Iqaluit bus service hopes to offer new way around town
City still needs to review bylaws before wheels can get rolling
Operators of Iqaluit Transit hope to soon put this 32-seat bus to work offering rides to residents on a route that would stretch from the airport to Apex. (Photo courtesy of Iqaluit Transit)
A privately owned Iqaluit bus company hopes to give residents a new option for getting around town.
Iqaluit Transit plans to start selling passes at the end of May for its new shuttle service, which would include bus stops along a route from the airport to Apex.
The service is owned by brothers Jacinto and Claudio Marques, who also own Nunavut Marketing, a local delivery service and media production company.
“Affordability was one of the main things that [prompted] the idea, and also just having options to get around,” Jacinto Marques said in an interview.
Currently, many Iqaluit residents who don’t drive or own a vehicle rely on taxis to get around town.
Iqaluit transit passengers will have the option to either pay with cash, or tap on with a transit card. (Photo courtesy of Iqaluit Transit)
Taxi fares are $9.25 per ride, or $7 for those aged 65 or older. Children under 10 ride for free.
Iqaluit Transit is proposing several different fares for its service, which would operate every day of the week except Sunday.
Riders who pay with cash will pay $8; however, the company plans to sell reloadable transit cards which riders can tap on at a cost of $5 per ride.
The company also plans to sell monthly passes offering unlimited rides, which would cost $189 for the general public and $129 for riders aged 55 and older. Kids 10 and under would ride for free.
Marques said he’s hopeful the bus service can start by the end of May.
He said many safety measures will be in place, including on-board security cameras, the presence of a security guard, a door to protect the driver, and no tolerance of harassing or abusive behaviour.
Iqaluit Transit’s service proposal will need to be reviewed by the city.
“We are in the preliminary stages of working with a local company that has expressed interest in offering some sort of bus/shuttle service,” said City of Iqaluit spokesperson Aleksey Cameron in an email to Nunatsiaq News.
“Should the company wish to pursue this venture, the process will require a review of the current bylaws that govern such a service and a possible presentation made to the council.”
Jacinto Marques said he hopes to collaborate with the city.
“I don’t think there should be any problem,” he said, adding there is still a lot more the company is working on, including deciding how many stops there will be and where residents can hop on and hop off.
Iqaluit Transit currently has a 32-seat bus, but more vehicles and routes are a possibility in the future.
“Sometimes it takes an individual or a private business to come in and try to help out the needs of the community,” Jacinto Marques said.
The City of Iqaluit previously offered a local bus service but cancelled the program in 2004 citing declining ridership.
They may first want to remove the paint covering the “stop sign”
I have several questions regarding this proposal:
Where is the proper infrastructure such as bus stops and shelters and do they have permission for the city to put these up?
How will it guarantee reimbursements for pass holders if the service proves unviable?
Additionally, the city should ensure that the fare for a single ride remains consistent, whether paid by cash or a reloaded card. The current disparity is unjust, as it results in the service retaining the riders’ funds for “future” rides, which is unfair.
Extended Stop signs are only required for school buses.
How is the fare structure unfair? It incentivizes consistent riders who would receive a lower fare…this comment must be from Caribou Cabs lol
If you read the article fully, the bus stop situation is why the City is looking at amending their bylaws…
Hate to say it but waiting outside in the cold just to pay $8 for a bus ride doesn’t sound great to me.
Stick with the A hole taxi companies that iq has. Let them keep sticking it up to you. Too bad other private businesses in kivalliq don’t do stuff like this. They would rather look at agnico eagle or kia to to start things up.
Pretty sure they tried the whole bus thing in Rankin a few years back. How did that go?
Also, the bus company should be written in Inuktut too.
Iqaluit nunavut. Where every single individual has to be treated like royals. Where weirdos hang out at b&w waiting to jack some poor soul. What else should they add to the bus? A throne for you royal *******?
Thank you for trying and I hope it succeeds this time. It will serve a great need.
One concern is the $8 cash cost vs $9 taxi from door to door cost (yes pay more for a monthly to get a cheaper ride, but it is pay to pay). Make it more worthwhile to not take the taxi.
Good luck. I hope it works out well for our town.
