Demand for Rocky View handibus increasing

Demand for rides with the Rocky View Regional Handibus Society is shown to be increasing in the third quarter update recently released by the society.
“What we’re noticing is we’re steadily getting busier and busier,” said Paul Siller, Rocky View Regional Handibus Society General Manager.
There is an increased reliance on the regional handi bus by people needing to get to appointments.
The increase in Chestermere is a13 per cent increase in passenger registration and a 16 per cent increase to ridership.
Siller finds the increase to be counter intuitive in a community that has a young demographic and lacks seniors housing.
“Chestermere shouldn’t have as much demand as it does,” he said, “you kind of break the norm.”
Despite the rising demand, the handibus service continues to operate on a tight budget.
The society is funded through a combination of donations, rider fees and municipal funding.
Each municipality pays just over $6 per capita and riders pay $4 per 10 kilometres of estimated travel distance.
“We’re providing a service a service at $6 and change per capita that national average is requiring $12,” he said, “so we’re on a shoestring.”
The municipal portion of their budget is slowly increasing which allows the handibus to improve service.
Siller said that when the society calculated it in 2010, the service needs $10 per capita to be able to provide their preferred level of service, which would include weekend operations.
Currently the service only operates weekdays during the day. Riders are limited in the number of trips they can take each month.
“It may be called a handibus but we’re not that handy,” said Siller of the restrictions on the service.
People trying to use the service need to book several days in advance or risk being turned down.
“Everyday we’ve got to turn away people that we just can’t fit into the schedule with the existing number of drivers,” he said.
The society was originally founded in 1980 under a different name. In 2002 the Rocky View Regional Handibus name was adopted and the service came to Chestermere in 2006.