By Liam Verster

Public Transportation

County Connector schedule will change in February

Nov 25, 2019 | 4:07 PM

The County Connector service will be seeing some scheduling changes in the new year.

On Monday, November 25, County Council heard a report from administration, who provided recommendations on how to improve service and increase ridership on the County Connector buses.

Council voted in favour of amendments to the schedule. The first change is removing two trips between Clairmont and Sexsmith, the 7:40 a.m. and the 6:25 p.m. on weekdays. The second change is creating a new stop at Walmart, for the Beaverlodge (93) and Wembley (94) routes to stop at on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Council also agreed to add two new trips on Saturday to both Clairmont (90) and Sexismith (91), both of which will also stop at Walmart.

County Reeve, Leanne Beaupre, says the additional trips, and the stops at Walmart, will really benefit the riders.

“It’s a central location that people will be able to go from there. And remembering that, wherever they stop, they’re able to get into the city bus system and go from there as well. So it’s just kind of a stopping point, but obviously Walmart is important to the ridership.”

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The changes were recommended to Council by administration, who received feedback from the public and gathered rider statistics.

Some of the routes have have seen low ridership numbers, and Beaupre says she hopes the changes will help bolster those numbers.

“The feedback that we’ve received from the people that were riding or would potentially ride, those new stops and days of the week would actually help. I think you’ll see an increased amount of ridership because of those dates. Presently we don’t offer a Saturday route, and this route, obviously, is one that’s very popular with those that are riding, or will have the potential to ride.”

Though a few councillors voiced their concerns over continuing with the pilot project, the vote did pass, and Beaupre, says it’s good to keep working on the service.

“It is a pilot project that we committed to with the province of Alberta. We were one of a few that had the privilege to try it, as a rural initiative, and we certainly are appreciative of the opportunity. And I think it’s our objective and our responsibility to follow through with it.”

She adds that working with the other municipalities on the service has been successful so far, and they’re working together and continuing to work on new things they can do, including senior and disabled transportation .

The changes to the routes will also cause a change in the fee structure, which will be determined at a later date. The changes come into effect on February 1st, 2020.