The ROAM regional transit service between Canmore and Banff has surpassed the goal of over 1,000 riders in a single week and now has its sights set on potentially increasing summer service in Banff and having a bus terminal in Canmore.
“We’re really happy with the ridership,” said Bow Valley Regional Transit Service Commission general manager Koji Miyaji. “It’s sort of the low season, so we’re gearing up for the summer, both with regional service and the local service.”
Although there are no plans yet to increase the amount of service between Banff and Canmore, Miyaji noted that with the amount of ROAM users increasing, the commission could look at extending its hours throughout the summer months.
“Our revenues have been really good so we may look at something, but it’s really tough to do it mid-year,” he said. “It would be tough to take it back if the revenue doesn’t continue.
“If the demand is really high for the summer we may look at adding service,” he continued. “If it gets to the point where we’re leaving people behind because the buses are full, then we’d make adjustments.”
On the local transit side in Banff, which has now been running for almost two years, the idea to increase service is probable to accommodate the number of people, particularly tourists, in the area during summer.
“We’re likely going to look at summer service or summer time schedules in Banff,” the general manager said. “It does get congested and we want to make sure we’re timing it properly.
“We have more data on the Banff side of things because it’s been running longer,” he added. “The trends from past years have looked like we’re right on top or slightly more than what we were last year, so that’s promising.”
As for the possibility of extending ROAM transit to Lake Louise, Miyaji also said the commission has been in contact with Parks Canada and things are moving along, however, more discussion needs to happen on their end before any agreement is made.
Another initiative that’s now in the works for those using transit in and out of Canmore is construction of a downtown bus terminal to serve ROAM, Greyhound and other tourist buses on Ninth Street.
“The original plan was to put that on 10th Street, but we’ve engaged a transportation engineer to help us with the design and his primary thoughts were it should be on Ninth,” said Town of Canmore manager of municipal infrastructure Gary Buxton.
“It’s very preliminary, but because there’s a change in the location we wanted to get that idea in front of council,” he added.
The exact location for a bus terminal is not yet known, however, Buxton did note it would be “somewhere around the parking lot behind the tourism Canmore building.”
The manager also said the matter will be presented to Canmore council sometime this year.
