Riders of Airdrie Transit’s Intercity Express (ICE) bus will soon have more options as City council approved the expansion of the service to include an additional daily trip between Airdrie and downtown Calgary on Routes 901 and 902, bringing the number of daily trips to six, at its meeting on March 16.
Transit Co-ordinator Chris MacIsaac said expansion of the service is needed to deal with overcrowding.
“It’s going to help with some of the capacity concerns we’re having right now on the regular ICE bus services during the peak morning and afternoon times,” he said. “It’s great news for our customers. They’ve been very vocal in regards to some of the capacity issues we’ve been experiencing over the last three to four months. Knowing that more buses, more seats are going to become available is a welcome sight for those customers.”
The ICE bus has seen a 265 per cent increase in ridership since it originally launched in October 2010, according to MacIsaac. Total ridership in 2014 was 127,520.
A bus already in Airdrie Transit’s fleet that is reserved as a spare in case one of the other buses experiences mechanical difficulties will be moved into regular service, according to MacIsaac, and a new mechanical spare will be leased.
At the council meeting, Alderman Allan Hunter said he was concerned the leased bus would meet the same quality of equipment riders have come to expect on the ICE bus.
“We contract that service to First Canada, so we will be approaching them to negotiate the exact vehicle type that would go into that mechanical spare role,” MacIsaac said. “First Canada provides public transit services throughout Canada and the U.S. so they certainly have the fleet within their overall business model that could meet our needs. I’m not at all concerned.”
MacIsaac confirmed that Airdrie Transit will have an option to provide First Canada with 30 days written notice if it wants to get out of the lease agreement.
Airdrie Transit has leased buses from First Canada before, in 2010 to 2011 and in 2013, at a cost of $2,000 per month plus an hourly service cost of roughly $70 per hour. MacIsaac said he anticipated the leased bus might be in service for a total of 20 hours per month.
All services provided by Airdrie Transit run on a cost recovery basis, and according to MacIsaac, the lease costs should be covered under that model.
MacIsaac is confident that the ICE bus service will continue to grow and his department is making plans in that direction.
“We certainly have a plan to grow that service. We’re doing it incrementally to make sure what we’re putting on the road is being utilized and is meeting the needs of our customers and meeting the needs of council,” he said.
Alderman Ron Chapman questioned whether or not ridership on the ICE bus is expected to remain steady in light of the economic downturn that is impacting business in Calgary.
“To this point of the year, we’ve not seen a decrease in our ridership,” MacIsaac said. “Average daily use of the service in January was 529 customers, in February that number was 524 so it’s a very stable number at this point. We monitor usage on a daily basis.”
“Post secondary (riders) is an emerging market for our service,” he added. “Now with more trips to and from Airdrie to Calgary, it’s going to make that a more viable service for students.”
The new daily trip between Airdrie and Calgary will be introduced as soon as an agreement to lease a mechanical spare with First Canada can be arranged, according to MacIsaac.
