Photo: EverythingGP Staff

By Liam Verster

County Connector Suspended

County Connector to suspend service during COVID-19 pandemic

Apr 6, 2020 | 1:46 PM

County of Grande Prairie Council voted in favour of suspending the County Connector transit service, as of the end of the service day of Friday, April 10, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

At Monday’s meeting, Coree Ladwig, the Team Lead for the Adult and Senior Community program with the County, presented a report from the Rural Transportation Advisory Committee to County Council. She points out the ridership numbers, saying there has been a decline since the guidelines around preventing a COVID-19 outbreak were put in place.

“Last week, Clairmont had a total of 24 riders, so that was for the week of March 30 to April 4. Sexsmith had 17 riders, and Hythe and Wembley had both one rider, and there were no riders form the Town of Beaverlodge.”

She adds that a policy change to help limit the chance of exposing the virus to the diver, passengers are entering and disembarking the bus from the rear doors. Ladwig says this precaution makes the numbers about 89 per cent accurate, as it may also account for the driver entering and exiting the bus.

Ladwig’s report goes on to show that of the riders, only four are using the service to go to and from work. The others are taking the bus to either go shopping, or to visits. She says that leaves these individuals out in public for about five hours, which increases the risk of them becoming infected with COVID-19.

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She says with the provincial guidelines in place, people shouldn’t be going to visit anyone, and there are alternative options for people needing to get groceries or medications.

“The Community Care Program, launched by GPREP, is a viable option for those who are unable to access food or prescriptions due to self-isolation or lack of transportation. Food banks in each municipality are also offering delivery to clients when needed.”

Since the County Connector is still a pilot program, Ladwig says Administration has been in contact with the Ministry of Transportation, to determine what the future holds for the connector.

“[The Ministry] indicated that we could ask for an extension of the grant, and/or to resume services. They did ask for a specified date, they recognize that may be difficult right now. The decision to extend our restart services would need to be made at a ministerial level, we have no indication of what that would look like. We would not be able to make any financial claims for the grants after the date of suspension.”

She adds that, if they could re-instate the service once the public health crisis has passed, it would currently have to be in the initial Pilot Project time frame.

She adds that, based on current contracts with the City of Grande Prairie, and because the recommendations come from the Rural Transportation Advisory Committee, they would be able to suspend the service without incurring any monetary penalties from the City. However, if the Province decides not to re-instate the service or extend the grant, then the County will have to provide a 120 day notice to the other municipalities.

County Council voted in favour of the four motions related to this request. The County Connector service will be suspended as of Friday, April 10, and Administration will amend schedules B1, B2 and C of the Phase One Regional Transit and Phase Two Regional Transit agreements to reflect the suspension.

Council voted in favour of writing a letter to the Ministry of Transportation, informing them of the suspension, with the possibility of re-instating the Connector service once the Public Health Crisis has subsided.

Letters will also be written to the City of Grande Prairie, the towns of Beaverlodge, Sexsmith and Wembley, and the Village of Hythe, to inform them of the change of service.