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Fans attending para-hockey tourney can ride buses for free, council says

Thousands of people are expected to visit Moose Jaw in late May for the World Para Hockey Championship, so to make their stay more enjoyable, city hall is offering them free bus rides.

During its May 23 regular meeting, city council voted 6-1 to authorize transit services to extend complimentary (free) conventional transit service to athletes, families, officials, volunteers and valid weekend pass holders for the 2023 championship, which occurs from May 28 to June 4.

Coun. Kim Robinson was opposed. Hockey Canada and World Para Ice Hockey announced on March 27 that the City of Moose Jaw’s Events Centre would host the event. As part of its tournament bid, the city offered to provide in-kind services — such as free para-transit services — to help make the event a success.

City administration understood that the City of Moose Jaw had provided similar in-kind services to support other events, such as the Snowbirds’ 50th-anniversary reunion in October 2022 and world wheelchair curling championships in March, said Rod Montgomery, acting director of public works.

Offering this free transit would not affect this year’s budgeted revenues or its

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expenses, he continued. The service would only be included during normal operations and would be at no extra charge to the municipality.

“The city wants to put its best foot forward,” Montgomery stated, noting one benefit of this is the downtown could be less congested with vehicles during games.

The provincial government — through Tourism Saskatchewan — is contributing $45,000 to the event, while municipal officials expect the event to generate $2 million in economic spinoff.

Council comments

Robinson asked city administration whether anyone had calculated the cost of offering free bus service to the entire city during the tournament. He thought city hall was penalizing residents who didn’t attend the event by making them pay full bus prices while using tax dollars to subsidize tournament attendees.

City administration did not think of that because this option had zero economic effect on the budget and would be a neutral expense, said Montgomery. The municipality could face negative financial effects by suddenly making this a citywide offer.

“I don’t know what that cost would be because we did not take that into consid- eration, nor did we think of it as a wish of council,” he stated.

Meanwhile, the para-transit division has been working behind the scenes with the host committee to move teams and officials to their destinations, Montgomery said.

“This (request) is just something a little bit different. We just wanted to make it more inclusive, that anybody with a valid pass, they can access transit,” he added.

Said Mayor Clive Tolley, “I think that’s a great thing for the City of Moose Jaw to offer: get our buses busier (and) offer that free service to visitors.”

Coun. Heather Eby, a member of the host committee, explained that each para-hockey team has its own bus for trans- portation — some buses are from the city, while others are from other communities. Also, Hockey Canada has secured vehicles to transport officials to the rink.

“The City of Moose Jaw has been great in supporting the transportation, but it is augmented heavily with other buses from elsewhere,” she added.

While Coun. Doug Blanc supported the motion, the one problem he saw was it was only useful during normal transit hours. He pointed out that while buses will drop off fans at the Events Centre in the late afternoon, when the games finish around 9:30 p.m., they must find their own way home. He wished city hall had also expanded transit hours to later in the evening.

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