Council approves regional transit pilot

Chestermere City Council directed staff to work with the Calgary Regional Partnership (CRP) to conduct a feasibility study for a two-year regional transit pilot project.
“The ability for those that work in other areas of the region to ride smoothly instead of driving is exciting,” said Chestermere Mayor Patricia Matthews.
The project to link Strathmore and Chestermere to Calgary and possibly Cochrane comes after success and growth in the CRP’s south pilot project.
Commuters south of Calgary can catch a bus to travel between Calgary, Okotoks, Turner Valley, Black Diamond and High River during peak commute hours.
“One of the benefits of being in the Calgary Regional Partnership is access to expertise for very little investment on our part,” she said.
The successes and lessons learned from that south pilot would be applied in the east/west pilot.
“I know the amount of work that went into getting the pilot project in place with the communities in the South.
“Ridership is doing much better than they expected from their initial data and I hope ours works the same way,” said Matthews.
With council’s approval, city staff and the CRP will survey residents in late February and begin public engagement after that.
If the pilot goes ahead, the City of Chestermere will be responsible for the cost of signage and the maintenance of any park and ride lots.
The implementation of regional transit comes after years of talks within the CRP.
Councillor Gail Smith has been the city’s liaison to the Transit Committee for almost four years.
“She has been working to put us at the most advantageous position we could be in,” said Matthews.
Council supports regional transit because stronger ties to the neighbouring municipalities can spur non-residential growth in Chestermere.
“Regional transit opens the doors for labourers and retail workers who do not live in Chestermere to have a way to commute,” said Matthews.
Access to a larger work force will make the city more attractive to businesses as the city pursues its economic development plans.
Matthews also feels that the ability to travel throughout the region will benefit Chestermere’s residents.
“Being able to travel to Cochrane or Strathmore, or even Calgary for that matter, safely and comfortably, affordably and in a timely manner is a big deal for many residents who either don’t want to drive on the Highways anymore or couldn’t drive in the first place,” she said.