Proposal would bring light rail to town

A Jasper streetcar would draw tourists and enhance the downtown core, according to a new proposal before the town.

Council recently heard a pitch to bring a streetcar line to Jasper, which would be used to transport tourists from hotels to the downtown core.

Peter  Scholz, a consultant and former Parks Canada employee in Jasper said the town has long had plans to run a shuttle in the community, however they have yet to be acted upon.

“Jasper was designed for something like this,”  Scholz said. He envisions a 20 seat streetcar operating on a 15 minute loop around the community. The streetcar would act as a tourist draw, replace hotel shuttles and cut carbon emissions, he said.

Since Jasper was planned by those with close ties to the railroad, it has a grid formation that lends itself to a transit system, Scholz said. Initial community plans were drawn in 1913 and 1924. Those plans also explored the option of Jasper becoming a metropolis of 50,000 people, and another that proposed zero growth.

Scholz initially proposed the idea while working for Parks Canada, however a year after leaving the government, he is prepared to revisit it.

“I was struck how the community was fit for a streetcar, but parks wasn’t interested,”  Scholz said.

A similar proposal was brought forward in 1979, as Parks Canada looked to link hotels on Connaught Dr. through the use of a horse-drawn jitney. Mayor Richard Ireland asked why the proposal calls for a rail line as opposed to a bus service.

 Scholz said a track has a a psychological effect upon visitors, who wait for a train, but not for a bus.

“When tourists see a track, they wait to see what’s coming and they get excited,”  Scholz said. “And it’s exciting for the children to drive the trolley.”

In order to offset construction costs,  Scholz said more commercial development could be promoted.

“If we get it running, parking spaces downtown could be sold for development space,”  Scholz said.

 Scholz says Nelson, BC also runs a rail service for tourists in the summertime. He didn’t mention how long the service would run.

 Scholz is asking for support in principle from council, and said he’d like to keep the project at a community level. He said there are plenty of opportunities for sponsorship, as he feels numerous hotels would be happy to jump aboard the project. Relying on ‘sweat equity’ Scholz believes the project could be done at a reasonable cost. He doesn’t want to see the project spearheaded by government.

“If you make it a government study, it will cost $6 million and take 20 years. But if the community likes and supports this, we can have it for $500,000 to $800,000,” Scholz said.

This isn’t the first transit presentation council has heard. Earlier this year, council was presented with a plan to use electric vehicles. The draft management plan includes a call for transit options to be examined in town, however it doesn’t delineate what form of transit will be explored.

Mayor Ireland thanked Scholz for the presentation and said council would mull over the proposal.