Town officials will be undertaking an assessment in the new year of the transportation options and needs in the community.
The item was brought forward to the Policies and Priorities committee meeting on Nov. 19 as a result of a letter from The Medically At-Risk Driver Centre at the University of Alberta asking for submissions for a pilot project to partner with the centre to implement transportation options in the community.
The town's community services department will examine possible alterations to the Sunshine Bus service; making greater use of existing resources within the community such as the Olds Legion bus and Olds College buses; examining a volunteer driving program; and examining ongoing and increased promotion of existing services.
“We're going to assess the need that we have in the community for certain kinds of transportation, for people to get essential services,” said Barbara Hill, director of community services for the town.
Hill said that while the focus will initially be on seniors, she said the town recognizes there is a need to serve a broader client base as well.
“Our objective is to look at what kind of need there is in the community and then to see if there aren't perhaps some resources in the community available … that we could capitalize on better to meet some of those needs,” she said.
The initiative will also draw on information contained in the Central Alberta Economic Partnership transportation study that was undertaken a couple of years ago.
“We didn't want the availability of funding to sort of drive us down one pathway. We wanted to say, ‘what is it that we really need,'” Hill said.
