The Municipality of Jasper may soon own its own buses as Jasper Transit shifts from contracting out local transit services to operating a municipally owned fleet.

On Tuesday (May 26, 2026), councillors meeting as Committee of the Whole recommended that council award the MOJ’s Transit Fleet Procurement contract to Dynamic Specialty Vehicle, a Western Canada-based bus supplier. Councillors also directed administration to negotiate the final vehicle quantity and configuration within the approved $2.25-million budget.

Councillor Wendy Hall noted how Jasper would experience more pressure around parking and congestion as tourism in Jasper grows. The Alberta government plans to increase the provincial tourism economy to $25 billion by 2035.

“Transit is part of preparing for that future,” Hall said.

The fleet procurement is funded by a $5-million grant from the federal Rural Transit Solutions Fund, which also financed the transit fleet facility.

The Municipality initially planned to procure electric buses, causing some public pushback over reliability concerns. Last month, with permission from the federal government, council decided to consider other types of buses due to difficulties with procurement.

CAO Bill Given warned that not procuring a fleet would mean the Municipality may have to forfeit the grant funding and even give funding back for the fleet facility.

“We’ve had really positive support from the funder in this case, and that probably only extends so far,” he said.

Given added the Municipality would also continue to pay a higher price for third-party contractors should council cancel the procurement.

Administration issued a request for proposals and received four submissions. One was deemed non-compliant because it proposed supplying previously used vehicles, rather than new ones.

Courtney Donaldson, director of operations and utilities, said the team evaluated proposals based on reliability, maintainability, winter operating performance, accessibility, manoeuvrability and operational flexibility. The vehicles also needed to be delivered by March 31, 2027 as required under the federal funding agreement.

Using weighted criteria, administration evaluated the proposals and awarded the highest overall score to Dynamic Specialty Vehicle. Donaldson said the company scored particularly well in warranty coverage and overall cost while complying with Jasper’s operational requirements.

Coun. Laurie Rodger noted the Municipality would likely hire a contractor to operate the buses and asked administration why one hasn’t been selected yet.

“We should know who’s going to be operating the buses before we buy them,” Rodger said.

Donaldson replied that council would be able to provide specific feedback on whether the service should be contracted out, or brought in-house later this summer, when staff will present a report related to its transit business planning.

Mayor Richard Ireland asked if there was a minimum number of buses that the Municipality would get with its $2.25-million budget.

Donaldson said Jasper would get at least four, but since the buses came under budget, staff may negotiate for more in order to have redundancy.

Rodger suggested that administration should return to council once negotiations are done to give final approval, but several council members said they didn’t have the expertise to decide on details such as bus size.

“I would trust that administration would take numerous things into consideration,” said Coun. Ralph Melnyk.

Although opting to let administration handle the details, Rodger argued that the Municipality would benefit from having some smaller buses in its fleet.

“In the winter, I’m tired of seeing a big bus riding around town with one or two people on it,” he said. “It just doesn’t seem right.”

Ridership by the numbers

The first four months of 2026 saw a 65 per cent increase in local ridership for Jasper Transit compared to the same period last year.

Between January and April this year, local transit had about 2,000 riders per month with 8,218 total, whereas the regional transit between Jasper and Hinton had 1,800 per month with 7,244 total. These numbers do not include students.

“Ridership numbers are telling a pretty positive story here,” Hall said. “You’re not always going to see packed buses every time one drives by, but the overall trend shows more people are clearly using this service.”

Transit manager Erin Toop reported that regional transit still had “reliability challenges,” and administration was working with the operator to address them. She said a summary of reported issues would be included in future transit reports.

Ireland asked if administration could collect more data about why riders were using the bus. He noted how the local arena operated at a loss but helped support local businesses by hosting hockey tournaments that bring people from out of town.

“Transit is in a similar position, but it would be very helpful to have that data to be able to demonstrate the value it holds to our local economy,” he said.

Toop replied they would look into the technology while working on the business plan but noted that corporate pass users at Jasper Park Lodge make up a significant portion of the ridership. She noted that Jasper Transit conducts an annual rider survey.

On May 13, Jasper Transit’s summer service launched with increased fares. Some other changes include adding new Pyramid Loop routing to connect hotels with downtown, moving transit stops impacted by construction, expanding in-town regional transit stops and adding more early evening service to Marmot Meadows.

Peter Shokeir, Local Journalism Initiative // info@thejasperlocal.com