City of Powell River’s Zunga Bus on-demand transportation pilot project will cease operations in the new year.
At the December 21 city council meeting, councillors first considered an option to follow the 2023 five-year financial plan and discontinue Zunga Bus operations on December 31, immediately notifying the public of the impending loss of service. With councillor Cindy Elliott away from council chambers on leave, there were six councillors in attendance to vote on the future of the Zunga Bus, ultimately creating a deadlock.
Councillor George Doubt said councillors had a long discussion on the matter at the December 19 committee of the whole meeting and indicated that it was going to cost additional funds to continue the pilot project, which is not supported financially by BC Transit.
“This year, it would cost $213,000 that would be coming directly from the coffers of the taxpayers,” said Doubt. “We can’t afford to do that when we’ve asked staff to come back to us with a report on how to cut somewhere around $2 million from our budget. We are going to sacrifice services somewhere. This is one of the ones we can afford to sacrifice. It serves a limited number of people in a limited area.”
Doubt said he’d like to see the service expanded beyond Westview, but that would end up costing more like $500,000.
Councillor Earl Almeida said councillors received a litany of emails after the committee of the whole meeting, expressing opinions for and against continuation of the service. Almeida said in a staff report, it outlined Zunga Bus use, referencing there were 22 regular users in a 30-day observation period. He said when data is displayed, it can skew the perspective.
“In the report it talked about 22 regular users that had used the service 11 or more times in the 30-day period, and what it didn’t say was how many times those 22 people used the service,” said Almeida. “From the report, I can gather that 11,296 rides happened in a 10-month period, working out to about 38 per day. In a 30-day period that’s about 1,187 rides. Using the numbers the report provided, those 22 people took the Zunga Bus anywhere from 360 to 540 times. Out of 1,100 rides, about 40 per cent of the rides were done by those 22 people. That meant 60 per cent of the rides, more than 600 of them, were done by other residents in this community,
“The Zunga service is not operated for 22 people. It just so happens that 22 people used it 11 or more times in the month. There were 600 other rides that could have been from 600 people, or 300 people.”
Almeida said he is one of the people who has ridden on the Zunga Bus fewer than 11 times a month. He added that taking away the service would affect several hundred people in the community.
Councillor Rob Southcott said active transportation is good for greenhouse gas reduction and it serves an increasing sector of the population that is having increasing difficulty affording private transportation.
Subsidy situation
Councillor Jim Palm said the preliminary discussion on the 2024 city budget indicated a nine per cent tax increase to maintain city services next year. He said in terms of cost per rider, using the conventional city bus system, it costs the city $4 to provide that ride. He added that the Zunga Bus subsidy is $13 per ride.
“That’s a heavy subsidy,” said Palm. “It’s a luxury. Until we find a new source of wealth in this community, we cannot provide this service.”
Mayor Ron Woznow said he was fully supportive of the motion to discontinue the Zunga Bus service. He said in talking to the hospital, one of the major impediments to recruiting medical staff is a lack of child care in Powell River. He asked what if the city was to use the $213,000 per year to build a community centre on city property where there is child care? He added that Campbell River has done an excellent job in this regard.
Regarding the Zunga Bus, Woznow suggested proponents for the service could go out and raise money for continued operation. He said he’d be happy to introduce them to professors at BC’s universities who would likely be excited working on the experiment.
Woznow said there was no justification to burden taxpayers with a huge tax increase.
Councillor Trina Isakson said the current five-year financial plan does not have the Zunga Bus continuing on in January, but the Zunga Bus is in the 2024 to 2028 financial plan, so there will be an opportunity to discuss it in January.
“Those conversations in January are going to be important because at that point we will have a complete picture of our assessment rolls, as well as a suite of possible cuts that our staff will be offered for consideration,” said Isakson.
She said the Zunga Bus is heavily subsidized, but it is from the climate action reserve fund, from a grant, which does not come from city property tax revenue.
“My concern is that this service will end,” said Isakson. “There are people who rely on this service in very important ways.”
On the vote to discontinue the Zunga Bus, it was tied at three for and three against. Doubt, Woznow and Palm voted for discontinuance and Almeida, Southcott and Isakson voted against. With the motion tied, with Elliott absent, the vote failed.
A second motion was raised to amend the 2023 five-year financial plan to fund the Zunga Bus operation until March 31. The vote was again tied, so the motion failed.
When asked by the Peak during question period at the end of the meeting about what the status would be for the Zunga Bus, chief administrative officer Lisa Bhopalsingh said because both votes failed, the Zunga Bus will be discontinued as of the end of this year.
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