St. Albert city council can expect to have a report on the structure and costs of a proposed regional commuter transit service by the end of this term.
Coun. Wes Brodhead, who chairs the Capital Region Board's (CRB) transit committee, said that the committee agreed to that timeline on Thursday, Dec. 15.
"We need to have that report back to our respective councils before the election," he said. "So we'll be getting the first decision point in August, and it will certainly be coming to council before we break for the election."
The last council meeting before the municipal election is scheduled for Sept. 11, so the report will have to come back before then for this council to have a chance to see it.
Council approved the first stage of what is envisioned as a three-stage process at its Sept. 26 meeting, but shied away from making a long-term commitment to the regional transit service until more details are made available.
In the result of the first stage is expected to be a memorandum of understanding between St. Albert and Edmonton – subject to the approval of both councils – which will help provide a better idea of what this project will cost.
The preliminary estimate for running a regional transit commuter service with the City of Edmonton is in the range of $600,000 to $1.6 million per year, but a more thorough cost-benefit analysis has not yet been completed. It's expected to become clearer in August when the details of the organization's governance structure are fleshed out.
"I know it's quite critical for members of council to understand how this is going forward," Brodhead said. "We need to be able to ensure that this meets the needs of St. Albertans and that it doesn't cost them, in and of themselves, to create a regional entity."
He noted there was some "encouraging" news from provincial Transportation Minister Brian Mason that some financial support and incentives might be in the offing – but emphasized nothing on that front is written in stone just yet.
"He just reinforced the idea that the province is going to be supportive of regional cooperation and regional efforts to jointly meet the needs," he said. "The public transit policy and regulations supporting it are still draft and are subject to the province finalizing what they've got to say."
One of the CRB's mandates is to look at regional transit in the greater Edmonton area, but Brodhead said when the issue first came forward, trying to get the eight municipalities in the region that currently provide transit service all on the same page was deemed to be too complex. Edmonton and St. Albert took steps to go it alone.
"Everybody is sort of watching what's happening between Edmonton and St. Albert, with the idea that later on other communities would be able to on-board whatever governance structure is decided on," he said.
High-occupancy lanes?
While the CRB transit committee also discussed high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes at its Dec. 15 meeting, changes to St. Albert Trail aren't even on the radar at this point.
An HOV lane pilot project is in place for Highway 2 south of Edmonton, and the committee directed Edmonton and Strathcona County to work on a similar project for 98 Avenue/Baseline Road, but Brodhead said St. Albert Trail isn't on the agenda for the foreseeable future.
"I'm hopeful going forward that fruit will be borne at the end of the day, because I think the region will be stronger for it," he said. "It's a tough nut to crack."
He did note there is potential for Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) to help alleviate some of the concerns in St. Albert, but it's too soon to say what that might look like in this city. These systems essentially use computer modelling to determine more efficient traffic-signal patterns to improve the flow of traffic.
Council approved $208,000 as part of the 2017 budget to look at ITS along St. Albert Trail, with an eye to optimizing the traffic signals and reducing congestion without having to build more roads.
