B.C. introduces flexible bus pass supplements to people on disability assistance

VICTORIA – British Columbia is providing a new payment to more than 110,000 people who receive disability assistance to help with their transportation needs.

The transportation supplement is worth $52 a month and will be added to monthly assistance payments, starting with the Dec. 20 payment.

Social Development Minister Shane Simpson says the monthly payments fix changes to the system introduced by the previous Liberal government.

Disability groups complained when the Liberal policy left them paying for their own bus passes after it increased monthly assistance rates by $77.

Simpson says the new $52 supplement will not be deducted from the monthly payments and it will cost the province about $70 million annually.

The province’s minority NDP government recently increased monthly disability payments by $100 to $1,133, while earnings exemptions were increased by $200 a month.