BOYLE – A private bus transportation company’s request for nearly $70,000 in funding to continue operations left councillors in both the Town of Athabasca and the Village of Boyle flummoxed, with both municipalities pointing to services offered by other institutions that could help bridge the gap.
Councillors in the town and village both voted unanimously to deny the request for funding from Cold Shot, an Edmonton-based bus company. Cold Shot was looking for $10,000 from Boyle and just under $45,000 from Athabasca, with Athabasca councillors also voting to send a letter to the company outlining the town’s participation in the regional community transportation program.
“I can’t personally support this. This is a private corporation,” said Athabasca Mayor Rob Balay. “If we were going to invest the money, I would rather it go into our community transportation program.”
Cold Shot couldn’t be reached for comment, but in a letter attached to the funding request, Sunny Balwaria, Cold Shot’s president, said the company was estimating a fixed daily operations cost of $40 for Boyle and $179 for the town of Athabasca.
“Our financial situation is dire and without immediate support we may be forced to make more route closures,” wrote Balwaria in the letter, dated Dec. 21. “I respectfully request that (the municipalities) consider providing loss relief to help us navigate the current inflationary pressures.”
Cold Shot served zero customers in Boyle in 2023, down from 13 in 2022. The company served 202 in Athabasca in 2023, down from 211 in 2022. Both communities are located along major routes for Cold Shot, leaving councillors a little confused about the funding request.
“This is a private, for-profit business, and this isn’t a free service being offered — people pay for this, so for us to invest $10,000, the people that use the service will pay for it,” said Boyle Mayor Colin Derko. “At the end of the day, it’s a management issue.”
Despite a statement made in Cold Shot’s letter that they were the only service provider in the region, the village is also serviced by Red Arrow’s Edmonton to Fort McMurray route, which stops in Wandering River, Grassland, and Boyle as needed. While Athabasca isn’t on that route, town councillor Sara Graling pointed out that the community transportation bus can fulfil a similar purpose.
“They’re asking for funding as a private enterprise,” said Graling. “Because of the threatening nature of their letter where they indicate that the media should be aware of the services required, I think we should send them a letter saying that we do participate and support our community.”
The letter said that financial strain has forced the company to reduce their routes from 11 down to six.
"If this trend continues, it could lead to further route closures, impacting the very people who depend on our services for their daily transportation needs,” wrote Balwaria in the letter. “Now as a final recourse, we turn to you as our last source of support before we are compelled to shut down our services.”
Cold Shot sent their funding request to 27 communities, including Calgary and Edmonton, as well as Westlock. Westlock’s CAO, Simone Wiley, said Jan. 18 that the town hadn’t budgeted for the $6,320 requested by the company, and had let Cold Shot know that they wouldn’t be supporting the request.
“There’s a $4.4 million dollar ask across the entire province, and that raises some questions to me,” said Graling. “Would they be willing to provide us with their financials, for example?”
As of Jan. 18, neither Athabasca nor Boyle had heard back from Cold Shot regarding their respective letters.
