Canmore and Banff form part of the only regional transit commission in the entire province of Alberta and over the past week both funding announcments and the release of a plan for local transit in Canmore have been met with excitement over the possibility of expanding the service in the valley.
On Friday (Sept. 4), the provincial government made a major GreenTrip funding announcement in Calgary worth $187 million for the Calgary Regional Partnership area. That included just under $6 million for Banff and Canmore each – for a total of $12 million in transit funding set to come to the Bow Valley.
“This GreenTrip investment will expand and enhance transit service throughout the Calgary region and the Bow Valley corridor. Improved regional transit will benefit both riders and the environment. Our government is committed to investing in infrastructure that gets Albertans moving while driving economic growth.”
The application for funding came through the Calgary Regional Partnership, of which both Canmore and Banff are members. Canmore Mayor John Borrowman chairs the organization’s transportation and complete mobility steering committee and noted the transit funding also requires a contribution of an overall project’s budget by the municipality of one-third. That means the $6 million for each Bow Valley community will require $3 million in funding from Canmore and Banff.
“The application we had approved by the province include projects that are not immediate,” Borrowman added. “But now is the time to get in on phase two funding. That funding is there for several years, so it is really good news for public transportation, for transit and recognizing the need to be more aggressive in finding more efficient and less costly ways of moving people around this growing region.”
Phase one of GreenTrip funding was granted to regional transit to purchase buses and establish the regional Roam route between Canmore and Banff. That route has increased in ridership this summer and the Banff local Roam system operates with almost 70 per cent cost recovery – second in Canada behind the Toronto Transit Commission.
Banff Mayor Karen Sorensen said the funds for that community are proposed to go toward a new storage facility ($4.7 million), new cutaway buses ($440,000), bus stop installations and improvements ($433,000) as well as a transit hub ($330,000).
“Both Banff and Canmore’s applications were heavily influenced by Bow Valley Regional Transit,” she said. “Clearly we spoke to them at length about what we needed within the region.”
However, the specific projects identified for funding by the province still have to be included in both communities’ capital budgets.
“There is still a lot of work to do … clearly there are budget decisions to be made,” Sorensen said. “The cool thing about this funding is that it is available to us and there is not a timeline on it.”
The $6 million set out for Canmore is to be directed towards a local transit hub ($3.8 million), local bus stop improvements ($1.2 million), purchasing two buses ($490,000) and bus storage ($400,000).
Budget implications for Canmore council are a lot more immediate because elected officials will be asked to approve establishing a local transit system in the community in 2016 during its upcoming budget deliberations.
Regional transit executive director Martin Bean was in front of Canmore council Tuesday afternoon (Sept. 8) to provide the results of a feasibility study on creating local transit.
“Canmore local transit is something that has been talked about and numerous studies have been done over the years,” Bean said. “We have gotten to a point where Canmore is ready for local transit service and the intent of this report is to be a basis for the implementation of local transit should council decide to move forward.”
The report recommended establishing two routes for transit in Canmore that run every 30 minutes from 6:45 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays. On weekends and holidays, the routes would operate from 8:45 a.m. A survey and public feedback was used to determine route design and proposed stops.
“In addition to servicing key destinations, the routes were designed to service as many people’s needs as possible with as few transfers as possible, so making it as convenient as we can,” Bean said.
Route 1 would service the general area north of the Trans-Canada Highway as well as the hospital, Bow Valley Trail, the high school and senior’s lodge. Elk Run industrial area will be included to allow those who work in that area to use the service.
Route 2 would service the Three Sisters general area, portions of Bow Valley Trail and include service to the Canmore Nordic Centre at optimal times for ridership. This route will also service the Elk Run industrial area during the times it is not travelling to the Nordic Centre.
Bean recommended bus stops not be developed as permanent infrastructure until the service has had time to operate and determine if changes are needed.
“This report is a basis, it is not set in stone,” he added. “There can be tweaks and adjustments made prior to implementation.”
The fare structure still needs to be determined by council, but Bean recommended beginning a transit service with a fare above the $2 fare charged in Banff for that local transit service. Financial scenarios for various fare options were included in the report to council for consideration. Using 30-foot diesel buses was also recommended for the new service.
“We do not feel at this time that a 40-foot bus is the right choice,” he said.
Bean also noted the GreenTrip funding announcement last week brings the possibility of developing local transit in Canmore closer to becoming a reality.
“It is exciting news and makes the project more feasible,” he said. “The success of regional service has been exceptional and we look forward to the possibility of local transit and having the same type of success.”
