket to freedom for a lot of us,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 6, 2026.

Lyndsay Armstrong, The Canadian Press