If Whistler, Squamish and Pemberton want to see the creation of a regional transit service, it will have to start with a group of people who really want to see it happen.
That was the message Aspen, Colo., Mayor Helen Klanderud delivered last week at appearances in Squamish and Whistler.
The forum in Whistler was designed to explore the potential benefits of a Sea to Sky regional transit authority.
While the two-year pilot project that brought regular commuter service linking Squamish and Whistler won a national award last week for outstanding achievement, it was clear during last Thursday's (June 1) session that more must be done to connect the three corridor communities.
People left behind because buses are already full, bus schedules that don't fit work schedules, and the lack of daytime and late-night service are issues reported by passengers on commuter routes, said Emma Dal Santo, transportation demand management planner for the RMOW.
Whistler Coun. Gordon McKeever said the session helped him realize the Sea to Sky communities can keep working together toward regional transit services before approaching the province for funding.
"To wait until the cheque arrives in the mail is not the time to start," he said.
What is now the award-winning Roaring Fork Transit Authority (RFTA), which serves the communities of Aspen, Basalt, Carbondale, Glenwood Springs and a portion of Eagle County, began when a citizen task force was created in 1981 to look at the possibility of a regional transit system. The task force worked for a year to develop a plan and find out the needs of the communities in the region, Klanderud said.
During the years since, the authority has faced challenges getting funding from mountain operators and the U.S. federal government and pushing for legislation to allow for a portion of sales tax to go toward public transportation.
Now, the valley has a "fairly healthy, robust system" with 3.8 million riders on the free skier routes alone, she said.
Klanderud also attended transit discussions in Squamish and Pemberton during her first visit to the Sea to Sky region. A report will be compiled on the discussions, said William Roberts, executive director of the Whistler Forum, which organized the talks.
The award for the Sea to Sky corridor's pilot project was handed out last Tuesday, May 30, at the Canadian Urban Transit Association in Saskatoon. The RMOW, the District of Squamish, Whistler Transit and B.C. Transit were honoured for Outstanding Achievement in New Service Development.
The service, run over two separate periods in 2005 and 2006, carried almost 45,000 passengers between Whistler and Squamish.
