City council is being asked to approve the concept of a new route schedule for the Whitehorse transit system that’s intended to expand transit service hours by 35 per cent.

The new concept, however, comes with an additional cost of $557,000 annually once it’s fully implemented, says the administrative report prepared for Monday’s council meeting.

The concept calls for two new routes, bringing the total to eight.

Council is being asked to direct administration to proceed with the proposed conceptual transit system changes and advance work to determine timing, prior to launching public engagement.

The administrative report says phase one of the new system is scheduled to begin next summer, and will focus on changes affecting routes serving Porter Creek and Whistle Bend.

The first of the two new routes will be introduced next summer, bringing the total to seven.

Phase two would begin in the summer of 2024, focusing on the routes serving the south of the city – Riverdale and Copper Ridge.

At this time, the second of the two new routes would be introduced, says the report to council.

“Should the proposed conceptual changes be accepted by council, administration will begin testing route timings to ensure their viability and begin building internal driver schedules by early 2023,” says the report.

“Once this process has been completed, new public transit schedules will be developed and be included in future public engagement.”

The report says the feedback received from this phase would then be used to make any necessary route or schedule adjustments before bringing the full proposed service changes to council for approval.

The city commissioned a Transit Master Plan in 2018, which was adopted by council as the city’s guiding document.

One of the key recommendations in the plan was to improve existing route alignment and scheduling to better match demand.

The modernized Transit Route Plan was developed and administration was preparing to launch it earlier this year but there was greater negative response than expected, and council decided to delay implementation.

“Administration was directed to analyze the information received/collected from the public and recommend alternatives to meet the current needs of transit ridership,” says the report.

Since the current system has become deeply engrained in people’s routines, it says, more emphasis is needed on public awareness and education before proposed changes are implemented.

Under the proposed new system, downtown would remain as the main transfer hub but the Canada Games Centre would become a secondary transfer hub to avoid unnecessary transfers downtown, says the report.

It says the intent is to maintain current service levels where possible, but overall, seek to increase transit services.

For example, says the report, 63 per cent of current areas would see an increase in services while 33 per cent would stay the same.

Approximately 95 per cent of transit stops would remain unchanged while six stops with low ridership would be removed to ensure route effectiveness, the report says.

The report says implementing the new route plan would cost $240,000 in the first year, $695,000 in the second year and $915,000 in the third year.

The increase in cost is primarily due to the need for two additional routes, which would increase transit hours by approximately 35 per cent, says the report.

It says an amendment to the city budget would be required at a future date to allow for implementation next summer.