Earlier this year it was announced that the Drumheller Valley is looking to develop a bus service to allow locals and visitors alike to traverse Drumheller by bus.
On Wednesday, February 25th, Travel Drumheller held an open house about their Valley Connect program. According to Lana Phillip, Destination Development Implementation Manager with Travel Drumheller, the open house was very well attended. “The response was great. We saw over 50 people come learn some information, and share their thoughts. Some of the questions are understanding the details of the shuttle bus, which will be a free hop on, hop off, for the community, and learning more on how they could vote for the central bus stop.” The Central Station vote offered attendees the choice between three locations in the downtown core, at the Badlands Community Facility, at the Downtown Plaza, or along Railway Avenue. There were also a number of placards up about the possible routes and stops that could be developed if this pilot is successful and the project can move forward to something permanent in the valley.
There has been quite a bit of work putting this project and summer shuttle pilot. The route that the summer pilot will take will feature a number of tourist destinations, which makes sense according to Phillips. “It is a pilot so it is a starting point, so we had to make some decision. We have used data we have as well as our own insights that moves people to our top destinations in the valley on this free hop-on, hop-off, service.”
Phillips provides the details on the next steps of the program “With the Central Bus Stop, we are going to allow some online voting this weekend. It will be formalizing the details, putting the details out in the spring, helping our community learn how it works, and frankly, in the summer, get on the bus.” The pilot project will be on Fridays and Saturdays throughout the summer, for 10 weeks, starting in June.
The proposed route for the pilot project will start at the central station, a stop near Canadian Tire, a stop near Travelodge in North Drumheller, to the Royal Tyrrell Museum, back to the Central station, then a route to the HooDoos and Atlas Coal Mine, and back.
For all the details on the Valley Connect program including the Summer Bus Pilot, visit Travel Drumheller’s website.
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