The COUNTRY BOOSTER, March 4, 2014 – Page 15
Battle River Bus offers a valuable service By Murray Green
The University of Alberta Augustana Campus and student Nicole Ainsworth conducted a survey to gauge the service the Battle River Bus provides on a weekly basis from Bashaw to Camrose. Camrose County and the Bashaw Bus Society partnered to bring the bus service and then brought Augustana on board to help with the project over the last three years. “I wanted to be a part of this project because I come from a rural area and know about the transportation issues. It can prevent people from living in rural communities,” said Nicole, a fourth year student, in a recent presentation to County council. “We came up with three key thing that might prevent people from riding the bus, and they are cost, current need and access to the bus route.” In order to find the answers Nicole and a few volunteers phoned residents in the communities of Bashaw, New Norway, Edberg, Ferintosh, Duhamel and surrounding areas. “We split the survey into two sections. One for people who have used the service and another for those who have yet to use the service,” explained Nicole. “We had a 15 per cent success rate with 122 surveys completed and over 800 phone calls made. What made the administration of this survey difficult was the fact a lot of people were not home, or chose not to answer the phone.” About 63 per cent of the people said they have heard of the bus service and, of those, 64 per cent indicated they heard about the service through the newspaper. “As far as cost, 100 per cent agreed that the $10 fee is reasonable and affordable. With the question of if Thursday is the right day for the service, 97 per cent indicated it was the right day,” added Nicole. When asked why they haven’t previously used the bus service, 71 per cent said they didn’t need the service. However, 83 per cent of the surveys reported that this service is needed in the communities. Of those who responded, 61 per cent indicated they would use the service in the future. Seven people who ride the bus in Bashaw were asked about the level of service. “They indicated that they ride the bus for grocery shopping and to make professional appointments,” said Nicole. “Other uses were socializing and that they had no other means of transportation.” The users also said the service fee was reasonable and Thursday was the best
day. An alternative day of Wednesday was mentioned in the survey. “About 81 per cent of those who had used the service before indicated that they have used it more than once,” said Nicole. “Everyone, 100 per cent were satisfied with the care they received and they would recommend it to friends.” Other findings through the survey were misinformation of where they can be picked up and where they can go in Camrose. “My perception of this topic is that this service is very much needed and appreciated,” said Nicole. “People are looking forward to using this service in the future.” Battle River Bus is averaging five people per week. The goal was for seven people a week, so the society will be looking for ways to increase ridership. Reeve Don Gregorwich thanked Nicole for the information. “We all know completing a survey is not an easy thing to do when people don’t want to pick up the phone and take part in a survey, so I admire you for all the work that you have done here,” said the reeve. “I think you had an excellent response.” County administrator Steve Gerlitz told council that Nicole signed up for 50 hours and that she put in more than 250 hours into this project. “This was to end for her in mid-December and she is still working on it, so kudos to her and her instructors,” said Gerlitz.
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Nominated
Jane Ross of the Association for Life-wide Living (ALL) informed council that the Battle River Bus Highway 13 Initiative has been nominated for a Minister of Transportation Innovation award. “This is possible because of the partnership between ALL, the county and the community of Provost,” Jane said. “We have put together a working agreement with the Battle River Railway and it outlines what we are going to be doing with the railway. We are going to be presenting our strategy to the minister of transportation. On March 18 we will be meeting with the Provost town council and we will have a stakeholder meeting.” The third of a four year Blessing of the River Ceremony will be held on May 10 near Maskwacis (Hobbema). “We are inviting council to attend the ceremony and for the reeve to be a part of the ceremony,” added Jane.
SITTING PRETTY
Murray Green, Camrose Booster Grandpa Neil Orr of Kelsey joined his daughter Melissa Langner and nine-month-old Maddyn to see the Stanley Cup at Scotiabank in Camrose prior to the Olympic Games. Maddyn enjoyed her view from inside the cup. Hockey players, students and fans of the game were allowed to have their picture taken with the cup and meet new branch manager Corry Peake.