Red Deer Transit

The Red Deer Transit Department is part of the Community Services Division of the City of Red Deer, which lies midway between Calgary and Edmonton in the province of Alberta, Canada. The city took over operation of the public transit system from private operators in 1966. In 2009 transit service was extended to Springbrook and Gasoline Alley in Red Deer County.[1]In 2014 transit service was extended to Blackfalds and Lacombe to the north.[2] In 2019 transit service was extended to Penhold and Innisfail.[3] In mid 2019 the City of Red Deer announced plans to engage in improvements to the transit network.[4]

Red Deer Transit

Slogan	Get on Board
Founded	1966
Headquarters	Civic Yards: 200, 7721-40 Avenue 52°18′16″N 113°47′22″W
Locale	Red Deer, Alberta
Service area	Red Deer, Innisfail, Penhold, Springbrook, Gasoline Alley
Service type	bus service, paratransit
Routes	12 Regular
Hubs	3
Fuel type	Diesel and CNG, switching to CNG
Operator	The City of Red Deer
Website	Transit
System map MyBus

History

There are 12 regular bus routes that operate daily.[5] Hours of operation are on Monday to Saturday from 6:15 am to 11:15 pm and on Sundays and Holidays from 8:45 am to 6:45 pm.[6] Exact cash fare, prepaid ticket or pass is required to ride the transit service. Route 50 provides peak hour service to the Edgar Industrial Park. The Riverside Industrial Park is served by Route 51, the main peak hour service provider for this area; various limited service deviations are known as Route 52, 53 and 54.[5]

BOLT Transit

In 2014, transit service was extended to Lacombe and Blackfalds via BOLT transit, its terminus was Sorrensen Station in Red Deer.

South 2A Transit

Additionally, Route 12A provided peak hour service and limited weekend service to Springbrook. In 2019 service was expanded to Innisfail and Penhold and is now provided by South 2A Transit Routes 102/103 instead. The expanded service to Innisfail launched on January 14, 2019[3] after suspension of Greyhound Canada routes in Western Canada in summer 2018,[7] and was started as a pilot project to replace missing transit links in the province by the Government of Alberta.[8]

Routes Prior to August 23, 2020

Red Deer Transit Routes
No.	Name	Service area	Notes
1	South Hill / Inglewood	Bower Mall, Southpointe Common, Inglewood (South)
2	Oriole Park / Johnstone Park (South)	Johnstone Park, Oriole Park, Riverside Meadows, Fairview
3	College / Anders	West Lake, Bethany Care, South Hill, Sunnybrook
4	Glendale / Kentwood	Village Mall, Highland Green, Glendale, Northwood Estates
5	Rosedale / Deer Park	Woodlea, Michener Centre, Clearview, Collicutt Centre, Notre Dame High School
6	Clearview Ridge	Clearview Ridge, Eastview Middle School
7	Morrisroe / Vanier Woods	Parkvale, Mountview, Deer Park Co-Op, Lancaster
8	Pines / Normandeau	Parkland Mall, Pines, Normandeau, Kentwood (East)
9	Eastview / Inglewood	Grandview, Eastview Estates, Deer Park, Collicutt Centre
10	West Park / Gaetz Ave South	Hospital, Red Deer College, Bower Mall, Westerner
11	GH Dawe Centre / Johnstone Park	Parkland Mall, G.H. Dawe Community Centre, Johnstone Park (North)
12	Gasoline Alley	Bower Mall, Gasoline Alley
20-41	School Special	Varies - School Routes [9]
50	Edgar Industrial Park	Cronquist Business Park, Highland Green
51	Riverside Industrial/Olymel	City Centre, Riverside Industrial
52		West Park, Downtown, Highland Green (59 Ave), Glendale, Kentwood (East)
53		Oriole Park, Riverside Meadows, Highland Green, Normandeau
54		Inglewood, Collicut Centre, Morrisroe, Eastview, Bower, South Hill, Parkvale, Waskasoo
100	BOLT - Express [10]	Red Deer, Lacombe, Blackfalds	BOLT will close on August 30, 2020[11]
101	BOLT - Local [10]	Red Deer, Lacombe, Blackfalds
102	2A South Regional Transit	Red Deer, Innisfail, Penhold
103	2A South Regional Transit	Red Deer, Innisfail, Penhold, Springbrook

Moving Red Deer Forward

Moving Red Deer Forward: Our Multimodal Transportation Plan[12] was approved by council on July 10, 2017. This plan provided framework for BRT, LRT and HSR[13] corridors through the city.