I assume the reason for the $8 cost is that gas prices are so high it wouldn’t be feasible to run the bus, pay a driver and security person. If I were someone who rode the bus a lot then I would get the monthly package to save money.
exactly so the $9 taxi ride vs the $8 bus ride doesn’t make it worthwhile. It should be at least a $2-3 savings or it won’t get off the ground. Also I encourage the company to give it time for people to get used to the schedule and not base the results on the first 6 months. Give it a try!
Already set up to fail lol … you’ll need more than one bus . That’s partly why it failed for the city. No one wants to wait 20 min n pay 8 bucks when u could walk in same time frame for free . 8 dollar seems steep, but one bus …so small operation/ small gains . I give it 6 months
School kids do this everyday, may not be 20 minutes but its never on time. I do hope that this bus service will take off though. But $8 cash is kinda steep when taxi is $9.25. If they can develop tech for tap card, they surely can do multiple fares based on distance instead of flat fare and use this tap card system. I do hope as well in the colder months, it will be somewhat on time, 5 mins give/take. Starting in May would be a good trial run. However I wished its painted red/yellow, NU colours as oppose to black, that is like a ghost bus in winter. lol
So you charge fares by distance. How do you track when people get on and off? Tap again as you go out and people are trying to get on? The system would have to check for a minimum balance for a full distance trip or a pass when they get on, or signal that funds are enough for only a short trip. A set time limit is good but only when the buses run often enough that people can do errands in that time.
Iqaluit, where the sky is constantly falling.
Not the sky. The snow is always falling? LOL
I have to agree with Saftey Violation about the fare structure. To discount the fare by having someone pay(or load) the card is interesting model for a service they are trying to push as necessary. When the bus doesn’t show, breaks down, gets in an accident, guess that card is completely useless to use, and they will have to find another option. Enticing them and reward giving up the money for a cheaper fare in advance defeats the purpose of these public transit models because of the people they tend to serve.
If the city will be providing them the ability to run a fare system, such as the one the taxi’s are running, I believe the single fare needs to be the same whether you are loading a card or not.
Offering a prepaid card and discounted rides to those who use it is common practice and reasonable. Pretty much all transit companies offer similar in some way or other.
Whether the fare itself is reasonable or our choice as consumers and can change given the situation. Too expensive? Walk. In a rush? Take a cab. Too cold? Find another way. (And don’t look for too much sympathy from the millions of others across the country who rely on bus, trains, or subways to get around each year. The money folks spend on short and avoidable cab rides is nuts).
Kudos to these gents for giving it a go. Will it work? Who knows. Regardless, I appreciate their entrepreneurial efforts and wish them all the best. I look forward to a ride!
Geez! So many naysayers, it’s an alternative public transport option at least. The cabs haven’t been the greatest lately in treating customers with respect (elders being denied, women being attacked). Like another person said, school kids already wait outside for buses, in the winter too! Haha you guys aren’t from here, are you? We all grew up waiting for the bus as kids/teens, felt cold too, oh no! Canadas north being cold, shocker. Stop, it’ll be interesting to see if it’s feasible at least. All the best.
As a concerned resident and regular user of Iqaluit’s transport services, I want to express some apprehensions regarding the planned new transit service:
What community consultation has taken place for this regarding the routes, fares, and stops?
Has a traffic study been conducted on how it will impact this?
The fare structure needs to be equitable to ensure that everyone can afford to use the bus is their elder rates, youth rates and who is setting them?
What insurance do they have?
Are they offering services in Inuktitut, English, and French ?
What licenses do drivers have and safety requirements do they meet?
Do the drivers have criminal record and driver abstract checks?
Gee whiz, you must work in Government. This comment has GN red tape written all over it.
A white one.
How have Nunavimiut changed from a people hunting on the sea ice to being anxious of 3 km bus ride …
It’s a delusion of mind how people think their criticisms are so uniquely insightful that they must say them, despite how predictable and similar they are to every other criticism out there.
*boring*
So boring you must take the time to comment on it and converse about it.
The more I look at this, the more it looks like something set up to deliberately fail to discredit the idea. It does not inspire confidence that the people behind this are saying they want the service to start in less than a month while they don’t even have approval from the city or even a fully realized plan for the route and number and frequency of stops along it. Both of those are rather important prerequisites to a bus service.
