The city's new fleet of accessibility busses are now out.
Formally called Yellowknife Accessible Transit Service (YATS), YK Flex is now officially out on the road. There are two buses in operation in total: one will run all day, while the other kept in the shop in case of emergencies, according to Wendy Newton, manager of engineering with the city. The YK Flex vehicle will run from 7:10 a.m. to 7:25 p.m. Monday to Saturday all year round, according to the city.
Newton added that the city provided about 3,800 rides per year on the YATS buses. Whether it adds more busses to the streets is still in discussion, she added.
"We are constantly monitoring. At this time, one bus is sufficient," she said. "It comes back to 'how many rides are not accommodating? What is the cost of putting more buses on the road? Can we afford to do that with the current fleet? Do we need an additional fleet?' There are a lot of factors that go into determining whether or not additional services are required."
Dec. 6 marked the official launch day at the Fieldhouse parking lot, but technically, this wouldn't be the fist time a YK Flex bus was out on city streets.
In October, the city sent out one of the new accessible buses. The city previously explained that mechanical issues with the older YATS fleet meant that its new replacement had to be introduced sooner than expected.
Newton said that the YK Flex busses were mechanically safe at the time, so they were put on the road. However, they had not finished their inspection at time and were taken off the road until last Friday.
YK Flex buses will still provide door-to-door service, like YATS vehicles, but they're not the only buses that can accommodate people with disabilities. The current standard fleet of city buses also comes with a front ramp to accommodate people who need assistance getting on and off.
Those new buses were officially launched back in April and Newton said that ever since, the city is seeing more people move onto those buses and off of YATS.
The new fleet, much like the standard one, also comes with an electronic farebox.
The overall cost associated with the transit system is a little more than $3 million, according to the city budget.