City In Motion: Transit Network Improvements Project

The Transit Network Improvements Project will put some of this framework and these policies into practice.

Occurring at the same time as the Transit Network Improvements Project is the cancellation of BOLT Transit on August 30, 2020 and will be replaced by a shuttle service linking Blackfalds and taking advantage of the new Kingston Dr. Hub in Red Deer. The shuttle will be operated by Prairie Bus Lines on behalf of the Town of Blackfalds.[14]

Services

Fares

Regular Service

Red Deer Transit Regular Routes[15]
Type	No.	Name	Service Area (Bold indicates Terminus)	Frequency
Rapid	1	Gaetz Ave.	Kingston Dr. Hub, Parkland Mall, Sorensen Station, South Hill, Bower Hub	Every 30 minutes, Monday to Sunday
Core	2	Crosstown	Kingston Dr. Hub, North East, Agora Campus, South East, Bower Hub
	3	Hospital – College	Sorensen Station, Hospital, RDC, Bower Hub	Every 30 minutes during peak Monday to Saturday and hourly at all other times
	4	Glendale – Southeast	Kingston Dr. Hub, North West, Sorensen Station, Collicutt Centre, Bower Hub
Neighbourhood	10	Rosedale	Sorensen Station, Rosedale, Clearview,	Hourly at all times
	11	Anders – Vanier Woods	Sorensen Station, Mountview, Anders Park, Lancaster, Inglewood, Bower Hub
	12	Gasoline Alley	Bower Hub, Gasoline Alley	Every 30 minutes
	13	West Park – College – Bower	Sorensen Station, Capstone at Riverlands, West Park, RDC, Bower, Bower Hub	Hourly at all times
	15	Pines – Normandeau	Sorensen Station, Fairview, Highland Green, Pines, Parkland Mall
	16	Oriole Park	Sorensen Station, Oriole Park, Riverside Meadows
Commuter	18	Riverside Industrial	Sorensen Station, Riverside Industrial	Every 30 minutes during weekday peak only (excluding Statutory holidays)
	19	Edgar Industrial	Kingston Dr. Hub, Edgar Industrial
South 2A Transit	102	South 2A	Bower Hub, Innisfail, Penhold, Springbrook	Every hour and 30 minutes during morning peak Every hour and hour and 30 minutes during afternoon peak
	103	South 2A	Bower Hub, Innisfail, Penhold, Springbrook

School Service

Red Deer Transit provides Peak Overload services to the Red Deer Public School District[16] as well as Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools[17] for certain middle school students and all high school students in Red Deer.

Red Deer Transit School Routes[18]
School	No.	Name	Service Area (Bold indicates Terminus)
Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School	20	Oriole Park – Fairview	Oriole Park, Fairview, LTCHS
	21	Glendale – Normandeau – Highland Green	Glendale, Normandeau, Highland Green, LTCHS
	22	Pines – Kentwood – Normandeau	Pines, Kentwood, Normandeau, LTCHS
	23	Clearview – Rosedale – Deer Park – Eastview	Clearview, Rosedale, Deer Park, Eastview, LTCHS
	24	Morrisroe – Sunnybrook – Deer Park – Anders – Lancaster	Morrisroe, Sunnybrook, Deer Park, Anders, Lancaster, LTCHS
	25	Kentwood – Johnstone – Oriole Park – Riverside Meadows	Kentwood, Johnstone, Oriole Park, Riverside Meadows, LTCHS
Hunting Hills High School Notre Dame High School	26	West Park – Bower	West Park, Bower, HHHS, NDHS
	27	Eastview – Clearview – Rosedale – Deer Park	Eastview, Clearview, Rosedale, Deer Park, HHHS, NDHS
Eastview Middle School	28	Eastview – Clearview – Rosedale – Deer Park	Eastview, Clearview, Rosedale, Deer Park, EMS
Hunting Hills High School Notre Dame High School	29	City Centre	Sorensen Station, HHHS, NDHS
Gateway Christian School	30	City Centre	Sorensen Station, GCS
Agora Campus St. Joseph High School	31	City Centre	Sorensen Station, SJHS
Central Middle School	32	Timberlands – Clearview – Garden Heights – Pines – Normandeau	Timberlands, Clearview, Garden Heights, Pines, Normandeau, CMS
Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School	33	City Centre	Sorensen Station, LTCHS
Agora Campus St. Joseph High School	34	Highland Green – Normandeau – Pines	Highland Green, Normandeau, Pines, SJHS
Central Middle School	35/35A	Oriole Park – Riverside Meadows – Fairview	Oriole Park, Riverside Meadows, Fairview, CMS
	36	City Centre	Sorensen Station, CMS
Agora Campus St. Joseph High School	37	Clearview – Timberlands – Rosedale	Clearview, Timberlands, Rosedale, SJHS
	38	Eastview – Deer Park – Clearview	Eastview, Deer Park, Clearview, SJHS
Eastview Middle School	39	Anders – Lancaster – Deer Park – Morrisroe	Anders Lancaster Deer Park Morrisroe, EMS
Agora Campus St. Joseph High School	40	Johnstone – Kentwood	Johnstone, Kentwood, SJHS
	41	Glendale – Kentwood – Normandeau	Glendale, Kentwood, Normandeau, SJHS

