The St. Albert Seniors Association is having a really good year. Recently moved back in to its wholly refurbished clubhouse on Taché Street, the organization is seeing a strong resurgence in membership too.
That's great news. Naturally, there's a balance to that positive and it means dire straits for one of the facility's most used features.
The bus.
"Things have changed," announced Gareth Jones, the president of the association's board of directors. "We reckon that by the end of this year, we'll have done approximately 4,500 one-way trips. We anticipate that for next year, that's going to increase to about 6,500."
Since the club settled itself back in to Red Willow Place, it has found itself somewhat more popular than ever before. It has gained 360 new members in those six weeks, a greater than 50 per cent jump in a very short period of time. While those figures reveal a massive boon, Jones is looking into the future to make sure that the bus can handle it all.
The bus is 15 years old already and has undergone more than $15,000 in maintenance costs just in 2016. It's ridden with rust and that's only the surface problem, he said. He doesn't foresee it being able to handle the extra passengers, let alone its current roster of riders. Jones predicts that they will burst through the 1,000-member level before the end of the year, meaning that the bus will surely have more demand for it too.
He noted that the bus is available to all seniors, whether they are members of the club or not, just like every other program that they offer. It operates between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. every weekday.
More than just door-to-door
While there's no discounting the value in getting from one place in this city to the next for only $4, Jones noted that access to transportation is an essential component to preventing senior isolation.
According to city demographic studies, there are more than 11,000 people aged 65 and up, with another 9,000 in the 55 to 64 age group. The St. Albert Seniors Association estimates that approximately 2,200 of those people are experiencing isolation.
It's an uphill battle as that percentage of the population continues to grow but there are some successes. The club has two part-time outreach co-ordinators who managed to get nearly 200 seniors away from being isolated in their homes over the last 12 months.
To drive home the point of how important a bus is to helping alleviate the problem, he says first of all to imagine that you're a senior yourself.
"Your family members have moved away. You've lost your spouse. You can't drive any more. What are you going to do? You're stuck in the house," he prompted, later adding, "The bus is essential. We've got to have it. Every time it breaks down, we're lost for a day or two."
He invited the public to buy tickets for the association's upcoming Christmas Gala event on Dec. 3. For $75, attendees will partake in a feast and get treated to an evening of music and live comedy along with a silent auction. Proceeds will go towards the purchase of a new bus that will include more seating for riders with limited mobility.
