By Sheldon Spackman

wheels on what bus?

Blackfalds looks towards future transit options without BOLT

Jan 29, 2020 | 4:57 PM

The Town of Blackfalds is looking into future regional transit options with the City of Red Deer as the City of Lacombe prepares to pull out of the BOLT Regional Transit Service.

In a letter from the Town of Blackfalds to the City of Lacombe dated Jan. 15, Blackfalds CAO Myron Thompson noted administration is reviewing the service with Red Deer and will be providing statistical data back to council for consideration towards a potential service continuation between Blackfalds and Red Deer.

The letter follows a request from the City of Lacombe in late November to exit the BOLT Regional Transit Agreement on June 30, 2020 – three months early from the one year’s notice required. The effective date of termination is currently Sept. 30, 2020.

Lacombe say BOLT has seen a significant decline in ridership in July and August of each year during the out-of- school period that prevents it from being financially viable.

With ridership expected to be low during the last three months of the agreement, City of Lacombe officials expressed a desire to realize cost savings by pulling out early.

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However, after discussing Lacombe’s request on Jan. 14, Blackfalds council unanimously agreed to leave the termination date at Sept. 30, 2020.

Thompson notes in his letter to Lacombe that Blackfalds council feels an early exit would be a disservice to those who have come to rely on the BOLT transit service.

Thompson says BOLT users should be given an acceptable transition period to make alternate arrangements or adjust to a new level of service should Blackfalds be able to continue to operate following the current review with Red Deer.

“While we appreciate your desire for cost savings for your municipality, it is the position of the Town of Blackfalds that an early exit would cause a greater unnecessary financial burden to the taxpayers of Blackfalds,” says Thompson in the letter. “Further, the Town believes that a one-year clause is a minimum standard for a regional agreement, and we feel that the minimum is required to bring this agreement to a proper closure.”

Deborah Juch, director of community services for the City of Lacombe says they have not received an official response yet from the City of Red Deer regarding their early exit request, but notes the BOLT Regional Transit Service Agreement is a tri-party agreement, and without unanimous support from all parties, the termination date of Sept. 30, 2020 remains in place.

“The BOLT service will run unchanged until that time,” adds Juch. “There won’t be anything left to do with this, except for the actual wind down of the service, and by that I mean the bus itself runs unchanged until the last day. But we do have things like contracts for our shelters and our advertising that is happening on the buses as well and on the shelters, so we do need to consider what to do with those.”