Transportation Options in Small Communities: Lessons for Portage la Prairie

Deepa ChandranMasters StudentDepartment of City PlanningUniversity of Manitoba

Richard MilgromAssociate Professor Department of City PlanningUniversity of Manitoba

Presentation overview

Transportation constraints in small towns

Successful transportation strategies in small towns

Portage la Prairie today

Transportation suggestions: Portage la Prairie Age Friendly Study, 2015

Options for funding and technical support

Next steps: Beginning for change

Funding constraints

Limited demand Organizational

capacity constraints

Transportation in small

towns

Auto-centric built form

and development

Limited public transportation

options

Social Issues Economic

Issues

Ecological Issues

Impacts of poor transportation optionsHigh individual transportation expenses

Auto-oriented built form and high level of pollution

Reduced options for social exchange

Discourages seniors to age in place

Forces young people to move to larger cities

Transportation exclusion

Poor accessibility to social infrastructure and basic amenities

Lower levels of community wellbeing

SUCCESSFUL TRANSPORTATION STRATEGIES IN SMALL TOWNS

Investing and encouraging active transportation

Cheap and beneficial in small cities

Collaborative programs with schools, employers and non-profit organizations

Investment required in on-road, off-road and way-finding facilities

Examples: City of Whitehorse YK, Fernie in BC and Township of Minton Hills, ON

However, health, age, weather factors may prevent many from using this option Bike to work program in Fernie, BC

Demand-responsive options

The customer has to make call for the service

Highly flexible but costly

Dial-a-ride and HandyVan are widely used

Handy-Dart service for customers with disabilities (BC)

Pioneer Valley para-transit service for disabled, Massachusetts

Carshare

• Convenient and cheap

• Benefits those who cannot /do not want to buy a car

• Reduces unnecessary travel

• Carshare co-op in Kootenay benefits several communities such as Nelson, Revelstoke, Kimberley and Rossland.

A group of people owning the same car in Kootenay region

Carpooling

Carpooling advertisement in Vernon, BC

• Reduces travel cost and is environmental friendly

• Easy if all members have the same destination and origin

• Local bodies can support by providing ride matching services

• Successful in many BC communities such as Vernon, Nelson and Kelowna.

Enhanced Taxi-Pass program

Subsidized taxi tickets

Benefits seniors, students, disabled and low income households

Mainly based on Municipal subsidies

Successful in communities like Peace River, AB

A senior using a free taxi ride in Chilliwack, BC

Transportation Information and Reimbursement Program (TRIP)

Entirely free travel option for seniors and disabled

Customer avails help of friend/neighbor to reach destinations and gives back the reimbursed money

Partnership between non-profit organization and City

Successful in several small US communities (e.g.: Riverside, California) A senior member covered under TRIP in Riverside, California

Taxi-bus (People travel in the same taxi)

A taxi-bus in Rimouski, Quebec

• Routes may be fixed or flexible

• Cheaper than taxi service

• Useful for those who are settled away from the downtown

• Successful in several small communities in QC such as Rimouski

Collaboration with school bus operators

School bus used as public transit during the school hours

Besides, adults/disabled people get ride if seats are empty (ride with students)

Though sounds utopian, several communities in QC benefits from this option

Terrace Trail and Fort St. John are successful examples

Provincial and inter-municipal partnerships

Service shared by several neighbouring small communities

Small communities also purchase transit service from existing transit systems in the neighbouring areas

Cost shared by different administrative divisions

King County transit in NS, and Whistler Valley transit in BC are successful examples

A WAVE bus in BC

Handivan/Minibus service as transit

A Handibus used for transit in Wasaga Beach

• Cheaper than conventional bus service

• Fixed routes and schedule

• Cheaper than the shuttles or taxis

• Can be replaced by bus with increase in demand

• Successful in communities like Hinton in AB and Wasaga Beach in ON.

Conventional bus service

Collingwood transit, Ontario

• Requires detailed planning

• High initial investment (with provincial support)

• Usually 60%-70% of the cost goes as subsidy

• There is no threshold population required to check the success or need for transit (1 bus on service and 1 spare)

• Collingwood, ON is a good example

Options to reduce travel needs

Telecommuting:

(working from home)Online shopping

However, has much less impact as compared to previous options

Portage la Prairie today

Fifth largest urban centre in the province

High share of seniors (senior population will drastically increase in the near future)

Numerous commendable age-friendly initiatives

Automobile centric development

Other transportation facilities

- Handivan

- Portage Voluntary Driving Program for seniors

- Very limited active transportation infrastructure

Transportation Options : Portage la Prairie Age-friendly Report, 2015

Enhanced Taxi-Pass (funding by city)

Transportation Reimbursement and Information Program (Funding by City (roughly 60% in Riverside), donations and other organizations)

Conventional transit (vehicle procurement using Federal/Provincial funds, operation by City/ through contract)

Phase-I Phase-II

• Service in 35-40 minutes • Length- 15km (Phase-I), 14.6 KM (Phase-II)• Options for bus-shelters and benches at selected bus stops

Bus Route Options

How costly is a conventional bus service?

Source: Transit Implementation Guidelines for Small Canadian Municipalities, 2006)

• A town with 10,000 tax payers will have to pay an extra $15-$20 in an year to maintain regular transit service

•A transit system with six day bus service (3,333 hours per year), and 25% cost recovery will cost approximately $15 annually per resident of Portage la Prairie.

Name of city Cobourg, ON Yellowknife, NWT Banff, AB

Population 18000 18000 8500

Average Fare $1.80 $1.58 $1.30

Revenue to cost (%) 30% 39% 99%

Cost per capita $16.41 $18.00 $0.20

Selkirk Transit: A Successful Precedent from Manitoba

Transit in Selkirk

• Population- 9800 (2011)

Transit service started in 2011

Operating cost - $95000 (City) + $95000 (Province)

Vehicle procurement + additional expenses: Federal Gas Tax money and Public Transit Trust

Per capita cost of transit service- $10

Ticket cost: $2 (for all except children)

Transit: Options for funding and technical support

Green Municipal Fund (Federal)

Federal Gas Tax Fund (GTF)

Building Canada Fund (BCF)

Public-Private Partnership (P3) Fund

Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA)

Collaboration of Municipality with local business, non-profit and other organizations

Next steps: A beginning for change

Shift from conventional ‘economic bottom line’ approach to ‘triple bottom line’ approach in transportation planning.

Frame a Transportation Demand Management (TDM) strategy

-Understand why, where, when and who travel

-Encourage people to choose and make people aware of the need .. to have sustainable travelling options including a new transit system

-Requires collaboration with various institutions

“A bus represents democracy in action”

(Enrique Penalosa, 2013)

THANK YOU