Transit dominated the conversation during Cochrane mayor Truper McBride’s March 7 visit with members of Seniors on the Bow (SOTB).
Following the town’s open house on the matter, McBride provided an overview of where the transit debate presently stood, outlining three options administration would take into consideration and present to council on March 25.
“It’s much more modest than what we had before,” McBride said of the three transit options, two of which would be a local dial-a-bus service and one a commuter service to the Crowfoot LRT in Calgary (see page 7 for more on the transit open house).
McBride told SOTB that he wanted a transit system that would offer three things to the community: provide an entrance into transit, establish a system that can grow along with the population and a route system that can offer immediate service to those who need it.
“It’s a safe way for us to get into transit,” said McBride of the dial-a-bus option. “We’re not reinventing the wheel here, transit is something that is used around the world and it works.”
McBride indicated that the next step for council would be to move from ‘what’ transit system to implement to ‘when’ it should begin.
One member of SOTB questioned the mayor on how much taxes would be increased with a local transit system in Cochrane – approximately $35 per taxpayer, or 1.9 per cent – saying property taxes are already high enough.
McBride empathized with the sentiment, adding that he felt property taxes were a ‘terrible form of taxation,’ and that a more fair method is through income or sales tax.
Asked if all Cochrane residents could have a vote on whether they wanted to see a transit system in town, McBride replied, “You have an election. If you don’t like council, you can throw them out.”
McBride said he never did expect long lines of passengers throughout Cochrane waiting to get on a bus, but that whatever system is implemented needs to fill a need in the community.
McBride also speculated that six out of seven members of town council (mayor and six councillors) would support one of the three transit options, and possibly all seven, which would be the number he would be aiming for.
The mayor concluded the transit discussion by saying that no matter which option council chose, it would not be implemented this year, and it would even be a stretch to see it in 2014.
Once the town orders buses, it takes a year and a half for them to be delivered.
Questions persist on when and if Wal-Mart will be come to Cochrane’s Quarry site.
McBride said he believed the developers had reached an agreement and that construction should start soon.
The mayor did admit that there are winners and losers in any community when Wal-Mart comes to town, but that the store was needed to ‘drive the rest of the Quarry site development forward.’
McBride said the developer’s (Springwood) goal is for Wal-Mart to open its doors by Christmas 2013.
Sidewalks along Railway Street are also expected to be completed in the coming months in anticipation of additional foot traffic in the area.
