North Battleford's transit system will have a new look beginning later this week.
The old yellow school bus currently in use will be gone and two new buses have been acquired to go into service beginning Oct 1
Fares will be going up from $2 to $3, and there will be expanded routes and hours of service to be brought in during the next several weeks as a result of a major changeover in transit operations.
The City has entered into an operations agreement with Battlefords Handi-Bus to operate the transit service. Council approved that agreement, which will run to Dec. 31, 2012, at Monday's meeting. The agreement will be on a year-to-year basis after that.
Battlefords Handi-Bus takes over from First Bus Canada, whose agreement with the city expires on Sept. 30.
After that date the transit committee currently responsible for Battlefords Handi-Bus takes over responsibility for the transit system, says transit manager Al Love.
"We're going to assume that responsibility exactly the way it is today," Love said of the changeover.
There will not be an immediate change in times or routes, he said, because they don't want their regular riders to be disrupted by any sudden changes. The plan is to start to implement some changes over the next few weeks.
"Hopefully in the not too distant future, I'm anticipating late October or November that we will be able to expand the hours of operation and the route that the bus is actually serving at this moment," said Love.
He cautions they want to make sure any changes are productive and that the right people are in place.
New staff is being taken on for the service and Love said they will be spending the week training staff and working on the graphics for the buses.
The changeover follows a couple of years of intense discussions over the future of the transit system in the Battlefords, with consultant Dennis McCullough completing a wide-ranging survey on the subject in 2009. The study was in response to calls from several civic organizations, including health care facilities in particular, for better public transit in the community.
The new buses will be similar to the ones Battlefords Handi-Bus currently uses. The two new 22-seat buses were acquired earlier this year with funding from the federal government's public transit program.
The new buses "will be much more visually appealing than the old yellow transit bus," said Love, and will "start to create a much more positive image and begin to raise the ridership."
Among other things, there will be a graphics package that will highlight the landmarks around the City and "show people all things that North Battleford has to be proud of."
There will be advertising opportunities on the buses as well, with those revenues to help create a reserve for equipment replacement, Love said.
The budget for the new buses is estimated at $56,275 for 2011, according to City Manager Jim Toye.
Transit manager Al Love that routes and times will remain the same for the moment. That means current users can expect to see no change in the routes and the hours of service in the short term, with weekday service continuing from 9am to 5:30pm and a shorter weekend schedule.
However, changes are expected to happen in the next few weeks, with plans for expanded routes across the city and expanded hours of service.
When that happens, those changes will be relayed to the public through the media and the city website, as well as on the buses themselves, Love said.
"We hope to be able to design the best service for the city, but what that will be and when it will take place is hard to say," said Love. The hope is, though, for the expanded service to "get into every neighbourhood and within a reasonable time frame."
How it will ultimately look in the end will depend on the need, said Love, and that is something they want to determine over the next year of operation.
"The goal is to create a modern, up to date transit system," said Love, who said they have really high hopes of creating a model that other cities will be able to look at.
