The future of some city buses in Saint John are uncertain as the transit commission faces another budget deficit.

The city’s public transit budget is expected to fall short this year by between $400,000 and $800,000.

The transit commission’s budget has been in the red consistently in recent years and some city councillors are saying enough is enough.

“I mean, it’s just a no-win situation,” said Coun. Bill Farren.

Farren said a viable city needs a good public transit system, but council also wants to address the Saint John tax rate, which is the highest in New Brunswick.

“And we want to get away from that,” said Farren. “We can’t get away from that if we keep having boards and commissions coming up saying ‘we’re running a deficit this year, can you make up the shortfall?’”

That means some routes could be cut or some buses could come less frequently.

“To have a deficit of this large amount at this point in time, without anybody on our council wanting to raise taxes, it’s going to be pretty desperate to maintain what we have, never mind making up this shortfall,” said Farren.

The situation has transit users like Brodey Mersereau concerned.

“It is already inconvenient as it is, but I don’t want to see them drop a route in total,” Mersereau said.

Frank McCarey, the general manager of Saint John Transit, said there is nothing he can say about the future of transit service in the city until city hall passes a new budget before the end of the year.

With files from CTV's Nick Moore.