(rdnewsNOW file photo)

By Alessia Proietti

Improvements needed

City of Red Deer and council to review snow removal and transit policies in 2023

Dec 6, 2022 | 1:27 PM

Red Deer city council approved on Monday the revisiting of the snow removal and transit policies in the first half of 2023.

On the final day of the 2023-24 Capital and Operating Budget deliberations, council approved reviewing the snow removal policy in the second quarter of 2023 to explore the possibility of a utility model funding mechanism, 24/7 operations and plowing on weekends.

Councillor Victor Doerksen recommended a $4 monthly charge to utility bills that would create $5 million in additional snow removal funds, to a total of $10 million in the budget.

READ: Red Deer councillor proposes utility bill charge for snow removal

The City responded that the current Municipal Government Act indicates it is not possible to create a “snow removal utility” because it is not expressly included in the definitions of public utility.

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For public transit, council approved for administration to not only continue their work to resolve service issues concerning Olymel, Parkland Mall and Sunday service, but to also provide council with the opportunity in the first quarter of 2023 to have a broader discussion on the system and the Action Bus.

Following numerous resident complaints, General Manager of Community Services Sarah Tittemore confirmed that public transit service levels are at roughly 75 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.

The City confirmed they currently have a federal grant for public transit in the amount of $1 million for the first quarter of 2023. However, it is not guaranteed if the grant will be repeated.

If council wanted to improve service levels back to full capacity, the City said they could fund an additional $1 million per year from various reserves or through increased taxes. However, they said extra funding does not guarantee that specific routes, such as Route 18 toward Olymel, would be improved.

Scheduled for September 2023, the City said certain underutilized routes could see a reduction in service to reallocate operators to more on-demand transit. They confirmed this plan could be accelerated to July 2023.

Tittemore said the City is currently in negotiations with Olymel for potential subsidizations to increase service levels of Route 18, which currently has roughly 60 boardings per day before from 5 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Councillor Cindy Jefferies responded to resident complaints that the City funds buses that are at times found empty.

“When was the last time you paid a fee to drive on a road? We subsidize the car as well. We have to look at this as a necessary service. It creates a more affordable community for people to live in and it’s better for the environment if we can get our ridership up. I think we need to flip our view of how transit fits into our future city,” she said.

The City said they budgeted to increase resident dialogue to improve the system to encourage public ridership.

READ: Red Deer plans to increase resident dialogue to improve public transit

Mayor Ken Johnston said if each councillor took one return bus home every week, ridership could increase by 4,320 trips per year. He said that while he rode the bus each day for one month in 2021 while running for council, he admitted he has not made much change in the system, and wants to improve that going forward by beginning to take public transit again.