Scott Hayes | [email protected]
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Council has decided to keep its batteries charging up before pressing play on its e-bike sharing pilot project.
Initially proposed to start in 2023, the concept was designed for a two-year test on a public transportation alternative. E-bikes will be put aside until 2024 budget discussions later this fall.
鈥淚t really looked at how we can provide other options to both Jasper locals and visitors to help reduce their reliance on private automobiles,鈥� said Bill Given, the municipality鈥檚 chief administrative officer.
The pilot was budgeted at $220,000 with the funding coming from the municipality鈥檚 Public Transportation and Parking Reserve, and the balance of funding incorporated in the 2024 operational budget. Its objectives were to ease both congestion and reduce pollution, both of which can become especially noticeable during the summer tourism season.
Both of those considerations can contribute toward ensuring that visitors have a positive experience during their time in Jasper, Given said.
鈥淲e have a lot of visitors who arrive as a part of a tour or on the train, and they may not have easy ways to get around the community and the outlying attractions. For all those reasons together, we said, 鈥榃hat could the municipality do to help improve the situation?鈥欌��
With those in mind, council brought two recommendations out of that plan, with one being a public transit system, which ran in a limited capacity last year.
The e-bike concept would put a fleet of approximately 40 units, half of which would be stationed at a dock in town. The other half would be docked at one of the surrounding campsites.
Administration has posted a request for proposals for transit service. That is currently under review and recommendations are expected to come to council this month.
The e-bike proposal requires more planning and process work before it can get to the same point, Given said.
鈥淲e also did some investigation and have a better understanding of what's possible,鈥� he added.
鈥淏ut really, because of one of the main factors just being administrative capacity 鈥� how much staff capacity we have to do different things 鈥� our advice to council is to pause the e-bike pilot program and reconsider it at budget this fall. That would allow administration to use our capacity to focus on what has to be the priority and that's the public transportation system.鈥�
