Residents have been taking advantage of free transit within the City of Cold Lake, and the provincial and federal governments are starting to take notice.
On Dec. 9, the city announced they had received nearly $1 million in grant funding from both the federal and provincial governments. Money that will help upgrade the local transit system through Cold Lake's core-fleet replacement project.
Both levels of government were impressed by the city's current transit system, a fact that may have contributed to Cold Lake receiving the green light on two applications that will help further improve transit.
“The provincial government saw this, and were really looking at this small little city with very successful transit,” said Mayor Craig Copeland, adding when looking into their transit system, the government took note of the age demographic of riders in the area.
“It was getting a lot of ridership. Between 400 to 500 people a day would be using our buses… and 50 per cent of the people, for sure, are under the age of 18,” said Copeland.
The age of riders was not all that caught the eye of Minister of Transportation Brian Mason, but also the unique shape of the city itself. With two main areas to the city, known as north and south, it is separated by a section of highway creating a dumbbell shape.
“The province really saw Cold Lake as a unique place,” added Copeland.
CAO Kevin Nagoya said, “The community has inherited the service. They love it, they feel that it is their own.”
The city was approved for nearly $1 million in funding, with $174,000 being funded through the federal government's Public Transit Infrastructure Fund, and just under $667,000 coming from the provincial Green Transit Initiatives Program (GreenTRIP). The remaining $159,000 will be taken from the city's capital budget. This funding will help cover the cost of replacing two main buses with new, low-floor diesel buses, leaving the previous buses to be used as backup units.
The second grant application was submitted to help cover the cost of increasing pedestrian accessibility to the buses, with the addition of up to six new solar powered bus shelters and real-time GPS scheduling systems. GreenTRIP will cover $200,000 for these upgrades, with the city paying $100,000 out of pocket through their capital budget. This portion of the grant application also included 560 metres of sidewalk as well as para ramps and crosswalk enhancements.
The city will be looking into the bus stops most commonly used, what times are most frequent in different areas, and the age demographic that is taking advantage of free city transit, prior to deciding on whether to purchase larger or smaller buses.
“It gives us a lot of flexibility… so we are really thankful,” Copeland said. “(The government) could have put all their money into Calgary and Edmonton, but they chose to take some (funding) out into the region and this is significant for Cold Lake.”
He continued, “I think our project stands up against a lot of the projects that are currently being discussed.”
Nagoya said it was just over a year ago that the city implemented their transit program, and in the process of creating the system remained frugal by purchasing old buses, and waiting to get a few minor details ironed out.
“We wanted to make sure it was a successful launch,” he explained. “Now that we are over a year into it, you can see the success in our transit system, and the amount of people using it.”
Nagoya continued that because the city wanted to get transit up and running, they weren't able to build sidewalks or ramps to all of the city's bus stops. Now that the grant funding is available, the city will be able to begin tying up loose ends.
“We know those were gaps because of the timelines we set on ourselves… we knew we needed to do it fast, we knew we needed to do it frugal in order to get it online.”
The city is currently running off of a number of older buses purchased from Calgary Transit. At the time, the buses were purchased, the city paid $5,000 each. Although they were used, they still have a lot of life left in them, which is one of the reasons the city wouldn't have moved forward with the replacement program without government funding.
“You know what, I think we deserve it. I think we have a successful transit and I think why shouldn't our area, that generates a lot of wealth for the province, why not give us some money… I am really happy that the province has decided to put some money into the area.”
In total, over 89 transit projects were approved throughout communities across Alberta, totaling in over $500 million in funding through the federal and provincial governments.
