Prince Albert’s bus tracking system is moving toward a new five-year agreement, but not without questions about why the City is paying for it.
Executive Committee voted Monday to move ahead with awarding the Prince Albert bus tracking system contract to CRL Engineering, the current provider of TransitLivePA. The agreement, which still has to return to an upcoming council meeting for approval, has a maximum total value of $233,558 before tax.
Community Safety and Well-Being Manager Anna Dinsdale said CRL Engineering was the preferred bidder after a competitive tendering process that drew five bids.
TransitLivePA has been in place since 2019. The system uses GPS on buses to provide real-time tracking through a live website, allowing riders to see where buses are and helping the City track ridership, reliability and service performance.
Dinsdale said the system helps improve “transit reliability, operational efficiency, customer experience, and safety through real-time vehicle tracking and data-driven decision making.”
The report says public use of TransitLivePA has grown since it was launched. Annual rider-facing use increased from 91,299 visits or sessions in 2020 to 420,074 in 2025, with a peak of 482,751 in 2024.
A screenshot of TransitLivePA.com shows Prince Albert buses moving through the city. Executive Committee voted Monday to move ahead with a five-year agreement with CRL Engineering to continue the bus tracking system.
Coun. Tony Head moved the recommendation and said the number of people using the system showed residents expect the service to continue.
Coun. Daniel Brown questioned why the City is responsible for the tracking system instead of the transit provider.
Dinsdale said the City contracts out bus operations, but the bus provider contract and the tracking system contract were set up separately. She said the arrangement is an “imperfect answer” and could be reviewed in the future as the City considers its long-term approach to transit.
Brown said he could not support taxpayers covering the cost.
“When I was a kid, you stood out and waited for the bus till it showed up, and you looked down the street, that’s how you knew it was coming,” Brown said.
Coun. Bryce Laewetz also questioned whether the City could build a similar system in-house, describing it as a map with moving dots. Dinsdale said the City’s GIS division has developed several internal apps, but said she would defer to others for a fuller answer. Laewetz said he was not convinced contracting out was the only option.
Mayor Bill Powalinsky supported keeping the system, saying real-time data can help the City make better decisions about future transit routes and service models. He said the information could help show whether some routes should be served differently, including through smaller feeder buses or more than one transfer point.
Dinsdale said the City has a transit review underway, supported heavily by federal funding, that will look at how to improve service delivery over the next several years.
She said the review will use ridership data to help the City understand how service should change, including where demand is strongest and how routes can be made more cost effective.
Powalinsky also said the public benefit should be clear, especially for riders checking whether a bus is late.
“The public should be able to look at their phone and say, ‘Oh, bus is delayed. I don’t think I’ll stand out here in 40 below weather,'” he said.
The Daily Herald reported last December that cold weather had disrupted Prince Albert Transit service, with some routes moving from half-hour service to hourly loops. Riders said at the time that buses sometimes appeared on the live tracking system but did not arrive, and said better notice would help people who rely on transit for work and school.
Deputy Mayor Troy Parenteau also pointed to accessibility, saying the system is connected to audio stop announcements discussed after a CNIB ride-along.
The discussion comes after council recently approved a new seven-year transit operating contract with First Bus/FirstCanada and plans for 11 new accessible, low-floor diesel buses expected to begin arriving in early 2027. The TransitLivePA agreement is separate from that operating contract.
arjun.pillai@paherald.sk.ca
