A nickel hike in transit fares shouldn't hurt bus ridership — a fear expressed by councillors before they approved the rate increase Wednesday night.

Nick Iafolla, superintendent of transit's customer services, said the increase is in keeping with inflation to meet higher costs, such as fuel and wages.

"The fact is prices do go up and we have to make sure the service is paid for by users and taxpayers," Iafolla said yesterday.

Before passing the increases, many councillors said the fares should be frozen to encourage more people to take the bus. They said as fares go up, ridership declines.

But Iafolla said most people would be willing to pay an extra nickel.

"I don't anticipate any positive or negative reaction in terms of ridership. Most people will see it as acceptable."

The 1992 transit fares:

• Adult bus fare, both cash and ticket, rises five cents to $1.20 and $1.10 respectively. A regular monthly bus pass jumps $2 to $42 from $40.
• Child, student and senior bus monthly passes go up one dollar to $23.
• Child, student and senior special cash fares remain fixed at 60 cents.
• Handi-Transit cash and ticket fare increases a nickel to $1.20 and $1.10 respectively.

City hall was considering raising fares 10 cents and bus passes by $4 to increase revenue to buy new buses, but that was turned down by the executive policy committee. The committee decided a big hike would be unfair to riders during a recession.

The additional revenue produced by the increases is estimated to be $1,496,200. Transit's estimated expenditure for 1992 is $83,961,209 while revenue is estimated at $44,501,209 for a deficit of $39,460,000.

Transit director Rick Borland said the increase shouldn't have a large impact on the transit budget.

He said the biggest impact on transit revenue is the poor economy. With more people out of work, fewer people take the bus.