Over and over again, city council was told not to cut its Friday evening transit service.

The requests came from eight of 10 people who spoke during a public hearing on the proposed operating budget at council's regular Monday night meeting.

"We count on the transit system to get to work," Bernice Montgomery said.

From her home off Range Road, she added, it's "wonderful" that she can get to Yukon College, the Canada Games Centre and the downtown core by city bus.

"I want to make sure I keep that service," Montgomery said.

With $2.5 million of the proposed $55.7-million operating budget to be spent on running the bus system in the 2009 fiscal year, the city is planning to cut its Friday night service.

As well, it will not continue the pilot downtown loop that took passengers from the city's core to the Canada Games Centre and Yukon College.

Few speakers commented on the downtown loop ending, though some, like Montgomery, said they don't use it because they can access its destinations by other regular routes like the McIntyre or Takhini routes.

Instead, council heard that many use the Friday night service to visit friends or to reach events around town they can't get to other nights because there's no evening service.

The service means that every Friday night, Porter Creek resident Cathy Antaya can make her way down to a housebound friend in Riverdale for a visit to play some Scrabble.

Without the bus service, the visit would mean a $30 cab fare home at the end of the evening, which would undoubtedly cut into how often Antaya could make it to Riverdale on a Friday night.

The bus service is used by many teenagers and adults alike, council was told. The bus service gives freedom to many people who would otherwise not have it, council heard.

Probably the most organized people in the city, transit users are able to get to and from work, shopping, social events and recreational facilities using the bus schedule.

While not always easy, "it's doable," Antaya said.

She'd like to see even more service offered during other evenings of the week so she could take part in activities and events at the Canada Games Centre or Yukon Arts Centre. She drew applause from the 10 or so people sitting in the gallery.

One speaker was quick to call on the city to extend evening service with buses until about 11:30 Friday and Saturday nights. That would mean he and others could go to a hockey game at the Takhini Arena or a performance at the Yukon Arts Centre.

Indeed, the special evening bus service added for last night's public hearing meant some got to take part in the event. However, two letters were submitted by wheelchair users Judi Johnny and Christiane Cramp (who has also brought forward a formal complaint to the Yukon Human Rights Commission over the Handy Bus).

The two women were unable to make the meeting due to transportation issues.

Both noted the need to expand the availability of the Handy Bus service and argued the regular Friday night service shouldn't be eliminated.

Coun. Dave Stockdale suggested lobbying various businesses and others to have their sessions earlier before buses stop running. However, the speaker noted it's unlikely facilities are going to change their schedule to fit Whitehorse Transit's.

Antaya was with the majority of speakers who favoured an additional charge of $70 per year to city residents that would pay for the transit system to operate without fares. For at least a couple of people, the amount seemed a "pittance" to pay for buses.

The figure was put forth by Stockdale, who said he had heard it would pay for the system. Transit manager Dave Muir confirmed the figure is likely in that range.

Only one speaker disagreed with funding the service entirely through taxes, suggesting there should be at least some part of it being funded based on use.

"To have the taxpayer subsidize everything so that it's free goes against my conservative nature," he said.

Coun. Jan Stick, attending the meeting by conference call, asked whether delegates would support having the question put to the entire community in the form of a referendum in October's municipal election.

Reaction was mixed. Some people urged council to put it forward. Others suggested it shouldn't be a question asked, but rather just added to the city's tax bills in the interest of the environment and to be fair to those who can't afford a vehicle.

Though the message of the evening was for the city to keep its Friday night service, almost every speaker praised bus drivers as being helpful and polite to customers.

Just whether the requests will result in any changes to the city's budget remains to be seen.

As Mayor Bev Buckway said during an interview after the meeting, council will review the report coming out of the public hearing before it proceeds with further votes to adopt the budget.

"Transit is always a tough, tough issue for us," she said. "Dollars are limited and the area that we serve is huge, and we're always looking at ways to improve it."

The wide range of comments means some tough deliberations for council, the maror said, acknowledging as well that if a question on how it's funded went to the public through a referendum, this would be a good year to do it.

"Because we have an election and people have to go to the polls anyway, if we wanted to do a referendum on something, that would potentially be a good time to put something on the ballot," she said.

The city would have to ensure voters received information about the exact costs for the service prior to the question being placed on the ballots, she said.

"A lot of people in town that don't use the transit don't want to pay and they don't want to subsidize it," Buckway said.

"So, of course, there were people sitting in the room here tonight who wouldn't want to see it on a referendum because they know it would get voted down."

Council will vote on second and third readings of the budget on Feb. 23.

Coun. Doug Graham was absent from Monday night's meeting.