Brandon Transit to extend service on New Year’s Eve

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This article was published 06/12/2011 (5321 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Partygoers on New Year’s Eve can catch a Brandon Transit bus to their destination until midnight.

“It’s like any Saturday of the year,” said Tim Sanderson, the city’s transportation services director. “Usually, it ended at 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. This year were are running until 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve, and the full day on New Year’s Eve. Because we had basically zero ridership on New Year’s Eve and no requests for service, we’ve pulled in the buses to save fuel. This year, we will run the full day.”

Sanderson said a discussion took place to determine whether to offer transit service until 2 a.m. or later, but without a corporate sponsor, that remains unlikely. That rationale didn’t hold water with Coun. Stephen Montague (Richmond), who last year asked city officials why bus service isn’t offered until 3 a.m., when many partygoers are looking for rides home.

“My position is we should just do it, period,” Montague said. “It’s ridiculous to hinge this just on getting this sponsored. You have a month to market it, so why not just step up and say, of all the days to have transit services, this is one. If this keeps one person from drinking and driving, it’s money well spent.”

Montague then supplied financial figures released in response to his Jan. 10 inquiry about the costs of New Year’s Eve transit service. According to Sanderson’s numbers, the additional cost to offering bus service until midnight, as they are this year, is “less than $1,000.”

To extend service until 3 a.m., the estimated cost for 2010 was $7,036.60, which included $4,000 worth of marketing charges. The transit and security budget was $3,036.60.

“I don’t think you base your service level based on (whether a sponsor is involved),” Montague said. “If you want the word out as broadly as possible that this is offered, I think the city, whether a sponsor or not is involved, (should) offer the service.”

In his undated response to a city council from Jan. 10, sent to Mayor Shari Decter Hirst and all city councillors, Sanderson appeared to concur with Montague’s view.

“In order to offer a service that has the potential for utilization on New Year’s Eve, it is imperative that the service span be extended to have the last buses finish their service day at 3 a.m,” Sanderson wrote. “By doing so, this would allow revellers the opportunity to use the service after ushering in the new year.”

Sanderson said in the inquiry response that a free-of-charge bus service after 7 p.m. would be the optimal method, as it limits potential conflict between bus drivers and intoxicated riders.

“We have been open to the idea of corporate sponsorship, similar to any other city in Canada that offers a service like this,” Sanderson said. “Nobody has ever approached us to do it and in my time here, not one person has ever requested it. Operation Red Nose does a good job and there are other service organizations that do this that’s more economically feasible. As far as us determining what the needs are, as far as our understanding is, there isn’t one. If we ran these buses, would we get ridership? We might get some, if some choose us rather than to take a cab. That could happen. Even after stories ran on this topic last year, not one request for this service came.”

A typical ridership on a Saturday is measured in the “hundreds,” Sanderson said, noting it was relatively low on a Saturday evening. More precise numbers weren’t available.

Brandon Transit currently has no regular service on Sundays or holidays except for Easter Monday. Handi-Transit continues to operate on Sunday. Sanderson said he has put forward the costs to provide service on those days to council, and every time he has, council decided not to expand service into Sundays and all holidays.

“More people work on Easter Monday than not, so it makes sense to offer a reduced schedule,” Sanderson said. “I’m not opposed to offering Sunday service, and council has asked us for a breakdown of costs. It’s somewhere in the neighbourhood of $175,000 and $200,000”

Sanderson said Sunday bus service would be the next progression for service increases for a community of Brandon’s size, but it comes down to how much council wants to spend and whether there’s enough ridership to recoup those costs.

“We know there’s some ridership, but is there enough?” Sanderson said.

» kborkowsky@brandonsun.com