INNISFAIL – The town’s Community Bus will no longer be used for trips outside Alberta.
As well, the town’s Transportation Committee will begin a thorough analysis of the vehicle’s projected lifespan at its next meeting on Jan. 30. It is expected committee members will also look at current kilometre readings and what groups are renting the bus. The committee could also recommend higher rental rates for out-of-town users, and place higher usage priority for local users.
Along with a $45 an hour cost for the driver of the Community Bus, the current rental price for locals is $2 an hour, while out-of-town users pay $2.20.
“We are cheap, right, and that is why people want to book ours because we are cheap opposed to the major companies that charter out,” said Heather Whymark, the town’s director of corporate services who presented council with the report at its regular meeting on Jan. 13.
“We are not going to be extremely low, but I did get a sort of a feeling from council that may not be the direction they want. I got a little feeling there of keeping it very local.”
Whymark’s transportation report was presented with recommendations to revise hours of operation for the extended hours program for the town’s handivan, and to end all out-of-province trips for the Community Bus.
Following discussion, council approved the revised handivan hours of operation, which calls for the cancellation of service on Wednesday and Thursday evenings, and ended all out-of-province trips for the Community Bus.
Council was told the Community Bus was rarely taken outside of Alberta but it was also noted current provincial regulations, including those for insurance and inspections, for inter-provincial transportation have become costly and troublesome for municipalities to navigate.
“To go across provincial lines I can’t believe the red tape and crap they are coming up with just to go across our own country,” said Mayor Jim Romane. “If one vehicle of your fleet goes across the line and affects your whole fleet how bad is that? These provincial legislators drive you nuts.”
As well, there was concern with council members that with the current age of the 47-seat Community Bus, a replacement vehicle purchased brand new in 2009 from Winnipeg-based Motor Coach Industries for about $500,000, along with additional wear and tear from driving longer distances, it could force the town to purchase a new bus sooner rather than later, a cost estimated to be around $800,000.
“It’s a real possibility for sure. As long as it's used for its intent for the community. To me that is all we should be concerned about. No limits there, but why on earth are we renting it out to others who are out of the community?" said Romane. “The only reason they are renting out our bus is because it’s cheaper than a commercial bus line. We got to set some limitations on how far out we reach to market that bus.”
In the meantime, Whymark said the town is now left with a challenging problem of how to manage the bus service. While it may be good for the community to be the first priority, it would not be financially viable to have the half-million-dollar bus just “sitting there doing nothing” if there are limited local clients to serve, a fact now brought home with fewer requests coming from the Innisfail Eagles hockey club due to the team’s drastically shortened season.
“So there is a catch-22 with that,” said Whymark, adding she has a lot of work ahead collecting usage stats from the Innisfail Royal Canadian Legion, which manages the service. “At that next meeting when that next report comes there is going to be some heavy statistics regarding the bus.”
Whymark said the committee has been talking about stepping up marketing and promotion for the service to other potential users, such as the schools and local recreation and arts groups.
“I don’t know if they even know they can rent the bus,” said Whymark. “We didn’t have to promote it before because the hockey groups controlled it through the winter, but now with that starting to diminish we should be putting it out to those other user groups.
“We can’t let it sit idle either,” she added.
