Chipping in for bus route

A local business says it will split the fare, with representatives asking city council to find a way to extend transit service to a Salmon Arm industrial park.

Steven DeBoer of 4AG Robotics gave a presentation at the Dec. 9 Salmon Arm city council meeting, making the case for expanding bus service to an area industrial park in order to help employees get to work.

“Salmon Arm’s got the slogan, small city, big ideas,” DeBoer said. “It's a promise that small cities can do big things, that we can build great ideas in our small town and have a great place to live and work.”

4AG is a robotics company specializing in autonomous mushroom picking robots. DeBoer said with 70 full-time employees and more than $7 million in annual payroll, the company is a meaningful contributor to the local economy.

Despite offering high paying and high skilled jobs, DeBoer explained getting his employees to their office in the Salmon Arm industrial park has been an ongoing struggle.

“Our industrial park is a meaningful distance out of town,” he said. “If I work at, McDonald's… it might be inconvenient, but it is reasonable for me to walk from many parts of our town to there or to our many service establishments.

“It is very impractical and certainly not safe to walk along Auto Road or the highway to get to our industrial park.”

DeBoer said his employees are often new graduates, or students on work co-ops, and many of them do not own vehicles or even drivers licences.

“It really is a real, genuine challenge, and organizations like ours are willing to contribute and help to support to make that happen,” he said.

“I'm sure that there are probably four or five other major employers in the industrial park that would contribute towards that ongoing operating cost to make it doable.”

He concluded his presentation by asking council to consider a way to push for transit service to the industrial park.

“It's a service that is definitely needed, and is a key part of serving our college and our businesses that are located there,” DeBoer added.

Mayor Alan Harrison responded before opening the floor to questions and comments from city councillors.

“I think there's no one here that would disagree with you,” he said. “We want to try to move beyond transit being a service for shopping, which it is primarily now, to a service for work."

“It is a financial challenge, for sure, but I hear you coming forward with a closed hand and something in it, so I appreciate that,” he added.

Coun. Sylvia Lindgren asked what kind of hours the bus service might be needed to cover.

“There's a three hour window at the beginning of the day, so six 'til nine, and then at the other end, three 'til six,” DeBoer answered. “That would cover 90-plus percent of the ridership there.”

Other councillors noted the issue of transit service to the industrial park is not new. Coun. Louise Wallace Richmond said she estimated there have been 10 or 12 studies done already.

“I think it has to start with a budget referral, it has to start with a referral to BC Transit and we have to have a really frank conversation about exactly how many numbers,” she said.

“If businesses can guarantee that they can almost fill that bus, whether with real bodies or just pay for tickets, there's an argument BC Transit might be interested.”

“This is a big challenge you've undertaken I am happy to support,” Wallace Richmond added. “I care a lot about our bus service, but I feel from the onset we have to be really honest with each other.”

Harrison advised DeBoer that 4AG should talk to Salmon Arm Economic Development about the issue.

“I think we all see the need, it's a financial challenge,” he said. “So I would ask that you connect with Salmon Arm Economic Development, they are very familiar with this ask.”

“I think that's your first connection, because as councillors have said and you have implied, there are numbers there that may make this work, but we can't rely on may — we need to know.”