When it comes to buses on the roads, the town is looking to engage Cochrane residents to see how they want those wheels set into motion.
Council is moving ahead with the recruitment of a term position to cost out transit options and oversee public engagement, to inform recommendations for local transit solutions to be brought back to council in June 2018.
They also amended their decision to make room for Coun. Morgan Nagel’s suggestion that a transit task force be formed to ensure council representatives stay in the loop for the next six months.
“I’m worried that if we just set things loose to administration with a transit expert … that they could come back with a proposal that just doesn’t work in our community,” said Nagel, who also advised fellow councillors he will advocate for a public plebiscite.
While he is hopeful that a reasonable and affordable solution can be achieved, a plebiscite would provide the assurance that the majority of the voting public would support whether buses should rumble down Cochrane streets – in the event that the options are more costly than anticipated.
Coun. Alex Reed was in agreement with the democratic nature of Nagel’s notion of a plebiscite.
Mayor Jeff Genung also supported a transit task force, adding that he sees such a committee as “being quarterbacked by this transit position.”
Coun. Susan Flowers’ ears were perked when it came to transit. She has indicated she would volunteer to be one of the councillors on the task force, alongside Nagel.
Flowers said she is “interested to see what the community thinks” with respect to a pared-down transit service such as a Dial-A-Bus or ride-sharing service, rather than a phased-in transit system that would service key routes at peak times or a full-scale service that would run most times with an extended network.
“We went so long … I don’t know if it will be enough,” she said, with respect to services such as Dial-A-Bus or ride sharing.
Nagel said he is also concerned with preliminary thoughts that lands purchased by the town, the former Esso Bulk Station on Railway Street, could be used as a possible park and ride site – further clogging up the downtown core and adding to the town’s traffic congestion.
The $9 million in capital funds are in place for expenses related to transit – including the build of a bus depot, bus stops and fleet acquisition; these funds are through GreenTRIP grant dollars and must be used for transit by 2021.
Last January, the former council the Cochrane Transit Feasibility Study suggested an ultimate network would cost around $1.5 million per year in operations.
A phased-in service with limited routes and service times was flagged to cost around $560,000 per year and may be a preferred route that could be expanded to the ultimate network, should the ridership numbers prove successful.
Administration will bring back terms of reference to form a transit task force by the next council session on Dec. 11.
