COLD LAKE - People are often surprised when they see City of Cold Lake Mayor Craig Copeland on the Cold Lake Transit public buses. But, he rides the bus about 10 times a year, including twice a month in the winter.
Copeland states although people are surprised to see him on the bus, he enjoys when people come up and talk to him. He enjoys seeing students and often recognizes young workers in uniform going to their jobs. The mayor says he sees people using public transit to bring groceries home, and he often thinks about the many people who use the public transit service because they don't have a vehicle, or because they need the bus to get everyone in their family to school or work on time.
Copeland finds the bus comfortable, and he sees the benefit of keeping bus rides free for the public.
"The buses are heavily subsidized, so taking the bus makes me truly appreciate keeping it free. It helps the young people, and workers, and students who rely on the bus to get to school and their jobs," he acknowledges. Copeland says one of the intents of the transit system route was to be able to make rental accommodation in North Cold Lake more appealing.
"We have always said on council if people are in a hurry to get to their destination, they should take a taxi, but if they have the time, transit will get them there in a reasonable time frame, close to, if not right to, their destination, because of the way the route is laid out."
The City won't be making any changes to the public transit route in the foreseeable future, and Copeland says, "We run a faster route now. The bus drivers aren't stopping now if people aren't in front of that stop. The idea is to shorten the travel time by making the route faster."
The City of Cold Lake has a total fo 35 bus stops.
Copeland is also a fan of the Transit App and Bus Tracker that exist. "I am a good user of the app that tracks the bus. I can be at home and use it on my phone and watch how the bus is travelling."
Cold Lake Transit has three new buses plus a backup bus they bought through auction from Strathcona County. The five original Calgary transit buses that were previously used are rarely used now, and eventually will be put up for auction or repurposed.
Although the Cold Lake Transit buses do run a $900,000 deficit each year, Copeland says council is comfortable with the deficit as that $900,000 is built in to the budget, and advertising from the bus shelters, benches and buses themselves help offset some of the costs of running the buses.
Solar panels on the bus shelters were installed with federal and provincial grant dollars.
"When we had the provincial soccer tournament here (this summer), people were quite surprised we ran a free transit," says Copeland. "The transit system in Cold Lake is very unique, it surprises people, and it helps people."
Since January of 2022, to date, there have been 248,276 passengers on the City of Cold Lake public transit bus.
