Port Moody council is putting the brakes to the Shoreline Shuttle.
The bus service was launched as a pilot project last summer to connect Moody Centre with Inlet Centre and Newport Village on Friday evenings and through the weekends from June 1 to Labour Day in an effort to relieve some of the parking pressures and congestion at Rocky Point Park and nearby Brewers Row, and during major events like Canada Day, RibFest and Golden Spike Days.
But the city’s mayor said the shuttle’s $50,000 budgeted expense is too rich, and it was one of several items excised as part of $330,000 in reserve spending cuts approved by the finance committee in an effort to reduce the tax hit on residents.
Rob Vagramov said when the cost of renting and operating the 20-passenger bus, along with staff time to manage and promote the service was added up, the price for providing the service was more than $17 for each of the 3,705 riders who took advantage of it.
“If we bought individual cab rides instead of doing the Shoreline Shuttle, we may have saved more money than the program actually cost in dollars,” Vagramov said, adding he got a quote that a 2.8 km cab ride between Newport Village and Rocky Point Park runs $6-8.
Vagramov said even factoring in sponsorship from the Panatch Group that covered half the shuttle’s $50,000 budget last year still didn’t make the service viable. He added with the service now off the budget, the city’s no longer exploring further sponsorship.
Celia Chang, the president of Shop Local Port Moody, said shop owners in the city didn’t realize much benefit from the service, although she did hear from residents of neighbourhoods like Suter Brook, Newport Village, Moody Centre and Klahanie who loved its convenience for getting to Rocky Point Park or to the breweries on Murray Street.
“It was a great people mover during specific times,” she said.
Vagramov said he is pursuing other opportunities that could make some sort of shuttle bus service available during special events.
Other items that weren’t approved by council’s finance committee to save money included a plan to establish a street performers’ program and busking stations, the replacement of the cultural services van, a review of the city’s public space program, the installation of GPS technology in the city’s fleet of vehicles and new heron ecosculptures. The city now anticipates a tax increase for the coming year of 5.5%.
Public consultation for Port Moody’s 2019 budget begins on Tuesday with a town hall meeting at 7 p.m. in the Inlet Theatre.
