The Town of Crossfield is seeking feedback from residents who commute to Calgary to gauge interest in potentially implementing a daily bus service to and from the city's downtown core.
In partnership with the Town of Carstairs, the Town of Crossfield has created a survey and is asking Crossfieldians if they'd be interested in a local transit option to get them to Calgary's inner city and back on weekdays.
The survey can be found on SurveyMonkey and will remain open until Aug. 18. Questions include if respondents are interested in this transportation service, when they would need to use it, and how much they'd be willing to pay for it, among other questions.
"The Town of Crossfield and the Town of Carstairs are measuring interest from residents on the need/desire of having a transit bus pick up in Carstairs and Crossfield to go into Calgary in the morning Monday to Friday (excluding holidays) then picking up in Calgary late afternoon/early evening to return to Carstairs and Crossfield," the survey website states.
Lindsay Nash, the Town of Crossfield's director of corporate services, said the idea emerged after a resident approached the municipality about it.
While she noted it's still very much in the early exploration phase, Nash did confirm that many Crossfieldians commute to Calgary for work during the week – though she couldn't predict exactly how many – and there would most likely be some interest from residents in a local transit service.
“We’re just gathering information right now,” she said.
“We’re looking at doing a multi-community one, where they would start their pick-ups in Carstairs, stop in Crossfield, and then go to downtown Calgary – maybe one or two different locations. We’re still trying to figure that out.”
According to Nash, the results of the survey will dictate if and when the two municipalities decide to move ahead on the initiative. She noted questions that need to be answered include which service provider would be contracted, how regularly and when the bus would make the trips to and from Calgary, where exactly pick-ups and drop-offs would be, and how much a monthly pass for users would cost.
“This service would need to be ran by a non-profit organization, as Town administration would not be able to run this service for residents,” the survey website stated.
“Residents would need to purchase a monthly pass to use the transit service. Town of Crossfield administration has reached out to bus companies for quotes and information on running this program.”
While the Cities of Airdrie and Calgary have their own public transit systems, neither travels as far north as Crossfield. Apart from the Rocky View Regional Handi-bus Society, which provides a subsidized on-demand travel option for seniors and residents with mobility challenges, there is no form of public transit in or out of Crossfield.
Though the survey has only been up for one day, Nash said 20 people had already filled it out as of June 21.
“We’ll see what the results are and go from there,” she said. “Hopefully we can get this program going.”
