City of Powell River councillors have voted to extend the Zunga Bus on-demand transit pilot until the end of 2022.
Council voted, however, to postpone a recommendation that staff be directed to include the service in the 2023 financial plan at a cost of $188,500, funded through a combination of 50 per cent climate action reserve fund and 50 per cent general revenue.
At an April 8 meeting, councillor CaroleAnn Leishman moved a recommendation that staff be directed to include $75,000 in the 2022 to 2026 financial plan from the COVID-19 safe restart reserve to maintain the existing Zunga Bus service, with one bus in the Westview area, through 2022.
Leishman said going through the Clean BC roadmap, there are many recommendations on how important it is to make transit more efficient, and to increase ridership, which will get people out of their cars.
“We have such good goals and vision for transit to grow our ridership and make more direct runs, and to reduce costs and the huge buses from running around empty on those off-peak times,” said Leishman. “What we are talking about is continuing the Zunga Bus and working with BC Transit on amalgamating the Zunga Bus into our transit service to take over those off-peak times and to make our transit more efficient.
“I encourage council to support the two motions because we have something good here. We are being known across BC and across Canada for being leaders in making transit more effective and more accessible.”
Councillor George Doubt said the recommendation was about spending $75,000 in 2022 from the COVID-19 safe restart reserve to extend the trial.
“It’s not going to change the big buses driving around the city and it’s not going to change BC Transit’s scheduled service,” said Doubt. “It’s going to extend the Zunga Bus finances so it can continue to operate with one bus in the Westview area for 2022. I’m probably going to support this one.”
Allocation poses problem for Palm
Councillor Jim Palm said he had a bit of a problem with the proposed allocation because the $75,000 is coming out of restart funds, which is not earmarked for transit.
“I’m having difficulty with it because our taxpayers are faced with a 6.6 per cent increase on their taxes overall this year,” said Palm. “I talked about reducing that amount by at least one per cent from the COVID-19 safe restart fund. With the mill down and people out of work, coming off COVID-19, we should be doing everything we can for our citizens to reduce the overall tax bill.
“Running the Zunga Bus for another year, I’m not sure where it is going to get us. We’re planning to hopefully incorporate it through BC Transit into our regular fleet, but there’s no guarantee that is going to happen. Without some assurance there will be a reduction in the overall tax rate for our citizens, it’s hard for me to vote for another $75,000.”
Councillor Rob Southcott said he supports the expenditure.
“It’s a lot of money but it’s a big investment in change,” said Southcott. “We must go in this direction. It is helping people get out of vehicles.”
Councillor Maggie Hathaway said she was in favour of the motion and in order to do a fair evaluation of the bus, the city needs to take it through until the end of the year.
“I get that it is costing us some money,” said Hathaway, “but I would like to take it at a minimum until the end of the year.”
Mayor Dave Formosa said the city is working hard on getting ridership up, and that it is important to get BC Transit’s buy-in.
“They were pushed into it because of Powell River,” said Formosa. “They wanted nothing to do with it in the beginning. It’s going to be a hard push but it’s worth it. I am going to support this motion.”
Council supported the extension of the Zunga Bus until the end of the year, with Palm opposed.
Divided opinion
Opinion was more divided on running the service in 2023, paid for by the city. Leishman made the motion to include running of the bus in the 2023 financial plan at a cost of $188,500. She said it would continue the service until BC Transit has a plan to incorporate it into the city’s bus service.
Doubt said he was against the motion. He said he believed $375,000 was being spent on the Zunga Bus, including what council had just approved to go through until the end of 2022.
“We have a report from BC Transit that they might think about it sometime, but we have no action from BC Transit committing to do anything,” said Doubt. “I’m not prepared to invest another $188,500 of taxpayers’ money, including taxpayers’ money from Wildwood and Townsite, who have no hope in this plan of getting the opportunity to ride the bus.”
Palm said it might be a good idea to vote the recommendation down and let the new council coming in after the October municipal election deal with it.
Councillor Rob Southcott said he was inclined to support the recommendation. He said the service is desired here and in a lot of other places.
Chief administrative officer Russell Brewer said city staff met with BC Transit on April 7 to work on a service discussion document.
“The intent from that is to bring something back in terms of a transit improvement program with recommendations and a memorandum of understanding by September,” said Brewer. “This will help inform budget deliberations for 2023. It will give you a good idea of where BC Transit is landing.”
Leishman moved for postponement of the recommendation until BC Transit brings the city its analysis. The motion carried unanimously.
