CityLINK transit becomes permanent, funding decision delayed

CityLINK is here to stay

The vote to make the new system permanent was approved 7-2 with only councillors Ryan Parker and Rajko Dodic voting against it.

Councillor Belinda Crowson said the city has needed to re-evaluate the way it provides public transit for a long time, and she believes CityLINK is the right solution.

“The core outcome of the CityLINK project is to provide the best transit system to the greatest number of people within our Operating Budget,” says Crowson. “Although this network will be constantly improving, initial results indicate that the impact to our customers has been net positive, based upon increased usage.”

According to data from the municipality, ridership has gone up by 65% since the implementation of CityLINK and on-time performance improved by 26%.

Councillor Parker offered a different take, however, stating that many transit users have fallen through the cracks in the CityLINK pilot.

He says he has heard from many residents who do not like CityLINK, and that making it permanent would only go to prove that city council is not listening to the concerns of those it represents.

The decision to make CityLINK permanent comes with a few changes and additional provisions.

It will feature quarterly adjustments based on public feedback, a new on-demand service to the Lethbridge Airport starting on May 4, some modifications to west side routes, and expanded services in the Lakeview area. Some other changes include:

Demand Response Zone 103 will service the Lethbridge Airport and Prairie Arbour Estates area. Demand Response Zone 103 will now end at 20 Avenue South.
3 Green route will deviate off Mayor Magrath Drive onto 9 Avenue and 10 Avenue South for service to Chinook Regional Hospital.
Demand Response Zone 104 will include the North station as a pickup/drop off location.

Funding decision postponed

The second motion would have restored $350,000 in funding that was taken out of transit in the city’s 2021-2022 Operating Budget.

The problem with this motion, according to Mayor Blaine Hyggen and a couple of other members of council, is that it did not specify which fund that money would come from, nor what it would be used for.

A few options were presented, such as eliminating fares for seniors and youths, or adding services to specific areas.

Councillor Jeff Carlson instead proposed postponing the decision to this fall’s budget deliberations.

His position was that doing so would allow administration to come up with more concrete recommendations.

The other benefit to delaying the decision is that approval during budget deliberations would allow this funding to be ongoing instead of merely providing a one-time grant.

It was also confirmed to council that the $1.2 million in funding that Lethbridge Transit will receive from the federal government can only be used to cover COVID-related costs such as PPE, and to offset revenues lost during the pandemic.

Councillor Parker reiterated his belief that council is not listening to the people, as he has personally heard from many residents who say they do not like CityLINK and would rather revert to the former system or come up with something different.

He believes it would be better to restore the funding now so improvements to the system can be made much sooner.

In the end, the vote to postpone the decision to the fall 2022 budget deliberations was passed 5-4.

by David Opinko

CityLINK transit becomes permanent, funding decision delayed

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