With extensive work planned for the waterfront in 2023, the city has decided to roll out a pilot project that aims to help residents get to Couchiching Beach Park.
During the 2023 budget process, council approved $28,200 for a waterfront shuttle service pilot project to run from Friday through Sunday in the summer months.
The waterfront area lost two municipal lots last summer as part of the city’s Centennial Drive improvement plan and the extensive work still planned will require the boat launch parking area to undergo reconstruction – for which council approved $1.5 million in the budget process.
The pilot project will see a shuttle van offer rides to tourists and residents from Municipal Lot 6, near City Centre, to Couchiching Beach Park, every 15 minutes.
“The way we imagine imagine (it) is it's just a simple service to try and better connect people with the waterfront area, in lieu of the construction activities and the limited parking we have available, so it's going to be sort of a transit type service,” said Wesley Cyr, the city's manager of engineering and transportation.
“We're imagining a 15-minute cycle time, but … we have the ability to alter it based on demand through the summer, and the routes will likely change as well because of some of the construction activities and events that are happening in the waterfront area.”
TOK Transit, who provides the city’s transit service, has agreed to provide the shuttle service through the summer, which is budgeted for 47 days at $600 per day.
“What we're picturing now is an 8-10 passenger, smaller shuttle-type bus, but … we have the ability to sort of pivot if we need to, if we find that demand … is greater, we'll bring in a larger bus,” Cyr said.
Cyr said the city expects to recoup a significant amount of the costs for the service through fees, which, he says, will be decided upon by council this spring.
The program is expected to be a temporary measure, Cyr said, as the waterfront area undergoes significant construction.
“We're going to test the waters and see if it's something that people will actually use (to) help connect people to our beautiful waterfront area,” he said.
The city is also working on establishing parking alternatives, Cyr said, in conjunction with the shuttle service.
“We're looking for ways to help people access that and attend those areas a little bit easier,” he said of the waterfront and downtown. “It's our short term goal and our long term goal (to) provide facilities that make it easier for people to get around.”
