Bus service in Westlock will continue at least for another 12 months thanks to the town’s commitment to fund the service.
Mayor Ralph Leriger made the announcement at the Dec. 10 town council meeting, following a presentation from the Westlock & District Transportation Committee, which was struck to examine public transportation in town.
“We have committed to operating the handibus for 2014 in our budget, and have notified the drivers accordingly,” he said. “We’re going to continue to operate the bus.”
In the presentation, committee member Kelly Harris-Martin presented results of a recent survey on bus service and offered two recommendations for the Westlock & District Seniors’ and Disabled Bus, often known as the Action Bus or the handibus.
The survey was distributed through the Westlock News and on the Internet, and it garnered close to 400 responses.
“A couple of points that did come up overwhelmingly, is that one, the service needed to continue and that two, there were some issues with regards to its limited scope,” Harris-Martin said.
The committee offered two recommendations for the short term: replace the bus with a smaller mobility-assist van, and create a sliding-scale fare that would be based on verifiable income.
Harris-Martin said she had heard from some local service groups and businesses that they would be willing to help fundraise for the purchase of a new van, but there was “no appetite” from those groups to commit ongoing operating funding.
“In order for this to be sustainable, the committee recommends that ongoing operating capital has to be secured through an ongoing municipal commitment,” she said.
Looking further into the future, the committee recommended trying to repurpose the existing bus to have it run regularly scheduled routes throughout town, with semi-regular trips out into the county and Clyde.
In the village, survey respondents reported a need for at least a weekly trip into Westlock for seniors in that community, and perhaps more regular trips for student after school.
“The issue is not picking the kids up at five o’clock, because mom and dad are getting off work around that time, the issue seems to be getting to the various activities that are happening around Westlock,” she said.
And should that regular service prove to be successful and reasonably self-sufficient, Harris-Martin said the committee members would be willing to go back out into the community to fundraise to replace the existing bus.
“We know the bus we’ve got on the road now is a behemoth that is dying a slow and painful death in the maintenance department,” she said.
Coun. David Truckey asked if the committee had approached Westlock County to ask for operating funding.
“It’s no different than the community halls asking for a commitment from the county, and they did very generously help out,” he said.
Harris-Martin said with a commitment from the town, the committee would be again willing to approach the county about renewing its commitment.
“We’ve made the case to them as to why we think the county has a moral commitment to putting funds into this service, and absolutely we’ll make that pitch again,” she said.
The Westlock & District Transportation Committee was formed in response to the previous town council’s Dec. 10, 2012, announcement that it would discontinue the service effective July 2013 due to an annual operating deficit of around $50,000.
The service was granted a reprieve when the town and county councils committed to splitting the operating deficit for long enough to allow the bus service to continue to operate until Jan. 31, 2014.
