ELK POINT — Getting to the doctor is one thing. Getting home after an ambulance takes you to the hospital can be another.

Those are the kinds of very real transportation gaps a regional study is trying to solve, and Elk Point council has agreed to keep the work moving.

Council approved the completed Rural Public Transportation Feasibility Study at its Aug. 24 meeting and supported moving into the implementation-planning phase.

The County of St. Paul, Town of St. Paul, Town of Elk Point, and Summer Village of Horseshoe Bay undertook the study, with STEP Economic Development Alliance managing the project. The federal Rural Transit Solutions Fund funded it.

The important part for residents: council did not approve a new bus service or commit Elk Point to paying for one.

“As I understand, it’s not making any kind of commitments,” Mayor Wanda Cochrane said during the discussion, describing the decision as accepting the completed study and allowing the project to move to the next step.

That was confirmed during the presentation.

“It just allows us to continue doing the work,” council heard. “Any of that work that would require a commitment or a financial commitment would come back to councils.”

So, where are the gaps?

The study used stakeholder interviews and a public survey to find out where people are struggling to get where they need to go.

Healthcare was a big one.

Residents identified transportation needs for medical and diagnostic appointments, doctors, dentists, physiotherapy and other non-emergency healthcare. Specialized services can mean travelling farther, including trips to Cold Lake or Edmonton.

There is also a gap when someone gets to hospital but doesn’t have a way back.

The study specifically identified return trips for patients who were transported to a healthcare centre by ambulance or law enforcement but don’t require emergency transportation home.

Then there are the everyday trips many people take for granted: groceries, shopping, government offices, legal services, employment, recreation and other necessities.

Existing transportation services are helping, but the study found limitations. Those include the Action Bus’s operating hours, the cost of trips outside St. Paul, a limited pool of properly licensed bus drivers, staff and volunteer shortages, and a lack of safe and reliable taxi service.

Council noted just how broad those needs are.

“I do feel, though, it’s going to be a little challenging to work with implementation because the needs are so widespread,” Cochrane said.

The age of the existing fleet is another factor.

“Both buses in St. Paul and Elk Point are aging,” she added.

Build on what’s already here

The study isn’t suggesting the region scrap everything and start over.

Instead, one of its guiding principles is to build on existing transportation services and pool resources.

That could include the St. Paul Action Bus, Elk Point Heritage Lodge Bus and the Alberta Seniors volunteer driver service currently provided by Sheila Parks.

For healthcare transportation, one option would bring the Heritage Lodge Bus and volunteer driver service into the same coordinated system.

A paid part-time administrator could handle ride requests, bookings, schedules and dispatch, while paid drivers could help create a more sustainable driver roster.

The study suggests an umbrella organization such as the M.D. of St. Paul Foundation could potentially manage that service.

Eligibility could also potentially expand to include non-urgent transportation needs associated with the St. Paul hospital.

Evenings, weekends and a ‘County Connector’

Rather than one all-or-nothing recommendation, the report gives municipalities a menu of options.

One would extend Action Bus service by six hours each weekday, operating until 9:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The estimated annual operating and administrative cost is $138,000.

Weekend service could be added for an estimated $66,200 annually, potentially beginning with Saturdays to gauge actual demand.

A coordinated health-focused transportation service using two paid drivers for 12 hours per week and a half-time administrator is estimated at $112,400 annually.

Then there’s the County Connector.

The idea is to have a second bus focused on the trips the existing Action Bus has difficulty accommodating: getting people between rural areas and the region’s urban centres.

It could begin two or three days per week and adjust according to demand.

If common travel patterns emerge, the study says flexible scheduled routes could eventually be considered, with examples such as Ashmont-Lottie Lake-St. Paul or St. Vincent-Horseshoe Bay-St. Paul.

The service would also be promoted for travel to and within Elk Point.

Running a second bus two days per week is estimated at $83,300 annually. Three days per week would bring that estimate to about $117,400 annually.

Council was generally positive about having several options on the table.

“There’s some real good focus on what options are out there,” Cochrane said, pointing to options ranging from the Action Bus to ride-sharing. “I like how it was presented.”

What about the cost?

A wheelchair-accessible cutaway-style transit or paratransit vehicle with up to 18 seats is estimated at up to $300,000, although the study notes a smaller accessible van could work for a second vehicle and significantly reduce the capital cost.

The regional partners already have conditional approval for up to $250,000 in federal funding toward purchasing or replacing a transit vehicle.

Accessing the full funding would require the participating municipalities to contribute approximately $62,000 collectively. Any cost-sharing arrangement would still need approval from the individual councils.

The operating estimates also don’t account for fares.

The Action Bus generated about $13 in fare revenue per hour of operation in 2025. The report notes small Canadian transit systems typically recover between 10 and 25 percent of their expenses through fares.

Advertising, sponsorships and subscription programs with organizations whose members regularly use transportation could provide other sources of revenue.

What’s next?

STEP is expected to continue coordinating the regional project while the County of St. Paul remains the funding applicant.

The next phase will dig into the details: what service or combination of services makes sense, who should operate it, how it should be governed, where the money comes from and how participating municipalities would share costs.

There could also be an opportunity to use some of the conditionally approved capital funding to pay for that planning work.

“I am working with the consultants who did the report,” council heard. “We are actually asking if some of that capital fund can be used for implementation.”

If that works, the goal is to move into implementation work within about six months.

If those dollars can’t be used, the region may have to find another grant, which could push the start of the next phase to spring 2027.

Council ultimately carried the recommendation to accept the study, proceed with implementation planning and keep STEP in the regional coordinating role.

Any future governance model, operating plan, funding agreement or recommendation will have to come back to the participating councils for approval.

For now, nobody is ordering a bus.

But the region has put some numbers and possible solutions behind a problem rural residents have been dealing with for years: when you don’t have a ride, even a routine appointment can become anything but routine.