The provincial government is seeking public and stakeholder input into the future of public transit across the province, and Rocky View Handibus Society’s Paul Siller is hoping users of the program will participate.
“We’ve been waiting for this for twenty years, for the Province to actually be interested,” Siller said. “There has been no support for our kind of work since the middle of the 1990s, and especially over the past ten years.”
An announcement made by Transportation Minister Brian Mason on March 1 invited rural and urban Albertans to provide feedback into developing a provincial transportation strategy, and the criteria for future funding for municipal transit initiatives and rural bus service.
“Our government has a serious commitment to public transportation in the province,” Mason said. “Public transportation provides options for people to connect to their communities, workplaces, services, recreation centres and so on. Investments in public transportation options, such as regional public transit systems and rural bus services, need to be guided by the people who are served by those investments.”
According to Siller, the Province currently offers funding to municipalities to provide public transportation services if they choose, so it’s up to service operators to convince the municipality to support the program. Despite an average of 12 per cent growth throughout Rocky View County (RVC) in the past year, Siller said the organization’s funding has only grown by five per cent.
“We are a shoestring operation, and that string is fraying,” he said. “We are trying to get the resources we need to do the job, but it’s slow going. I’ve got to replace four buses in the next 18 months, and we are going to have to fundraise to do it.”
He said he hopes the engagement opportunity will show the government the value of public transportation so more funding and support will be available in the future. With more transportation resources available to rural residents, Siller said there would be fewer unnecessary hospital overnights and other savings the Province may not realize.
“This is an encouraging sign that there may soon be resources in place to help people stay independent longer in their own homes, leading to a better quality of life for the rural people who use the system,” he said.
Not only is it important for users to complete the online survey, Siller said, local agencies who work with clients facing transportation challenges can also provide valuable feedback through the stakeholder workbooks available online. Both the public survey and the stakeholder workbooks can be found at alberta.ca by searching “provincial transit engagement.” Feedback will be collected until April 29.
“We are really excited to see this happening,” Siller said. “Generally speaking, people might not realize how important this is, but it could really matter to the six municipalities that we work with in the RVC district, and the people who use services like ours.”
