Town buses could feed a regional bus service in the future if the Town of Cochrane has its way.
Mayor Ivan Brooker recently attended a meeting with representatives from the Capital Region Board out of Edmonton, the Calgary Regional Partnership and the provincial government in Red Deer.
Speaking with Brian Mason, minister of Infrastructure and Transportation, the regional and community representatives discussed potential regional transit strategies and a desire to change what provincial GreenTRIP funding is eligible for.
Currently the funding can be put toward only the capital costs associated with transit projects, but Brooker said those development costs are not what most communities struggle with.
“It’s the operating costs,” said Brooker, adding he asked the minister if the province would consider changing the funding model to allow for a percentage of the funds to go toward startup operational costs. He said those in attendance applauded the suggestion and echoed similar concerns.
Cochrane has an application in for funding to set up a regional bus service but has expressed an interest to change the criteria of the project because the Calgary Regional Partnership is working on its own regional plan.
To avoid duplicating services and having to pay for larger commuter buses, Brooker said the town wants to change the scope of its plan to have Cochrane buses link to the regional buses. That regional service would then take passengers into the city or west to the mountains.
The revised city plan might include either a park and ride or terminal to link town transit services with the regional service.
Cochrane has approval for $9 million in GreenTrip funding, which is a cost-matching system that requires $3 million from the town.
The $2-billion GreenTRIP fund was established in 2010 to support municipalities with sustainable public transit alternatives. According to the fund’s webpage, $415 million is still available and $130 million of that to communities around Calgary. The remainder is for communities outside of the Calgary region. The Edmonton region has already allocated its $800-million allotment.
