Strathmore Handi-bus stronger than ever

Shannon LeClair
Times Reporter

 

The Strathmore Handi-bus Association is doing better than ever in the last couple of years.
Despite the rumour coming out of Calgary about their Handi-bus programs being taken over by Calgary Transit, the Strathmore Handi-buses have never been or are in no way affiliated with the city program and will continue to run as they always have.
“We’re operated with the support of the Town of Strathmore and the County of Wheatland and local donors,” said Brian Grier, with the Handi-bus Association.
The mandate of the association is ‘to provide transportation services for seniors and physically challenged (people) in the Town of Strathmore and the County of Wheatland.’
The members meet every month, except in the summer, and have representatives from the town, county and various organizations around town, who are all strong supporters.
Grier related that the accountant for the association said in the last few months the financial position is the strongest he has ever seen.
“Our buses are getting old, so we do need to buy new buses. We do have money… we have just purchased one recently,” said Grier.
“We think we’re going to buy another one this year, but we’re going to be prudent about it. We’ll buy one this year and maybe we’ll buy one next year. We would like to get support and we’re willing to give recognition.”
The idea is if a person or company donates approximately $25,000 or more to the association, their name would be placed on the exterior of the bus in recognition of their donation. The $25,000 is about half of the cost of one Handi-bus.
The association’s bigger bus is about 15 years old and has a few issues. The association hopes to maybe replace it at some point, but it is more expensive to do so than the smaller buses.
Grier hopes one day the Handi-bus Association will be self-sustaining.
“That’s my goal. I want to operate without donations … I think that’s a good goal for the board to look at and that’s one of the things we’re looking at in our strategic plan and working on,” said Grier.
In 2014 there were 5,963 trips, which works out to around 500 people per month. So far the numbers are on track to see the same usage in 2015.