Residents who use the city’s handibus services will have one last opportunity to share their thoughts with a consultant before a final report is drafted for city council.
St. Albert Transit is hosting two more open houses tonight in Progress Hall between 4 and 5:30 p.m., and again between 6:30 and 8 p.m.
While the last open house focused on what users liked or didn’t like about the current handibus service the city offers, this second and final round of public consultation will focus more on concepts used in different locations in the handibus industry.
“We’re coming back now with some conceptual alternatives, different ways we can try to get us closer to meeting the needs and expectations of the handibus users,” said St. Albert Transit director Bob McDonald. “What things we might do, what kind of impacts we can expect from that and try and get some sense from the public and the users and anyone who comes to the meeting what they think about these options.”
The department has commissioned IBI Group to conduct the open houses, one of which was held last year. A final report will be prepared and presented sometime in March.
One of the key suggestions the consultant is offering is essentially doing more with the same number of resources transit has dedicated to handibus already, McDonald said. That could include making scheduling changes as well as working with other groups in town that operate their own buses, such as the St. Albert Senior Citizens’ Club and Lo-Se-Ca. Revising scheduling could involve building up transit’s capacity or looking for an outside contractor.
“That certainly is possible with today’s technology,” McDonald said. “If there’s someone that has the tools for scheduling already set up, they could book and dispatch trips within our office, as a concept.”
Other ideas include re-evaluating who can use handibus service when. McDonald said one idea the consultant will discuss is mobility issues during different seasons — that some people might need to use the handibus during the winter but could use the conventional transit system in the summer when there are fewer obstacles to getting to a bus stop.
The hottest topic at the first set of open houses was access into Edmonton, something the consultant will address tonight, McDonald said.
“These are concepts, they are different kinds of alternatives. We don’t have to follow any of them but we should look at them and get some feedback,” McDonald said.
Anyone wishing to view the presentation in advance of the open house can visit www.stalbert.ca/handibus-consultation.
