Starting September 2022, the Saskatchewan Rivers Public School Division will cease its regular high school bus service and encourage students to use the City of Prince Albert bus service.
The change will impact students attending Carlton Comprehensive Public High School, Wesmor Public High School, Prince Albert Collegiate Institute (PACI) and Won Ska Cultural Public School for the 2022-23 school year.
“This partnership with city transport will give the high school students more options as there is a continuous service throughout the day and more stops serving more areas,” Evan Hastings, Transportation and Traffic Manager for the City of Prince Albert said in a release.
“The City is committed to improving the reliability of the transit fleet and we are looking forward to serving the new riders.”
Sask Rivers will continue to provide transportation services for students in specialized learning centres. They will also continue to provide the Functional Integrated programs.
Prince Albert’s current transit service has 140 bus stops throughout the City. Both the division and the City said that will be enough to provide substantial coverage for city neighbourhoods regardless of which school students attend.
The City plans to examine potential transit route changes to make things easier for students in the school year ahead. It is expected that the transfer of service to City Transit will inevitably increase ridership as well as increase the knowledge and culture of Prince Albert City Transit.
Administrators plan to review the City’s transit system throughout 2022 to make sure it can handle more riders at peak hours.
“SRPSD is confident that our students will be well served by this change. We will continue to work with students, parents, and the City to ensure effective transportation opportunities are available,” Jerrold Pidborochynski, Chief Financial Officer for the Saskatchewan Rivers Public School Division said.
Subsidized bus passes are available for high school students at a rate of $20 a month and the bus passes are available for use throughout the year not just on school days.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca