The Rocky View Handi-Bus Society (RVHB), which serves riders across Rocky View County (RVC), has experienced unexpected setbacks in organizational services, making the first half of 2024 a “challenging” year for the non-profit.
In an email to stakeholders, RVHB President Paul Siller said that after two quarters, 2024 has been a hard year for the RVHB. “2024 has been challenging for us,” Siller wrote to stakeholders.
The RVHB president said their ridership numbers for mid-year 2024 have been slightly down from 2023, a decrease that Siller attributes to some booking restrictions due to staff shortages.
“As many as four of our drivers have been unavailable for work due to illness or accidents unrelated to work,” Siller said. “We have hired and trained three drivers so far to help get back to operations.
According to Siller, the Society expects ridership numbers to grow a little as the year progresses, but “ultimately our ridership will stabilize until we can get more drivers and buses on the road,” he added.
In January, Siller told the Rocky View Weekly that the Society was expecting a “sharp increase in ridership in the coming years,” and said the increase in riders could push the RVHB past what it was capable of delivering.
“Increases in populations for all the municipalities, plus the aging demographic and more of an effort to keep people at home as much as possible, seems to be falling in our lap,” Siller said in January.
In 2023, RVHB completed 13,531 trips, a 16 per cent increase from 2022, and a 10 per cent increase overall from their pre-pandemic numbers.
The RVHB will also be undertaking fa few projects tat have the potential to upgrade the level of service for their riders.
Siller told stakeholders that the Society is planning to schedule a software upgrade to the current paratransit software, which has been utilized by RVHB since 2010.
“We will be changing to software from a Canadian company used in over 40 transit agencies,” Siller said. “This software will utilize machine learning with a better optimization process than our current software.”
With the roll-out of the new software, passengers can continue to book bus rides over the phone. After the roll-out, passengers will also be able to book via the RVHB website or smartphone app.
RVHB will also be underaking a Capital campaign to replace five buses. Siller added that RVHB were “fortunate to acquire five Promaster van conversions from federal Rural Transit Funding Solutions program.” The Society plans to raise similar funds and replace another five of its oldest buses.
A Rider Eligibility Criteria will be created to help riders identify if they need to take a Rocky View Bus or a different form of transit.
“Some of our municipal partners are developing transit services of their own,” said Siller. “We should be prepared with a strategy to someday determine who should be taking the Rocky View Bus and who should be taking the regular transit service.”
Riders can expect an increase in Rocky View Bus fares at the end of the year, the first fare increase for RVHB since 2012.
“In early 2000, we planned to raise fares to $5 for every 10 [kilometres],” Siller said. “That fare increase was paused during the pandemic. Our revised plan is a smaller fare increase: $4.50 for every 10 kilometres of estimated travel.”
Riders can expect that fare increase to take effect by the end of 2024.
