A teary-eyed final meeting for the current roster of seven Tuesday night resulted in a deferment of any decisions to do with local transit to the next council. In a 5-2 vote - with Mayor Ivan Brooker and Coun.
A teary-eyed final meeting for the current roster of seven Tuesday night resulted in a deferment of any decisions to do with local transit to the next council.
In a 5-2 vote - with Mayor Ivan Brooker and Coun. Ross Watson voting against deferring the decision to hire a term transit co-ordinator and begin the initial steps to determine transit feasibility in the community - council conceded that the final session should not be about setting agendas for the next in line.
“It may be time for Cochrane to move forward with transit, but this is one of the biggest financial decisions the next mayor and council will make, and we shouldn't be making it for them six days before the election, ” said Coun. Morgan Nagel, who made the motion to defer.
“The next council needs the full presentation (on transit) … they need that time to get fully up to speed, ” said Coun. Mary Lou Eckmeier, adding that she was not in favour of making any big decisions ahead of the new council at the “eleventh hour. ”
While council agreed that Cochrane was likely ready for some form of public transit system, they got hung up on administration's use of the word “implementation ” in their report and recommendation to council to hire a term transit co-ordinator to get the ball rolling in order to report back to council full recommendations on the specifics of a local transit system by next spring.
“There is nothing to discuss yet, we are only implementing a strategy, ” said Brooker, stressing that the extensive public engagement would be the determination of what transit would like (full roll out/phased in approach/on-demand service).
Watson expressed a desire to “put in place a tool for the next council ” to get the ball rolling on public transit. He feels strongly that buses need to be made fully accessible in order to accommodate all users.
The town is considering some form of transit operational by 2019.
The next steps report delivered by Asif Kurji, senior transit planner with Calgary Transit, recommended council proceed with public consultation to inform a phasing plan for local transit routes, validation of bus routes and fleet types, and information on bus stop locations, service standards and on-demand services.
The recommendation was that the public engagement component, to be conducted by the interim transit coordination - all to be funded from the $144,888 MSI operating grant approved for transit in the spring budget adjustments - was to be completed by the spring of 2018.
Last January, council approved moving forward with a transit feasibility study and amending the GreenTRIP application from 2011 - which was approved in June.
The approved $9 million in funding is for local transit services and would take care of initial capital costs, including the build of a bus terminal at the Esso Bulk Station on Railway Street, bus stops and fleet acquisition.
The GreenTRIP funds must be used by 2021.
The ultimate transit network is estimated to cost $1.5 million to operate annually. Council may consider a pared-down, possibly phased-in service with limited routes or on-demand.
Based on the success of this model, which would cost around $500,000/year, the town could expand to an ultimate network of five routes operating six days per week.
