Peter Shokeir | [email protected]
Jasper’s new transit system has officially launched with Mayor Richard Ireland and the rest of council taking the inaugural bus ride on Sept. 5.
The new transit system includes three routes – one to the campgrounds, one to Pyramid Lake and one to Jasper Park Lodge and Lake Annette – and a school bus service for students who qualify.
“As awareness builds, which it obviously will, it will become, hopefully, a go-to option for visitors and for locals as well,” Ireland said.
Jasper Transit will be free for all riders until the end of September, and fare will begin to apply starting Oct. 1.
The “fare free” transit is expected to help build awareness and get riders used to the system.
Ireland added this would also give the municipality time to get payment options and other features ready for riders.
“It helps both sides. It helps with awareness and people adapting to a new option, but it helps us as well just roll out the thing quite seamlessly.”
The school bus had 28 students on the first day, with 20 students from the lodge and the remaining eight from within town.
It is anticipated that number will increase as awareness builds.
CAO Bill Given described how there had been various reports over the years recommending that Jasper explore local transit.
“The partnerships in Jasper are what are really enabling this to happen,” Given said.
“It’s great to see our small community able to bring together all these partners to do something that we might not be able to do independently.”
These funding partners include Parks Canada, Grande Yellowhead Public School Division and the Greater North Central Francophone Education Region No. 2.
Grande Yellowhead Public School Division will provide $115,000 to the municipality, which will help to offset the full $514,000 cost of annual transit service.
Parks Canada has committed $45,000 to the end of the year and is seeking funding beyond.
PWTransit Canada has been contracted to operate the service.
The transit system will have three buses, including one back-up bus and one school bus.
Given explained that the regular buses are temporary vehicles, and the final units arriving early next year will have wheelchair access and bike racks.
“It’s important to remember that this implementation is for three years as we look to understand the demand and give ourselves some time to build out a municipally owned fleet of units,” Given said.
“Ultimately, we’re looking at electric vehicles so that we can reduce carbon emissions from this service and I think really hit that standard that visitors and locals would expect from a service in a national park.”
Controversy has arisen regarding the procurement process, with allegations that the request for proposal (RFP) was inadequately advertised.
“In my opinion, the process undertaken by the Municipality for this initiative was an embarrassment and it did a disservice to the community and to the very idea of Jasper community transit,” wrote Paul Hardy, owner of SunDog Tour Co., in an open letter.
“The RFP was advertised and promoted absolutely nowhere, with the exception of a little-known provincial procurement website called Alberta Purchasing Connection,” he added.
Given responded to these concerns by saying residents and visitors are ultimately interested in service delivery and the results on the ground.
“I think the vast majority of residents are more interested in the service than bureaucratic processes,” he said.
“That said, I think council was satisfied that we followed all regular procurement processes of the municipality, which included publicly posting the opportunity, public evaluation of the opportunity and council making a decision on who to award it to.”
He added that the public is free to review council agenda packages to learn more about how the decision was made.
Editor's note: The school bus is currently white and not yellow.
