Low-income earners will be given a bit of a break when they ride the new Roam regional public transit service between Banff and Canmore.
Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) departments in both Canmore and Banff have been working with Roam to provide half-price trips of $3 one-way for low-income residents.
The new program came into effect Jan. 2, effectively replacing the community bus initiative, which completed its last run on Dec. 20.
“This is great,” said Banff Mayor Karen Sorensen. “This is a good service we can give to both communities.”
For the past six years, a community bus program has been run by the Town of Banff, Town of Canmore and the local Canadian Rockies Public Schools Division.
The program provided transportation for low-income residents to travel to Canmore or Banff for such reasons as medical appointments or to access government services.
This was done by letting people ride on empty school buses on their return journeys between the two communities on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
The program was always intended as an interim solution until a more formal regional transportation service could be established.
It provided free return transportation 1,957 times for Banff residents.
Banff officials say although riding Roam will not be free, as the community bus was, a 50 per cent discount provides an affordable option with a far more convenient schedule.
Alison Gerrits, Banff’s FCSS supervisor, said riders on the community bus only had two days of the week to pick from, and had to give up most of their day to travel into Canmore in the early morning and not have access to the returning bus for another six hours.
“It is felt the convenience factor will make up for discounted fares being charged to access this new service,” she said.
The Town of Banff has bought 1,200 Roam regional transit cards, each loaded with one return-trip, and these cards will be sold to clients at the discounted rate of $3 per one-way trip.
A screening process, similar to the one used for Banff’s local Roam low-income transit pass, will be implemented to ensure eligibility under the Low Income Cut Off (LICO) guidelines.
Gerrits said FCSS is also interested in exploring options in the future for a monthly low-income pass.
But, she said, FCSS understands the transit commission is first interested in determining ridership numbers and demand for the service before implementing such a program.
“In the meantime, we are most interested in being able to maintain a regional transportation option for low income residents, using the existing Roam service, which has much more convenient hours and is available seven days a week,” she said.
Since the service between Banff and Canmore began in early December, overall ridership numbers have been very impressive.
The new bus service between the town communities averaged 150 passengers a day in the first two weeks. The biggest day so far was Dec. 20, with more than 230 riders.
