The second phase of the County Connector, a transit service funded by the Rural Transportation Pilot Program, officially launched in the west side of the County of Grande Prairie this week.

February 4 was the first day of service that connects Wembley, Beaverlodge and Hythe to the City of Grande Prairie three days per week. The project successfully launched on December 5, 2018 with Phase One providing public transportation between the Town of Sexsmith, the Hamlet of Clairmont and the City of Grande Prairie.

This Rural Transportation Pilot Project has received $640,000 in Provincial funding for operations, over two years, through the Alberta Transportation Rural Transportation Pilot Program, plus GreenTrip funding to help purchase a bus. The City of Grande Prairie will be operating the service for the County over the duration of the pilot program.

Phase Two of the service will operate on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, excluding statutory holidays. On Monday and Friday, the morning service begins in Beaverlodge at 9:18 a.m., then travels to Wembley and arrives in the City of Grande Prairie by 10:08 a.m. The afternoon service leaves Grande Prairie at 3:00 p.m., stopping in Wembley and ending in Beaverlodge at 3:52 p.m. On Wednesday, the service begins in Hythe at 9:00 a.m. and ends in Hythe with the last stop at 4:10 p.m. The rest of the schedule remains unchanged.

The fare for the County Connector is $5 for a one-way trip, while children age 11 and under ride for free. Preloaded SUPERPASS smart cards for all County Connector routes are available for purchase at additional locations along Phase Two, including the Wembley, Beaverlodge and Hythe town offices and the Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum. Riders can take advantage of two official Park & Ride locations, with designated parking spots at the Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum and the Beaverlodge Town Office.

For more details, including route maps, schedules and SUPERPASS ticket purchasing information, visit www.countygp.ab.ca/connector.

Elected officials and Administration from some of the partnering communities climbed on board the County Connector for this yesterday morning’s inaugural ride of Phase Two.

Back row, from left to right: Mayor of the Town of Wembley, Chris Turnmire & Pam Decker, Director of Town of Wembley FCSS

Front row, from left to right: Trudy Hodges, Community Programmer with Town of Beaverlodge FCSS; Dan Lemieux, Director Community Services for the County of Grande Prairie; Gena Jones, Councillor for the Town of Beaverlodge; Steve Harvard, Manager of City of Grande Prairie Transit

Trudy Hodges, Community Programmer with Town of Beaverlodge FCSS and Gena Jones, Councillor for the Town of Beaverlodge take a ride on the first day of Phase Two of the County Connector public transit service.

The County Connector transit bus is now on the road.

Information provided by the County of Grande Prairie