A local transit bus route through Okotoks will likely not be rolling next month.
The Calgary Regional Partnership (CRP) has recommended cancelling a local route running between the Pason centennial Arena and the Okotoks Recreation centre. The bus provides service between the two locations twice in both the morning and afternoon. The partnership is also recommending small cuts to commuter bus service linking foothills communities to the south Calgary LRT line.
The move is a bid to reduce costs to Okotoks, High River, Black Diamond and Turner Valley and address low ridership on some routes.
The four towns partnered with the CRP to create a regional commuter service, which began in Oct. 2016. The plan also includes local bussing in Okotoks only.
The CRP provided $500,000 in funding for the bus service. A review of the subsidized public bus system revealed the costs have exceeded the CRP’s funding and the four towns will have to pay a portion of the service costs.
Okotoks was facing a $48,800 bill. If the bus service is cut back it may still have to pay $23,200. The final cost depends on the amount of revenue riders generate in the next three months.
Okotoks councilor Carrie Fisher said she was aware the ridership numbers are low. However, she said she was expecting the number of riders would be high enough in the first year to generate enough revenue to keep the costs of the bus service below the $500,000 provided by the CRP.
“I wasn’t expecting costs,” Fisher said.
The On-it local bus runs north to south through Okotoks starting at 8 a.m. and again at 9:14 a.m. In the afternoon the bus runs south to north at 3:12 p.m. and 4:12 p.m.
A report shows that only eight people used the morning local bus service in the first eight months of the service, and 23 people used it in the afternoon.
Fisher said she voted to participate in the two-year On-it bus pilot project because she wanted to see a local bus service in Okotoks.
“I’ve heard from residents that we need a local bus,” Fisher said. “Our seniors need it, our youth need it, it is needed during the day.”
Fisher said the limited times and service level doesn’t work for residents.
“I think it’s the hours and the convenience of it,” she said of the low ridership.
Council agreed with a recommendation to allow administration to work with the CRP to develop a different local program, likely using smaller busses.
A business case will be presented to council in September for a new local bus service.
The CRP has also recommended cutting service back to Okotoks from Calgary on the morning commuter bus.
The On-it bus runs both ways between Turner Valley, Black Diamond, Okotoks and ends at the Somerset/Bridlewood C-train station in Calgary during peak commuter times in the morning and afternoon. A second route runs from High River to Okotoks and back.
The CRP is recommending busses don’t carry people back from Calgary to Okotoks in the morning because of low ridership.
In Okotoks, the publically funded On-it commuter service has seen between 186 rides per month when it first started up to 844 rides at its peak in January.
Fisher said the subsidy per user at that rate is around $1,000 per user. She asked if the Town could speak with the CRP about cutting back the On-it system further.
Councilor Tanya Thorn said the public commuter system is competing with the private Southland service, which is a long-term service and takes commuters all the way downtown.
“People won’t make the move to the public (bus service) if the future of it is uncertain,” she said.
Southland’s commuter bus customers continue to grow and Thorn said she’s heard they are adding a fourth bus in September.
