City of Powell River council will consider extension of the Zunga Bus service beyond its trial period.
At the March 24 finance committee meeting, councillors considered recommendations to carry on with on-demand busing.
Councillor CaroleAnn Leishman told councillors that the city’s climate change mitigation and adaptation committee had met and received the presentation provided to the committee of the whole on March 15. She said they moved a recommendation that council support two recommendations.
The first was 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 Westview through 2022. The second was that staff be directed to include the Zunga Bus service in the 2023 financial plan at a cost of $188,500 through a combination of 50 per cent from the climate action reserve and 50 per cent from general revenue.
Leishman said the climate action committee saw the benefits of the Zunga Bus and would like to support that. She said she would like to move the two recommendations onto city council for consideration.
Chief administrative officer Russell Brewer said that should the city reach an agreement with BC Transit on helping to fund the Zunga Bus service, requisitions could change, but the recommendation does not assume that will be the case.
Councillor Cindy Elliott said she is in favour of the Zunga Bus. She said it supports workers in the city getting to and from work.
Palm asks for total spent
Councillor Jim Palm said the city had already spent a considerable sum on a second bus, which is not operational.
“We are facing a hefty tax increase, and it’s a far stretch for COVID-19 funds,” said Palm, then he asked about how much money had been spent on the Zunga Bus pilot project.
Brewer said $170,000 had been allocated from the climate action reserve fund and $130,000 from the COVID-19 resilience fund, for a total of $300,000, with $191,000 having been spent as of February 14, 2022. Brewer said there was remaining funding of $108,000, so to continue to run the Zunga Bus as it is currently operating would require an additional $75,000 by the end of the year.
Palm said the financial demand keeps on going up. He said he would like some definite answers from BC Transit. He said he has no faith that the provincial crown corporation is going to help the city out with the Zunga Bus project.
“I’m a little apprehensive about the whole approach that we are taking in terms of providing transportation at $2.50 a head for the Zunga Bus,” said Palm. “I have a problem with spending taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars and money we received for COVID-related items. We’re putting it all into transit.”
Mayor Dave Formosa said his understanding is that the pilot project is up in another month. Brewer said the end of April is what council has approved.
Finance committee chair councillor George Doubt said by his reading of the report, $300,000 had been budgeted for the Zunga Bus. He said if there is no more money, the pilot will have to come to an end.
“The original effort was to have a trial and get BC Transit to participate in the funding and work with the city to try and make it a permanent service if it was reasonable to do that,” said Doubt.
“There is no promise BC Transit would take over the Zunga Bus service or participate in funding it. To keep the trial going it would be $75,000 this year and $188,500 next year, and possibly more in the coming years if BC Transit decided to participate.”
Leishman said for the 2023 proposed service, there is some revenue from the bus that has been calculated into that sum.
“If we improve our transit service, we’ll get more ridership,” said Leishman. “We’ll get more revenue and the amount [from the city] could be reduced. If BC Transit gets on board, there could be more contributions.”
Mayor wants report
Formosa said there is no doubt the bus is a popular and good service, because it is a door-to-door $2.50 ride in the area it runs.
“I would like to see a report that answers a lot of the questions,” said Formosa. “I’m not saying I’m dead against this. I know the bus is good for workers and those in lower income jobs, but do we have the $300,000 it's going to take us? Do we use the report to negotiate with BC Transit to see if we can’t get something?”
Formosa said he’d support the pilot extension for the rest of the year, but for the following year, he’d like to see a report and have discussions with BC Transit and make a decision from there.
Leishman said most of Formosa’s questions were answered in the staff report that was before the finance committee, and indicate how it can be integrated into the existing transit service.
Formosa said he’d have a closer look.
Palm said he'd like to make a motion for staff to reach out to BC Transit regarding how this might fit the existing busing schedule, and to hear directly if there is any hope for getting BC Transit support.
Brewer said council had given direction to staff to work with BC Transit on the recommendations in the report.
The committee gave unanimous consent to send the recommendations about continuing the Zunga Bus service to city council for discussion.
