City council unanimously voted to change Airdrie’s community bus route from Mondays to Fridays, April 17.
The route, which is on a fixed destination previously scheduled on Mondays, travels to various retail and recreational destinations in Airdrie — including Superstore, Walmart and Genesis Place.
Council was presented with a six-month evaluation of Airdrie’s community route.
Chris MacIsaac, City of Airdrie transit coordinator, said the same seniors groups (ACESS Airdrie) and community stakeholders that were consulted prior to the route’s launch in October 2011 were asked how the City could make the route more effective for seniors.
“Our findings were that while ridership has increased over the past couple of months, it’s not at a level we had envisioned for the service,” MacIsaac said.
The City’s goal for the current community route is to help fill a “service gap” for seniors in Airdrie. Mayor Peter Brown consulted with seniors at the Diamond Jubilee Manor, and MacIsaac said most local seniors have similar ideas as to how the route could be improved.
“It comes down to something simple: the flyers come out on Thursdays and the sales start on Fridays,” he said.
MacIsaac said other comments from the community included asking the City to consider including a CrossIron Mills mall stop on the route and to look into expanding the service to run multiple days of the week.
Mayor Peter Brown said he is hearing from seniors in Airdrie who use the bus route that they would benefit from multiple days of service, as they often use it to get to appointments with medical specialists.
“There are very few specialists who (make appointments) on that specific day a week, so those seniors are really challenged right now,” Brown said.
Council unanimously endorsed the route change from Fridays to Mondays. The route’s stops and stop times will remain the same.
