City transit fleet receiving a $470,000 upgrade

Swift Current’s transit fleet will be receiving a significant upgrade after City Council approved $470,000 in capital budget spending to purchase three new buses.

City Council approved the purchase of two Swift Transit buses and one access transit bus at their September 21 meeting. The total purchase price is lowered slightly by receiving a $55,000 Transit Assistance for People with Disabilities (TAPD) grant from the provincial government, and a price reduction of $18,660 by buying both Swift Transit buses through supplier Crestline Coach Ltd. Additionally, the city is estimating a $75,000 annual reduction in operating costs through improved fuel consumption and fewer repairs.

Swift Current Mayor Denis Perrault noted that he was swayed to support the purchase following a 2019 transit survey which voiced strong support for busing services in the community.

“They were asking, overwhelmingly in fact, over 80 per cent said they want buses to continue on in Swift. And they recognize that there’s a cost. And in all cases buses are a cost to a municipality. But there has to be a benefit. And in this case the benefit is that we’ve got user groups that otherwise would not be able to make their way to work, they would not be able to make their way to appointment, and quite frankly not be able to participate in many of the things that happen in our community. So it’s an important piece of our city’s budget and an important part of our city’s plan,” Perrault said following the September 21 vote.

“What I like about this one more than anything is the buses that we did have - far past life, not really being efficient. And the buses we’ll be bringing online, we’ll be seeing a $75,000 savings annually,” Perrault said. “As well we get a little over $50,000 from a grant. So to me, these buses are effectively paid for then in five years, just by using that savings as well as the grant dollars. And I believe that they’re a better product. Hopefully we’ll continue to get them used more.”

In the city’s 2019 capital budget they agreed to replace a 1997 New Flyer Refurbished bus at a cost of $170,000. In their 2020 budget the city approved $130,000 in funds to replace an aging 2006 Chevrolet Access bus. Council additionally approved $170,000 from the upcoming 2021 capital budget to replace the second 1997 New Flyer bus.

Swift Current’s transit system has grown to 30,000 rides per year since beginning their two route (blue line and red line) service in 2017. Swift Current was originally launched in 2015 when they operated a main route along with a feeder or shuttle bus.

During discussion of the replacement buses, Councillor Ryan Plewis admitted he has skeptical of transit services over the years.

“While I don’t think it’s any secret that I’ve been skeptical of busing in our community and how it’s going to work, I will certainly recognize the hard work that our admin team has put into making it as economical as possible for the ratepayers in the City of Swift Current, while providing the service that clearly, overwhelmingly if 80 per cent of respondents have told us that they deem it as important for our community, then it’s obviously something that is important for our community to be looking at providing as a service,” Plewis said.

“I’ll be in support of this proposal as well, cause if we’re going to have busing in our community we have to have buses to provide that service obviously. We are either in the busing game or we are not in the busing game. And this report shows the community that we are in the busing game.”

Other council members voiced their support for the replacement strategy.

“It’s just an expense that we are going to have to bite and make happen for the people of our community,” said Councillor Ron Toles.

“The overwhelming majority of people found that whether they do or they don’t ride it, they found that it is a necessary thing for people in the community that do utilize it for it to be here,” Councillor Chris Martens said. “For those that do utilize the services, the current services just aren’t very reliable. If this is what we need to do in order to ensure that the people that do utilize the service can have a safe and reliable way to get where they’re going.”

Councillor George Bowditch noted “I actually whole heartedly support this decision just for the simple fact is that if we’re going to be in the bus business we have to have something reliable. It is very embarrassing to have buses broken down, not able to run. The time has come to make some changes. And as much as it’s expensive, we have to do this.”

Councillor Pat Friesen shared that a pair of items in the report solidified her support for the expenditure.

“A couple of items that jumped out at me in this report. The first was 30,000 rides per year. So that’s a fair number of people using this service, more than maybe I would have thought. And the other number that jumped out was the $75,000 savings in operating costs every year by having new buses. So I’ll certainly be supporting. I think there’s a lot of good reasons to move forward with the new buses and to continue that service.”

Swift Current did not benefit from transit support from grant funding through the federal Safe Restart Canada Plan.

Across the province, Saskatoon ($4.3 million), Regina (3.45 million), Moose Jaw ($161,000) and Prince Albert ($141,000) all received a transit allocation along with their per capita general allocation. However, Swift Current, Yorkton and North Battleford did not receive a transit allocation despite delivering transit route services. Swift Current only received just over $990,000 based on their 2016 census total of 16,604, but not the transit per rider allocation of 0.3486

“We thought we’d be included in that and have been anticipating some dollars,” Perrault said of the estimated $100,000 they were looking to see. “And unfortunately the way that the grant program worked, we will see some dollars coming our way just based on per capita, but we will not see any transit money.”

“The three of us collectively tried to present that by being smaller we actually have more costs because we don’t have as many users as the others, so it becomes even more expensive on a per ride for us. Unfortunately we just couldn’t get that message across and be successful.”