The Disabled Transportation Society’s budget is around $1.1 million and the City of Grande Prairie provides a major part of that support. General Manager of the Society Ken Murray says that support is very important because their membership costs only $30 a year.
“Our memberships and our ticket fares, which are roughly $2, bring us around $120,000 a year. We can’t run one bus for that.”
Murray explains that they want continued support because not only does the city supply $567,000 in funding, they also provide around $200,000 in the form of gift-in-kind. The County of Grande Prairie supports the society with $51,000 in grant money every year but only 10 per cent of the riders are from there.
The buses do cover the entirety of the city plus 5 kilometres around the limit and with annexation that area has grown.
The support from the society may also increase once the Grande Spirit Foundation opens the facility in Clairmont this spring. It is set to have about 150 units and open mid-March.
