A Salmon Arm company is willing kick in fare to get the city's industrial park onboard with public transit. 

Getting the local transit service to the Industrial Park that, in the words of the Salmon Arm Economic Development Society (SAEDS), is "home to over 90 business… located only 10 minutes away from city centre," was the subject Steven DeBoer's presentation at the Dec. 9 city council meeting. 

"Salmon Arm has got the slogan, Small City, Big Ideas. It's a great slogan, but it's also a promise," opened DeBoer of Salmon Arm-based 4AG Robotics. "It’s a promise that small cities can do big things. That we can build great ideas in our small town and have the great place to live and work. One of the challenges that we face as an organization within the community as we build and grow is getting our people to work every day."

DeBoer said 4AG has about 70 full-time employees, and that a percentage of them do not own a vehicle and/or are finding it a struggle getting to and from the industrial park for work. 

"The fact that we’ve got a campus for the trades in the industrial park where students who might not have other transportation really struggle to get there – these are people who are trying to get a start, to get ahead in their lives, and they’re often times reliant on other people or unreliable transportation to get to classes on time.

"We’ve got a wide spectrum of businesses, and for a variety of reasons people have trouble making their way to work on a regular basis…"

DeBoer called  this a real challenge, and said 4AG is willing to step up to help with the extension of transit. 

"We would be willing to cut a cheque to contribute. I’m sure that there are probably four or five other major employers in the industrial park that would contribute to that ongoing operating cost to make it doable…," said DeBoer. 

"So the ask is that council consider a way that we could maybe move forward and push for transit in the industrial park. It’s a service that’s definitely needed and a key part of serving our college and our businesses that are located there."

Before opening the floor to questions from city councillors, Mayor Alan Harrison told DeBoer "there’s no one here that would disagree with you.

"We want to try to move beyond transit being a service for shopping, which it is primarily now, to a service for work," said Harrison. "It is a financial challenge for sure but I hear you coming forward with a …. closed hand with something in it, so I appreciate that."

Coun. Sylvia Lindgren asked if transit service would be needed 24 hours a day, or if there were key time that would fit the industrial park's needs. DeBoer said there’s a three-hour window at the beginning of the day, between 6 and 9, and in the afternoon from 3 to 6 p.m. (Monday to Friday),  "that would cover 90 plus per cent of the ridership there."

Coun. Louise Wallace Richmond guessed there have been 10 to 12 studies done on this issue and that there wasn't the demand to warrant the required investment.

"This is not Salmon Arm Transit, this is BC Transit, so they need the economic argument," said Wallace Richmond. "I mean… our bus service does not make money. It’s very heavily subsidized by local taxpayers…

"I think it would have to start with a budget referral, it has to start with a referral to BC Transit and we have to have a really frank conversation about exactly how many numbers. If businesses can guarantee they can almost fill that bus, whether real bodies or just pay for tickets, there’s an argument BC Transit might be interested." 

Coun. Tim Lavery also stressed a need for potential ridership numbers. 

"I think it would be helpful to hear directly from employees… hear directly from the wishes of employees from a number of different ventures in the industrial park. I think it’s probably time for a refresh of that."

DeBoer noted there has been a shift in demographics, with lot of students and young professionals who "simply never acquired a drivers licence, they don’t have vehicles." Continuing, DeBoer explained the importance of transit in attracting and maintaining workers. 

"We know that issues around sports and recreation facilities have been raised," said DeBoer. "Transit is another key piece of that and when we don’t have those things, it makes it hard for us to choose to stay here as an organization…

"We’re not competing with Armstrong and Enderby, we’re competing with Waterloo, we’re competing with Vancouver and bigger cities. Salmon Arm has got some great attributes to it, but if we don’t meet some of these baseline things, it doesn’t matter how great Salmon Arm is."

Regarding the need for numbers, DeBoer said 4AG is not  a research company.

"We’re not in a place where we’re going to dedicate our precious resources to running another survey or doing another engagement thing…," said DeBoer. "Every couple of years there’s another research survey done on this matter and still nothing happens. It’s really what do we need to do to get there and make this a reality?"

Harrison advised DeBoer and 4AG to connect with SAEDS as "they are very familiar with this ask."

"I think that’s your first connection because, as councillors have said, and you have implied… there are numbers there that may make this work, but we can’t rely on 'may.' We need to know. And so, working with economic development may provide us with that kind of tool. Just like your business, you don’t go about doing stuff when someone thinks it’s a good idea, you have to prove that it is. So that’s the seat that we’re in here as well."