On Tuesday morning, a ceremony took place to kick off an exciting new transportation asset for the Drumheller Valley, with a positive twist.
A number of local dignitaries, along with representatives from Travel Alberta, Travel Drumheller, and many others were gathered at the Downtown Plaza for an official ribbon cutting ceremony for the Valley Connect transit bus. Along with this announcement, representatives were on hand from Flixbus to announce a new service between Drumheller and Calgary which will connect with the Valley Connect bus.
Many may know the Valley Connect transit project as there have been a couple of opportunities to learn about the proposed transit project throughout the Drumheller Valley. The trial for the service is to take place this summer and the main station, as chosen by Drumheller residents, will be the Downtown Plaza, which will also be a stop for Flixbus in Drumheller. Destination Development Officer with Travel Drumheller, Lana Phillips, is excited to have this project move forward. “I am super excited and super proud of our community working together to bring these two bus services and support our residents and our tourism economy in town.”
Travel Alberta is also quite excited to be involved in support of the Valley Connect project and the new connection from Calgary. President and CEO of Travel Alberta, David Goldstein understands the importance of the Drumheller Valley in the tourism of our province. “This region is a gem. It is an important part of our tourism development strategy. It already has a huge global reputation through the Royal Tyrrell and the nature of this community, but connectivity has always been a challenge. It is true for many smaller communities around the province but particularly here. Today is like a one-two punch. You get the direct service to (and from) Calgary through Flixbus, and you get the local hop-on hop-off service, which is going to be great for locals as well. We’re really building this with the demand and entrepreneurs around the region to really drive both Albertans and international tourists to come and enjoy this special place.” Goldstein also encourages locals to take the hop-on hop-off shuttle and be a “tourist in your own town”.
Goldstein admits that through their research, connectivity has been a barrier for the Drumheller Valley. “We actually have a pretty detailed analytics group at Travel Alberta and this is one of the barriers to success. I am hoping this really takes off here as this could be a model for other communities as well, to really connect other parts of the province. The world is accustomed to Banff, Jasper, Lake Louise, but the rest of the province has so much to offer. If we can find a way to connect, without having to rent a car, this will be very, very special.”
The Flixbus service is scheduled to start on May 14th between Drumheller and Calgary. Check out the (upcoming) story about Flixbus on Drumheller Online. The Valley Connect service with two routes, one from the Downtown Plaza to the Royal Tyrrell Museum, the other from the Downtown Plaza to the Hoodoos and East Coulee, will begin on Fridays and Saturdays from June 26th to August 29th between 10 AM and 6 PM. The Valley Connect bus service will be operated by local entrepreneurs Bubba T’s Bus Tours & Shuttle Service.
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