Parkland County Continues Regional Collaboration on Transit

Chief Administrative Officers from municipalities in the Edmonton Metro Region have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for a new, collaborative framework intended to improve regional transit services.

“We are pleased to be collaborating with our neighbours in the Edmonton Metropolitan Region to improve public transit and links between our communities. The on-demand local transit system that services Parkland Village, Acheson, Stony Plain and Spruce Grove is a great example of successful regional collaboration between neighbouring municipalities. I look forward to seeing all that we will accomplish as we work together to build a more connected region,” said Parkland County Mayor Allan Gamble.

Signatories to the MOU included Parkland County, the City of Beaumont, Town of Devon, City of Edmonton, City of Fort Saskatchewan, City of Leduc, Leduc County, City of Spruce Grove, City of St. Albert, Town of Stony Plain, and Strathcona County.

 Collaboration to improve regional transit is built upon established positive working relationships, and existing agreements between regional transit providers and a history of collaboration and mutual support. In contrast to previous attempts to grow the regional transit network, the MOU outlined the following principles:

• Municipalities retain sole control of their assets and workforce
• Municipalities retain sole control of their public transit service decisions
• Municipalities have mutual respect for each others values, policies, areas of expertise and jurisdictions
• Municipalities will continue to seek to make efficient use of existing resources 
• The CAO of each municipality will be responsible for achieving the desired level of collaboration

Municipal CAOs as well as local transit leaders will have regular meetings to discuss needs, look for efficiencies and keep lines of communication open.

Some recent examples of how this collaboration has worked include:

• The Tri-lateral agreement for integrated inter-municipal service between Spruce Grove, Stony Plain and Parkland County.
• Strathcona County Transit stopping in Edmonton’s Cloverdale Neighbourhood
• Sharing of Naki Transit Centre in St. Albert for special events service
• Beaumont transit providing service to Mill Woods Transit Centre