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Canmore council to look at increased transit service on weekdays, Sundays

“This will be a big part in increasing affordability when we can have Roam transit go to all parts of town and if it’s frequent enough it makes sense for people to go wherever they need to go without spending an extra hour of travel waiting for buses. This is an important step.”
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A customer waits for a Roam Transit bus nears the Shoppers Drug Mart in Canmore on Tuesday (April 20). EVAN BUHLER RMO PHOTO

CANMORE – Increased transit service could be coming to Canmore after the Town’s finance committee recommended council approve additional hours for local Roam transit.

If approved by council later this month when the budget is considered, an increase to 35-minute frequency during weekdays and an uptick in regularity in buses on Sundays could be in the cards.

“There’s so many reasons to support Roam and increase transit service on weekdays in our community,” said Coun. Tanya Foubert, who brought forth both motions for increased service.

“It’s all interconnected,” she added of increased service meeting multiple priorities in the community such as affordability, traffic and the environment. “You’re not just doing one thing. It’s all part of a combined approach to address an issue we have in our community. It’s traffic and congestion, it’s affordability.”

The recommendation still has to get council approval later this month when the budget is voted on, but with all members of the committee on council and the expansion long discussed it has a strong chance of moving forward for 2022.

“We need to have the service in place to get the ridership and if we don’t have the frequency, we don’t have the ridership,” said Foubert, who is a member of the Bow Valley Regional Transit Services Commission (BVRTSC). “I believe the service level needs to increase. I think we have a really good business case. Even the ridership surveys that the service commission support will lead to the success of the service.

“Of all the Roam transit routes in 2021, Canmore is lagging behind in terms of recovery, and frequency has to be one of the No. 1 factors people are considering when they make a choice whether or not to take the bus.”

The previous council was set to consider the increase in 2020, but it was put on ice because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Coun. Joanna McCallum, who chairs the BVRTSC, said with added options people are more likely to turn to transit instead of their vehicles.

“I believe frequency will feed success of Roam. … We know that traffic congestion will continue as the province tries to grow tourism in our community and double it,” said McCallum, noting the province’s aims to double tourism revenue to $20 billion annual by 2030.

“To do that, we need to bring on tools that will assist us in moving people around our community. Not just locals, but also visitors.”

The BVRTSC provided statistics that showed demand averages more than 500 to 750 riders between 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. when the Canmore bus runs every 70 minutes. The peak hours of 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. average much higher, with peak time at about 4 p.m. when about 1,250 riders use the service.

An August BVRTSC report noted a 2014 Hargroup study that emphasized an increase in service was the best way to gain more riders. While Roam is free in town, the report also highlighted how hours for the Canmore route have remained stagnant, despite Roam transit increasing service elsewhere.

The Town of Banff is examining the potential of having free transit in its townsite for residents only – having narrowly received the support of the governance and finance committee ­during service review – but it still has to get final approval of council during budget deliberations later this month.

McCallum also stressed the importance of increasing the Sunday service, especially with many people who work in the service sector needing more reliable weekend transit hours.

“We have a workforce that works on weekends and this is the service that actually has the largest lag in between pickups and drop-offs,” she said. “It makes it difficult the way the service has been the last while on Sundays for the workforce to really get an efficient ride out of Roam transit and this will assist with that.”

Foubert brought forward both motions, beginning with “Roam wasn’t built in a day,” which drew groans and eye-rolls from council and staff in attendance, but the play on words aptly surmises the growth of the local public transit network.

“I like going downtown on Sundays, but parking is getting tough,” she said. “Being able to do that on the bus for free, you don’t have to pay for parking or the bus and the bus comes frequently, we’re giving our residents the ability to make those choices by increasing the service.”

If approved, the $138,000 for the increase in weekdays and $50,000 for Sundays would come from the paid parking revenue. While it’s unknown what the downtown paid parking would bring to Town coffers – if it’s finalized by council – the Quarry Lake paid parking pilot project brought in more than first expected.

When the prior council gave the green light to the pilot in the spring, Town staff estimated about $80,000 in revenue would be earned, however it was closer to $220,000. The amount is expected to grow since the initial one-year capital costs won’t take away from the net revenue and the downtown program could add significantly more.

The Town’s manager of finance Chelsey Richardson told council the projected paid parking revenue for 2022 was $334,000, which will be put in reserves. The Town already had $100,000 going to one-time capital costs to install new machines downtown, which would leave $96,000 remaining.

However, in 2023, it would be $196,000 since the capital costs of the machines were completed.

Coun. Jeff Mah brought up whether transit on demand – where riders can book in advance – was an option to help service in the valley. The concept is typically used in smaller rural communities or larger urban areas where a consistent bus route isn’t needed and it is often more complementary than replacing routes.

McCallum said it is being explored in nearby Cochrane, but it isn’t in the transit commission’s strategic plan for Roam.

“[Cochrane will] have a couple of years of service to see an apples-to-apples comparison,” she said. “They also have a much larger footprint than us and it’s something that can be looked at. I wouldn’t say it’s cheaper from looking at other jurisdictions, but we can look at the Cochrane example and other examples nearby.”

Mayor Sean Krausert, who is a former member of the BVRTSC from when he was previously a councillor, said adding service won’t address all concerns on affordability in Canmore, but it is a start.

“This is only one small step that has to be taken in the next number of years to increase the frequency and reach of Roam. … No one step is going to change the world, but when you take step after step after step, eventually you get to a far better location.

“This will be a big part in increasing affordability when we can have Roam transit go to all parts of town and if it’s frequent enough it makes sense for people to go wherever they need to go without spending an extra hour of travel waiting for buses. This is an important step.”

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