Local mayors and former MLA Cal Dallas at the launch of the BOLT bus in 2014. (rdnewsNOW file photo)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

back in the crosshairs

BOLT Transit facing third strike from Lacombe city council

Sep 14, 2019 | 11:45 AM

For a third time, BOLT Transit’s life is in the crosshairs of Lacombe city council.

In May 2018, it was Mayor Grant Creasey, as well as councillors Chris Ross and Reuben Konnik calling for change. A 4-3 vote ultimately left BOLT running, but with Saturday service to and from Red Deer cancelled.

In February, Ross led the charge to once again cut ties. Eventually, that was denied by council in another 4-3 vote. In both cases, council members argued that it wasn’t worth putting money into a system that cost more to operate than the amount of revenue coming in.

The matter will return to Lacombe city council for debate on Sept. 23 when Councillor Don Gullekson will propose shifting away from BOLT in favour of a local transit system.

“I voted to keep BOLT (previously) with the provision that a committee would be struck to look at making changes to make it more viable and more attractive to users,” he says. “In the time the committee has met, there’s been very little movement in that direction, and an example of that I get from citizens is that there’s a large bus driving around Lacombe with one person in it, the driver. Is that economical, is that good for our environment? I would say no. The perception of it to our citizens is poor.”

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(Source: City of Lacombe)

Gullekson believes a new system solely for Lacombe could be brought in by expanding the current Connex bus, which serves seniors and those with special needs.

Recent statistics show a nearly 17 per cent increase in BOLT ridership in May 2019 compared to May 2018 across the three communities it serves. Ridership was also up in April, but decreased year over year from January to March. In 2018, there were 20,348 rides taken.

A report presented by the BOLT Governance Committee in January 2019 asked what is stopping people from using the service, one suggestion being there are too few stops. It’s also suggested that the 45-minute trip is too long.

(Source: City of Lacombe)

Blackfalds Mayor Richard Poole says if Lacombe city council were to approve detaching itself from BOLT, that could cause issues for his town.

“We would have half of our partnership dissolve so that would mean the bus service would become much more expensive, and we would have to really look at the entire program and decide whether or not we could keep it going,” he says.

“Right now we still have strong support for the program. We understand there’s a lot of room for growth within the program, but we are confident that would happen over the next couple of years. We also feel comfortable that what is happening is serving our population.”

BOLT started up in 2014 as a means to replace the departing Greyhound service. The agreement between Lacombe, Blackfalds and The City of Red Deer came with an 18-year term. Both Blackfalds and Lacombe pay well over $200,000 annually to keep the service up and running.