It’s going to cost you more to ride Maritime Bus due to rising fuel prices.
A fuel adjustment currently sits at 9.5 per cent, which will mean an additional four or five dollars on top of the cost of a ticket.
“In 2012, when I had to go up in front of the Board of Public Utilities in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, putting a proposal together that we would replace Acadian lines who surrendered their motor carrier rights and were leaving the region, we had to be approved to become the new bus company. One question was, are you wanting to change your ticket prices compared to the former company?” said Owner Mike Cassidy, “I said no, I do not want to change the ticket prices. But one of our major expenses is fuel. Fuel seems to have an up and down in pricing. I would like to have a fuel adjustment clause that if the price of fuel goes up, We would have an adjustment for that one expense only, and if the price of fuel drops the fuel adjustment clause would decrease or would be eliminated for that period. And I was granted approval from the two boards of public utilities to be able to have a fuel adjustment.”
Cassidy noted that the Board and not senior management or himself have the right to change the price of fuel adjustment.
They look at the price of fuel and it is the weighted average over three months.
So for April, May and June, the fuel clause is based on prices for January, February, March.
Passengers have been understanding for the most part, and they’ve actually seen an increase in ridership so far for the month of May.
“I want my tickets to be affordable, and I’d rather just have more people on my bus, and that’s what is happening right now. When you look at the first eight days of May, more people are travelling than what they did in April on an average per day travel. We were moving on average 300 people a day for each of our operating days, but for the first eight days of May, it’s jumped to 349,” Cassidy added. “May is just what we call a normal pattern of travel throughout the year. It’s not Christmas, it’s not the summer. It’s not students going back to school, or home from school. So it’s interesting, where you can see the demand for the bus service can be created when prices go up, and that’s a historical trend in our business. As prices rise, passing your ridership increases.”