Olymel/Riverside Service

Red Deer Transit Olymel Routes[19]
No.	Name	Service Area (Bold indicates Terminus)
52	West Park – City Centre – Kentwood	West Park, City Centre, Highland Green, Glendale, Kentwood, Olymel
53	Oriole Park – Highland Green – Normandeau	Oriole Park, Riverside Meadows, Highland Green, Normandeau, Olymel
54	Inglewood – Mountview – Parkvale	Inglewood, Collicutt Centre, Morrisroe, Eastview, Bower, South Hill, Parkvale, Waskasoo, Olymel

Transit Hubs

Sorensen Station
Transit Terminal/Parkade
Location	4914-48 Avenue[20]
Coordinates	52°16′04″N 113°48′39″W
Construction
Parking	300 monthly 100 daily[20]
History
Opened	August 1, 2010[21]

Sorensen Station

The city owned transit terminal and parkade[21] is located on the southwest corner of 49 Street and 49 Avenue. The facility includes a customer service centre and a three storey parkade with over 400 parking spaces.

Part of the Transit Network Improvements Project was to establish new locations for transfers outside the Greater Downtown, these hubs are:

Bower Hub

Located on Bennett St. at the Bower Place Shopping Centre, it is the networks southern-most terminus.

Kingston Dr. Hub

Located on street at the intersection of Gaetz Ave. and Kingston Dr. in the northern neighbourhood of Kentwood.

References

1. All-Time List of Canadian Transit Systems by David A. Wyatt
2. News (2014-09-03). "BOLT transit roll out new service last week". Red Deer Express. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
3. "2A South Regional Transit service launched this week". Red Deer Express. 2019-01-14. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
4. "City aims to improve transit efficiency". Red Deer Advocate. 2019-07-23. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
5. Red Deer Transit Schedules
6. Transit Service Hours
7. "Greyhound Canada to end routes in Prairies, B.C." Global News. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
8. Todayville (2018-12-19). "Regular Transit Service introduced from Red Deer to Innisfail, Penhold, and Springbrook". Todayville. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
9. "School Routes - The City of Red Deer". www.reddeer.ca. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
10. http://www.reddeer.ca/city-services/transit/bolt-regional-transit-service/
11. Gillard, Troy. "Lacombe to exit BOLT Transit". rdnewsnow.com. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
12. "Moving Red Deer Forward - The City of Red Deer". reddeer.ca. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
13. "High-speed rail". www.alberta.ca. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
14. "Blackfalds Transit System replaces BOLT". Lacombe Express. 2020-07-23. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
15. "New Routes Overview & Individual Route Maps - The City of Red Deer". www.reddeer.ca. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
16. "Red Deer Public School District". www.rdpsd.ab.ca. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
17. "Eligibility for School Bus Service". www.rdcrs.ca. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
18. "School Routes - The City of Red Deer". www.reddeer.ca. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
19. "Riverside Industrial / Olymel Routes - The City of Red Deer". www.reddeer.ca. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
20. Sorensen Station Parkade
21. Transit terminal moves into Sorensen Station

External links

• Transit History of Red Deer, Alberta