Regina councillor calls for more Sunday bus service

A Regina city councillor says a report that will be presented Thursday to the city’s protective and community services committee makes a good case for increasing the frequency of bus service to every half-hour on Sundays on some routes.

Coun. Andrew Stevens asked administration in October to prepare a report on which of Regina Transit’s nine Sunday routes would warrant increased service. The report also looks at the effect such a change would have on costs and ridership.

At the current frequency of one bus per 60 minutes, seven routes average at least the city’s target of 15 passengers per bus hour on conventional transit.

If frequency were increased to every 30 minutes, the report states five routes would meet that target after one year of implementation and could see an additional 123,000 riders annually.

Those routes would include 2 Argyle Park/Wood Meadows, 3 Sherwood Estates/University, 4 Walsh Acres/Hillsdale, 7 Glencairn/Whitmore Park and 9 Parkridge/Albert Park.

“You take these routes where we’re seeing a significant amount of ridership and what the administrative report actually concludes is if you increase frequency furthermore, you increase annual ridership on those routes,” Stevens said.

The city would recover 35 per cent of the cost for increasing service on the five routes and would have to spend a net $495,100 to do so, according to the report.

“You want to balance accessibility for residents, improved transit but also recognizing the costs. I think those benchmarks make a clear case for improving frequency on the routes that are used the most,” Stevens said.

Stevens said those numbers are normal for transit.

“It’s a public service. It’s called public transit, not a private transit option,” he said, adding that he’d be pushing for the changes in the 2020 budget.

“Currently we recover zero per cent of the costs associated with maintaining and building new roads. We have different levels of balance with user fees and taxes in all sorts of services so this actually can support itself through fees and transit fares. I see no reason to raise alarm bells. This is normal for how we fund and invest in public transit services across Canada.”

Compared to similar-sized cities, including Saskatoon and Winnipeg, Regina is the only one not to have service more frequently than one bus per hour on Sundays.

Saskatoon has buses run every half-hour and while hours of operation start at 8:30 a.m. — later than Regina — they run until 9:30 p.m.

The report also examines possible changes to paratransit, including extending hours of operation until 9 p.m.

“I’ve heard a lot from residents that depend on this service. It’s their only way of getting around,” Stevens said. “There are certain events in the evening or on Sunday evening, especially. They’re essentially prohibited from attending because of transit issues. This could solve that.”