Then we have the vehicle itself. The previous bus service was averaging 28 people a day, and you plan to start this one off with a 32-seat vehicle? What kind of ridership are you expecting and how did you come up with those numbers? And listen, the idea of a shuttle service to the airport is something I am definitely in favour of, but people going to and from the airport generally do so with a fair bit of luggage, sometimes including pets and kennels. Is the bus configured for people bringing in and storing such items with them for the ride? Are the pet kennels even allowed? If not, then there isn’t much point in using the service to the airport and back, and that’s before I have to consider how far from my residence I may have to walk with said luggage and other items to catch the bus or return home from it.
All that, plus who knows how often the bus will run (or when, since we already know Sundays are out, but also no word on the hours of operation otherwise), and for a cost that is only slightly less than what the cab would cost. Sure, there is theoretically a pass option that makes the individual rides cheaper, but who is going to buy those without first determining if the service actually works for them in the first place? People are going to make their decision on the cost-effectiveness and convenience of their options. A cab will take me point to point when I call it. A bus will take me from its stop, whenever its scheduled to make the stop, which I may have to travel to on foot for some distance, then make additional stops before getting me to a stop hopefully close to my goal, which may mean a bit more walking on my part, all of which contributes to an overall longer transit time. Not too much of a problem if the bus runs frequently enough that I don’t have to face long waits, has conveniently located stops so I don’t have to hike long distances to get to them, or, and this is the critical point here, I don’t have to pay nearly the same amount to take the bus as I would if I called the cab. This is not a recipe for success.
Honestly, as presented, I am wondering if the people behind this scheme are being funded by Uber to deliberately sabotage mass transit efforts to make their business model more attractive.
“Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.”
To watch the posted security guard wrestle with 75% of the patrons who will be drunk/drinking. Worth the price of admission.
Will the security guard kick people off the bus if miss a stop or pass the airport? It is a great way to keep warm during the cold Winter months for homeless people.
Looks like the bus is on its way to Shawshank
Will there be stairs? Taxis don’t have stairs.
Will it stop in front of my house? I don’t want to walk to my neighbours. The taxis stop in front of my house almost half the time, and sometimes even when I don’t call them.
Is it a matte black? ‘Cause thst’s sad, but a shiny black would be better cause it’s cool.
Will it say Apex bus when it comes to Apex? Apex is distinct from Iqaluit.
Will there be a little cord to pull that goes bing? If not I will be stuck on the bus until it stops on Sunday.
Is there a back door? Ottaws buses have back doors.
The driver probably won’t smile.
The windshield wipers probably leave streaks.
The seats are probably vinyl instead of leather.
It probably won’t even go if there’s a blizzard.
Okay, I’m bored of this. Anyone else have an idea to help the community that I can sit on my couch and bash?
There are a lot of people in comments who are questioning this, but I’m wondering if these same folks would be willing to offer any solution to the city’s transportation woes. At some point, regular folks have to step up and do what local government doesnt have any interest in doing. And yet the moment that Iqalummiut decide to do something, here come the naysayers.
Allianait! Great to see these two brothers trying another project to try to meet a need. I hope the city supports their efforts!
If the idea of this is causing you health issues, just don’t take the bus.
It doesn’t need to be a perfect bus operation right on its first day.
It will take time for them to realize where exactly those who most need the service need to get on and off.
Good for them! Best of luck!
(N.B.: Make sure your vehicle(s) have dash cams, cameras of the inside seating, a camera facing traffic behind, and a body cam for the driver. I’d hate to see a great start up and service be negatively impacted by a few folks not treating the bus, driver, and or other passengers with respect.)
Just open things up to Uber and rideshare companies already. The only one who cares about it is Caribou Cabs.
I’m not aware of anything blocking Uber, and I can’t see the city enforcing rules against ride sharing.
The number of Iqaluit vehicles are owned by workers of the GN, Inuit organizations, businesses and their families. They race around gravel roads creating potholes with money to burn. Those of us who are struggling financially, socially and physically have little community support. This transit bus is set to fail already. How do the cities of Yellowknife and Nuuk operate? The greedy business owners strive to put every twoney in their pockets. See the comments above. And, those comments from outside Iqaluit are forever envious and make ‘woe is me’ too comments. City elected folk, find a way to help Iqalummiut who are seeking ways to improve the quality of life better.