Transit service will now begin at 7:45 a.m. (file photo/paNOW Staff)

By Alison Sandstrom

New hours

Transit service reduced in response to low ridership amid pandemic

Apr 28, 2020 | 2:27 PM

Transit service in Prince Albert will be reduced as of Wednesday.

Prince Albert city council voted to cut the first hour of service and suspend the Rush Hour bus route at Monday night’s city council meeting. The decision was made in response to a severe drop in ridership due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before restrictions were put in place, a daily average of approximately 100 people rode the bus during the first hour of service between 6:45 a.m. and 7:45 a.m. That number has now fallen to 20 according to a city report.

The Rush Hour bus route, shown in pink that runs down 15th St. E. has been suspended. (Council Agenda Package/City of P.A.)

The move will save Prince Albert an estimated $17,000 per month, but Coun. Blake Edwards is worried it will cost them in the long-term.

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“My concern is losing ridership,” he told the meeting. “We’ve worked hard to try and build ridership and now we’re going to say to riders, ‘too bad, you’re going to have to go find an alternative.’ We can’t afford to lose ridership.”

Edwards pointed to the fact that transit is heavily subsidized by the city and residents who live in some parts of the Crescent Acres area will now have to walk further to catch the bus.

“There is nothing close to those residents up there and that’s a big concern. These taxpayers deserve a bus,” he said.

Transportation Manager Keri Sapsford said she doesn’t anticipate any issues with the temporary suspension of the Rush Hour bus route since it was primarily there to handle overflow that occurs during peak hours.

“One area where we’re going to watch is our East Flat route because it is one of our busiest routes and the Rush Hour picks up some of the same areas,” she said. “So we’ll continue to watch the East Flat to make sure we’re not going over where we can maintain our physical distance on the bus.”

City council voted 6-3 to reduce transit service with Councillors Terra Lennox-Zepp and Dennis Ogrodnick joining Edwards as the dissenting votes.

Meanwhile, Mayor Greg Dionne said scaling down the service was an easy decision on his part.

“I go by numbers and the main thing main thing that that Rush Hour bus was for in the morning was to haul students to [Saskatchewan] Polytechnic, Carleton and St. Mary’s. What are those three locations today? Closed, closed and closed,” he told paNOW. “At the end of the day, we’re going to have to borrow money to survive through this, so wherever we can save money, we’re going to.”

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom