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Bus passengers in Regina have helped some kids have nutritious lunches this year, thanks to the city’s Jingle Bus campaign.
From Friday to Sunday, all Regina city buses were Jingle buses, allowing transit riders to leave their R-cards at home and ride the bus for free.
The annual program operates by having Regina Transit and Paratransit collect cash fares and extra coins over the weekend and then donate the funds to a charitable organization.
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This year, that organization was Chili for Children, a program that has been operating in the city since 1979. It offers free, hot, nutritious lunches to students during school days.
Greg Stevenson, the executive director of Chili For Children, said there’s a growing need for the program with more people taking part.
“Every day, right outside the library here, we get about 50 people lined up, but we only have about 25 to 30 bags that we can hand out,” Stevenson said during a media conference Tuesday in the library at the mâmawêyatitân centre.
This was the Jingle Bus campaign’s eighth year of operation, and this year, it raised $13,083.55 in donations for Chili for Children. Stevenson said that with the money raised this year, the group can do some real good.
“We are able to give the 1,000 students we serve in the three schools an excellent Christmas dinner,” he said, referring to the city’s Albert, Sacred Heart and St. Luke elementary schools.
Brad Bells, the director of transit and fleet services with the City of Regina, said ridership has increased in 2023.
“Ridership has been up overall in the whole year for transit, but also on this weekend, we had more ridership than in other years,” he said.
“People, maybe with the good weather, are still finishing their last Christmas shopping, and again, they really helped us out tremendously by putting their change in the fare box and giving to this charity.
“This is our eighth year for the Jingle Bus program, and this is one of our highest numbers that we’ve had over the eight years.”
This year, the Jingle Bus weekend saw 48,500 riders compared to 36,000 on a typical weekend. That’s a 35 per cent increase in ridership.
The sponsors for this year’s Jingle Bus Program were Rawlco Radio, the Brown Communications Group, the Transdev Mobility Company, Pattison Outdoor Advertising, and Sleek Signs.