Public Transportation in Sylvan Lake

Hi PR!

This is a great question that other Lakers might be asking, but was asked in the Centennial Street project. We don’t want Lakers to sift through unrelated material to find the project information they need, so we posted the answer here.

In 2022, the Town contracted ISL to help us create a Transportation Master Plan. Section 5 of the plan reviews public transportation (pages 53 - 58). It was recommended that we plan for Public Transportation in about 25 years (page 53):

5.2 Benefits and Challenges of Local Transit As concluded in the 2016 TMP, local transit is not recommended for the town in the short term. For the future 38,000 population (25-year) horizon, both a local transit and regional transit could be considered. Local transit includes the operation between residential areas and major destinations within town, and regional transit considers operation between Sylvan Lake and Red Deer.

The following sources were reviewed to identify the benefits and challenges of offering local transit:

Design and Implementation of Transit Services in Small Communities, Transportation Association of Canada (2016)
Developing Sustainable Transit Options for Small Communities (2013)
Improving Travel Options in Small and Rural Communities, Transport Canada (2009)
Journey to Work. Canada Federal Census, StatsCan, (2016)

One of the main challenges (Section 5.2.2, page 54) was cost and increased tax burden:

Costs: Shortfall costs for operating transit (fare revenue vs. operation costs) are typically covered by the municipality in the order of 40-80%, depending on ridership and transit service levels. Transit funding shortfalls compete with other basic community needs for funds.

You can find this and other planning documents on our website. Go to: www.sylvanlake.ca > Click the menu Your Government > Click Resource Library > Click the department on the left menu. The Transportation Master Plan is a Public Works document.

We do acknowledge that vulnerable Lakers are most impacted by this decision. That’s why our FCSS Department offers the Transportation Support Program. The program assists Lakers with transportation barriers who meet the income threshold set by Alberta Senior’s Benefit. This program is for seniors and adults with physical and mental challenges.

Council has heard other Laker’s questions about public transportation in Sylvan Lake. That’s why they are including a question about it on the 2024 census. All Sylvan Lake residents are encouraged to participate in the census. Watch out for the upcoming Census mailer with instructions.

Thanks again for taking the time to ask questions. We encourage you to share this website, and to provide feedback through the annual resident priorities survey. It’s the easiest way for you to tell Council your priorities before budgeting starts each fall.

Feel free to ask another question anytime!