JASPER – The Municipality of Jasper has begun work on establishing a transit service to Hinton as part of the community’s wildfire recovery.
A request for proposal was posted on April 8 and closes on April 30, and administration will begin evaluating the submissions on May 1 with the goal of selecting the vendor by mid-May and launching the service this summer.
“Once we evaluate and select a vendor, then we’ll be prepared with a bit more detail about that service and an actual launch date,” transportation consultant Erin Toop told council on Tuesday (April 22).
“But for now, we’re tentatively assuming that that service would provide about five round trips per day between Jasper and Hinton, as well as seven round trips per day between Marmot Meadows and Jasper,” Toop added.
Earlier this year, the Alberta government pledged $2 million toward developing the regional transit service to help workers and displaced residents commute between Jasper and Hinton.
The service will also go to Marmot Meadows, an interim housing site south of town that is currently outside the scope of the existing transit service.
Coun. Helen Kelleher-Empey asked if the people using the regional transit service would also be able to use the regular transit service to Whistlers Campground, which is adjacent to Marmot Meadows.
Toop replied that they would be able to use both services, but the municipality wanted to establish a separate service because the regular route only went to the campgrounds during the summer.
“And we know that people will be living in Marmot Meadows year-round for the next few years,” she said. “We made an effort to make sure that those folks in Marmot Meadows will have access to year-round transit service, similar to the folks displaced in Hinton.”
CAO Bill Given added that the bus would stop directly at Marmot Meadows, and the Alberta government required that funding be used for assisting displaced residents rather than enhancing existing transit service.
“We’re working very hard to make sure there’s a clear distinction,” Given said.
For the Hinton-Jasper route, the bus is expected to stop at Park Place Mall on the west side of Hinton, and riders can utilize Hinton’s existing transit system to reach other areas of town.
A fee structure for the regional service is still being determined, and there is no estimate on how big the ridership would be.
“We looked at establishing a service, establishing the best combination of length of time that we could have the service and frequency that we deliver, but we don’t have a verification of the numbers,” Given said.
He predicted demand may be low the first summer but would grow over time, and because these were provincial funds, there would be no benefit to the community if council decided to scrap the project early.
Other transit updates
The municipality now has an extra year to spend $1.8 million in federal funds on procuring three electric buses.
After the procurement process was cancelled last summer due to the wildfire, and administration reached out to the federal government.
“They’ve been quite understanding of our situation in Jasper and, knowing the mix of priorities in the community, have provided us the offer of an extension to our project timeline, which we accepted,” Toop said.
The deadline is now March 31, 2027, rather than March 31, 2026.
This comes after council decided to delay the procurement last fall. The budgeted amount for the purchase is $2.25 million, with part of a $5-million federal grant covering $1.8 million.
Toop added that administration would use this time to explore other procurement solutions.
The other $3.2 million of the federal grant has gone toward constructing a bus barn to house the municipality’s fleet.
The facility is scheduled to open on June 1, and the transit operator is estimating July 14 for the move-in date.
“Upon moving into the bus barn, we’re expecting to see approximately a $37,000 a year decrease in our operating costs due to the savings that they’ll receive from being able to house their buses on municipal property,” Toop said.
This summer’s transit service is planned to launch in waves due to Whistler and Wapiti campgrounds opening at separate times.
Starting May 14, the campground loop will provide service to Whistlers Campground but exclude Wapiti for the first three weeks. Full service will commence to both campgrounds on June 4.
