BANFF – Banff’s elected officials have given the green light to explore the potential for free regional public transit for Banff residents, but have slammed the brakes on a proposal to increase fare revenues on local routes in the tourist town.
On Monday (Sept. 24), council directed administration to bring forward at service review Mayor Corrie DiManno’s pitch to explore the feasibility and cost of expanding free Roam transit for Banff residents to include Banff-Canmore regional route and Banff-Lake Louise service.
“This is a bit of a fact finding mission to better understand what the costs and feasibility would be,” said DiManno, noting her intent would be to fund free transit through visitor paid parking revenues.
“My intention here is just to gather information. I am curious as to what this would cost. I am curious if it’s even possible operationally.”
Currently, Roam transit on Banff local routes is free for residents and $2 for visitors. Canmore’s local service is free for all.
Banff-Canmore regional service is $6 for adults, while the Banff-Lake Louise regional route is $10.
Administration suggested this potential initiative be brought up with the Bow Valley Regional Transit Services Commission (BVRTSC) prior to Banff council consideration at service review, which gets underway at the end of November.
They noted Banff’s decisions affect other communities within the commission, which may also want to explore the possibility of offering similar incentives for their residents.
DiManno, who sits on the BVRTSC, said there have been approximately 40,000 riders to date since the free program for residents on Banff’s local routes was launched in late May.
“We know free transit for residents has been a great success, so arising from this initiative I’ve had several conversations with residents who’ve now asked about regional,” she said.
“I think there would be good uptake if we were to move forward, but I do understand that there’s a regional partnership with these routes and we can’t probably move forward alone.”
On the other side of the equation, Coun. Hugh Pettigrew was unsuccessful in his attempt to consider the option of increasing fare revenues to cover inflationary costs.
Pettigrew said he was concerned about the increasing requisition every year for the Town of Banff for Roam, which would be $2.463 million for 2023 as proposed in the draft budget that will be finalized Oct. 17.
“I think to be clear those rates need to be increased to keep up with inflation, and if we don’t, we’re just going to keep having larger requisitions,” he said.
“If we don’t adjust our rates, we’re just passing it onto the ratepayers of Banff, and I don’t think that’s fair.”
Town Manager Kelly Gibson said a Roam transit fare review was carried out in 2018 and another one is scheduled for 2023.
He said raising fees is probably not in line with the guidance the BVTSC has been given to date.
“Typically, we’ve given guidance around increasing ridership, and making it cost recovery isn’t a typical requirement,” he said.
DiManno said she appreciated the sentiment behind what Pettigrew was trying to do to reduce the tax burden on residents, but said she believes increasing bus fares goes against the current philosophy on transit.
“We know for transit to be successful it needs to be free, frequent and reliable, and I think the way of the future is working towards free,” she said.
“We need to do everything we can to support getting personal vehicles off our road network, and for me that’s heavily investing and being committed to transit. I think that it is a fabulous use of our tax dollars.”
Coun. Ted Christensen, who supported Pettigrew, said raising the fare by $1 would bring in about $1.5 million based on 2019 ridership numbers.
“I do think there’s a reasonable balance and some cost recovery is appropriate,” he said.
Coun. Chip Olver said she was comfortable with the plan in place for a fare review in 2023.
“I don’t personally support a fare increase because I believe we need to increase ridership and I think a fare increase will be detrimental to that,” she said.
