Rocky View Regional Handibus Society is reporting a second consecutive year of full recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic in an interim report, delivering nearly 14,000 trips in 2024 and seeing growth beyond pre-pandemic levels.
The agency provided 13,726 rides to almost 15,000 passengers, companions, and attendants last year — a 1.5 per cent increase from 2023, and up 12 per cent compared to 2019.
Many of the trips supported essential needs such as medical appointments, grocery runs, and life-sustaining treatments.
"A major achievement this year was the successful hiring and training of five new drivers, enabling the agency to finally operate with a full team," says General Manager Paul Siller. "This bolsters our ability to meet rising demand and opens the door to improving services to better address evolving community needs."
"We can take the bookings, we can plan a schedule, but in the end, it's the drivers who make this actually work, and that's our secret weapon and how we've managed so far."
But officials say the year also highlighted a growing concern: a sharp rise in requests for fare subsidies, particularly from passengers travelling several times a week to Calgary for medical treatment.
"Over a dozen passengers must travel two to three times weekly, creating financial strain for families, especially those reliant on fixed incomes," Siller explains.
Siller says financial help for people with disabilities keeps getting cut, creating additional financial stress for many of their clients.
"They raised the basic AISH level, but they eliminated the prescription support program. They also got rid of the transportation supplement for dialysis and stopped covering certain equipment repairs. On top of that, everything is more expensive now than it was two or three years ago. Some of our passengers are really feeling the squeeze—and we’re squeezed too, because they need to get to chemotherapy, but they can’t afford the regular fare. So what do we do? We handle it all on a case-by-case basis."
Rocky View Bus passengers are not eligible for the provincial transit fare subsidy available in Edmonton and Calgary. As a result, the agency expects to absorb more than $12,000 in fare subsidy requests this year — a cost it says is unsustainable without new fundraising efforts.
The organization plans to launch a summer fundraising campaign to help ease the burden on families, many of whom rely on fixed incomes.
This year marks the 45th anniversary of Rocky View Bus. The agency plans modest celebrations and a strategic review of its long-term goals, with a focus on engaging the community to shape the future of regional transportation.
