By Sheldon Spackman

County council gives green light to transportation pilot project

Oct 30, 2018 | 2:45 PM

Red Deer County council has agreed to set the wheels in motion for the County’s participation in a two-year rural transportation regional pilot project funded by the province.

During its regular meeting on Tuesday, council voted 6-1 in favour of endorsing a Memorandum of Agreement between Red Deer County, the Town of Penhold and Town of Innisfail to establish a fixed, stand-alone transit route to service the areas of Springbrook, Penhold and Innisfail with connections to and from the City of Red Deer.

Councillor Richard Lorenz voted against the recommendation, citing low ridership numbers to Springbrook.

“Why would we want to bus people to Red Deer to spend their money there?” Lorenz wondered.

Currently, transit service is provided daily between the city and Gasoline Alley, with limited service to Springbrook. Going forward, officials say transit service to Gasoline Alley would continue and become its own fixed route service.

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According to county officials, the proposed route will travel along Highway 2A with stops in Springbrook, Penhold and Innisfail, returning to the City of Red Deer with an estimated round trip time of 90 minutes. Red Deer Transit would also permit transfers between users of the rural system with Red Deer.

An administrative working group has been formed with representatives from the City, County, Penhold, and Innisfail to oversee the development of the route and its service.

Red Deer County Mayor Jim Wood says giving the green light to proceed with the pilot indicates council is listening to its ratepayers.

“We had a study not that long ago that identified transportation was an important topic, something that they wanted us to look at,” states Wood. “We have an opportunity to collaborate with our other urban municipalities and through that, a great opportunity to maybe take a look at something that’s been lost to this region. Greyhound has left, we have an opportunity to see a local transportation system that will go between the City of Red Deer, Springbrook, Penhold and Innisfail and I think this is a great way to help both the residents and businesses within this region.”

With the anticipation of strong growth at Red Deer Regional Airport in the coming years, Wood says one of the stops along this transit route will be at the airport.

“It’s a pilot project, so should the ridership not be there in two years-time, the project doesn’t have to be there,” states Wood. “But we have an opportunity to see if people want to ride the bus, then we’ll know if the bus was a good service. Of course there are also lots of people that don’t drive, so this is an opportunity for them to either go to the doctor or shopping or whatever they need to do for the day.”

Wood feels the regional transit service will bring numerous benefits, noting ridership in Gasoline Alley is going extremely well and is helping to boost economic activity for businesses in that area.

“The numbers to Springbrook aren’t as great as Gasoline Alley but these things take time to get the ridership up,” explains Wood. “There’s probably no bus in North America that in fact pays for itself. What comes from the bus is the service to the ratepayers and the economic driver that it gives to the economy.”

County officials estimate the cost to operate the service is $350,000 per year (minus revenues collected) with funding to operate the service paid for by Alberta Transportation. A financial commitment is not anticipated from Red Deer County.

The pilot project is approved for a two-year period from the start date of service with a completion date of December 2020.