Ridership on city buses was the seventh highest in Prince Albert's history last month. (Susan McNeil/paNOW)

By Susan McNeil

Public transit

Transit use soars, two more buses expected

Oct 20, 2022 | 3:00 PM

With the resumption of city buses on normal routes and the addition of students from the public school system, ridership on Prince Albert’s transit system is peaking.

City council heard on Monday that the system has seen very high use since school started last month.

“With all that we’ve been doing, 36,233 people rode the bus in September, that’s the seventh highest ridership in the history of Prince Albert,” said Wes Hicks, director of Public Works.

Public school students also switched from using school buses to riding on city buses, an added boost.

“Most of that is the result of the buses and the app and also the students who are now taking the bus,” Hicks told councillors during the regular meeting on Monday.

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Hicks anticipated that as the weather gets colder, ridership will increase more as it generally does every year.

Another two buses are on the way to fill in during peak hours and when other buses can’t operate.

After taking into account the work needed to enable them to pass an SGI safety inspection, the new buses should be operational around Christmas.

Riders can track the whereabouts of their bus on the city’s website as Transit Live is now installed in all buses. Usage of the app has gone up from 160 visits per day last year to 570 per day last month.

Councillor Dawn Kilmer, who posed the inquiry to staff about the status of the transit system, was glad to see things have improved.

“I’m sure the residents appreciate the really clear and concise communication plan that you have. It’s wonderful to see a resurgence and it is our normal life moving forward,” she said.

The city’s transit system has not been consistent for over a year after problems with cracked frames on a newly purchased fleet and cracked frames forced the city to pull all of the buses.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com