JASPER – Jasper council voted unanimously to award the turnkey operation of the regional recovery transit service to SunDog Tours on Tuesday (June 3).
Couns. Ralph Melnyk and Helen Kelleher-Empey both excused themselves due to conflicts of interest, and Coun. Kathleen Waxer was not in attendance. To achieve quorum, Coun. Scott Wilson briefly attended digitally.
This new transit service will provide five round trips per day between Jasper and Hinton as well as seven round trips per day to Marmot Meadows, the interim housing site south of town.
“What we’re talking about is not an enhancement to our local transit system but is explicitly a regional service intended to support displaced Jasperites who are not able to live in the townsite,” said CAO Bill Given.
The Alberta government has provided $2 million for this service to support a regional approach to interim housing. In its request for proposals, the municipality estimated the service level will be 5,000 annual transit service hours, compared to the 3,710 hours for regular transit.
The two submissions received were from SunDog and PWTransit Canada, which Given described as “both quality submissions.”
Based on related project experience, the service proposal, the fleet itself and budget considerations, SunDog was the highest evaluated submission.
“SunDog is obviously well known to the local community, and they have relevant experience in operating very similar scheduled service between Jasper, Hinton, Edson and Edmonton since 2006, so very similar in terms of what administration was looking for,” Given said.
The proposed operation consists of one supervising contact and one to three drivers per day. SunDog has a roster of 45 local transit operators, of which two experienced local operators were named for this service.
Given clarified that although the existing transit service goes to Whistlers Campground, it only operates during the summer and did not go as far as Marmot Meadows. He added that any school children living there could utilize this service.
“We would also look to work with the school boards as we go into the new school year because they have the most up-to-date data about where their student population is,” he said.
The annual operating cost will be just over $550,000. Fuel costs, which would be $65,000 to $100,000 per year, are not included in this price. The $2-million provincial grant is expected to help fund the service for around three years.
This service will be free for displaced Jasper residents, while other community members and visitors will be charged fare to reinvest in the service. Work on a fare structure is underway.
Given added that the municipality would be working with SunDog to get this service up and running as soon as possible.
SunDog did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
