The City of Thompson continues to look at how it delivers local bus service to transit riders and is giving serious thought to going into the bus business for itself as of Aug. 1.
The city has subcontracted out the delivery of local intra-city bus service to Grey Goose Bus Lines since the inception of transit here in the early 1970s. Grey Goose of Winnipeg was purchased by Greyhound Canada of Calgary in 1998.
The current four-year contract with Grey Goose expires July 31. That contract is based on paying the carrier a subsidy to offer the service. The subsidy is based on a fixed rate of 5,500 hours of annual service. The hourly rate increased to $51.46 in July 2007 from $50.21. Grey Goose keeps all fare revenue under the current deal.
They operate two buses on two routes on a continuous basis throughout the day. Ridership is highest in the early morning, just before school starts, and in mid-afternoon when classes end, ridership surveys have shown.
The city has been reviewing its options for when the contract expires since 2007. At a public consultation meeting May 19, 2007, a number of ideas, still on the table, were tossed out including using smaller buses, posting bus schedules on markers along the route and making bus stops closer together.
City manager Randy Patrick said Feb. 9 that council would likely decide by April which option to pursue. The two most likely scenarios are re-tendering the transit contract, in which case Grey Goose could bid again, if it wished, along with other carriers, if there any interested, or the City of Thompson could forge ahead with establishing its own bus system. Or it could theoretically consider both options simultaneously and some other combination, such as tendering first but establishing its own service if it didn't like the tender results.
Money for the City of Thompson to buy two buses is available from the Gas Tax Fund (GTF) contributions to municipalities, originally announced in the 2005 federal budget and since extended. The Gas Tax Fund (GTF), now a component of the Building Canada infrastructure plan, provides funding in support of municipal capital infrastructure that contributes to cleaner air, cleaner water and reduced greenhouse gas emissions through public transit, drinking water, wastewater infrastructure, green energy, solid waste management and local roads and bridges.
Thompson has accumulated about $430,000 in Gas Tax Fund revenue eligibility for capital investments such as buses for public transit over the last several years, but is now in a "use it or start to lose it" position, as that $430,000 will start to decline in availability after next Jan. 1, Patrick said.
The money from the Gas Tax Fund can only be used for capital purchases, such as buses, and can't be applied to operating costs for a public transit service. The city is looking at purchasing two buses if it decides to go it on its own.
