By Tyler Marr

Proposed transit changes mulled by council

Jul 24, 2017 | 8:27 PM

The topic of bus ridership in Prince Albert, got councillors’ wheels turning during thier recent city counicl meeting.

Transportation and traffic manager Keri Sapsford presented a plan from a recent public transit consultation that would see the addition, removal and rearranging of stops to improve service. The changes are expected to cut each line down to a 30-minute loop.

These changes included the addition of 10 stops on the West Hill Route, one to the East Hill, removing two and adding one in the West Flat area, the removal and addition of three in the East Flats, and adding three to the All Day route. As well, the suggestion was to alter the 15th Street Shuttle Route, renaming it the Post-Secondary Special and adding seven stops.

The new larger buses the city purchased are due to arrive this November, and will be used to accommodate the overflow on some of the routes. A three-month trial for the extension of hours would begin in September.

Not everyone was on board with the recommendations, including Coun. Dennis Ogrodnick. He took issue with the Muzzy Drive, 28th Street and 22nd Street portion of the 15th Street Shuttle Route being nixed.

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“I can’t support such a report when we start eliminating a service to a huge area of the city,” he said. 

According to Sapsford, this section of the route only ran at rush hour and only saw about 10 riders. She said the cut would help lower the routes’ time.

Mayor Greg Dionne thought the report “made sense” and was in favour of changes.

“At the end of the day, council has to remember one thing; this is our heaviest subsidized service,” he said. “Unfortunately, when we move routes, we are going to piss 10 people off.”

He added, “What we should do is look at some of these routes and see how many do we need to ride the bus to make sense.”

Prince Albert has actually attracted higher ridership numbers over the past years. But when public transit is subsidized to the tune of nearly $600,000 a year, ensuring the money was well spent was a common theme among councillors.

Coun. Blake Edwards said this is why the city needs to further encourage even more ridership. He suggested possibly expanding some routes, saying “I don’t think we are hitting all the people we could.”

Citing requests, he pointed to Little Red River Park and said a route out there could not only encourage riders to take the bus, but also increase usage of park services.

“When we are bringing in brand new buses, maybe that is something we do need to look at,” Edwards said. 

The city needed an estimated $91,000 needed to cover costs of the extended hours trial, but the question arrose of where that money would come from. The city applied to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) to fund the pilot project. However, this funding is not expected to be approved until October, and if the city does not receive the money, they would have to dip into the Fiscal Stabilization Fund to cover the costs.

This was of concern for Coun. Ted Zurakowski. He said council had to “be careful” when looking at funding a project this way, though he wanted to see the extended hour trial take place.

“Rather than just a blanket, let’s throw money at it. We are trying to be more efficient, and I think we see that. But I think we also have to make sure we don’t spend like drunken teachers here and keep moving on and throw money at it,” he said. “I would like to see the extended hours as well, but I am not comfortable with this process of dipping into this fund.”

Ultimately, the proposal was approved but is not final. It will come back to council at their Aug. 8 meeting for a formal stamp of approval.

tyler.marr@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JournoMarr