The Aldergrove Trolley Company is working on a revival of community bus service here.
The trolley company is not connected with the regional TransLink service but they do have permission from TransLink to operate an independent transit service.
The local trolley experiment operated for a couple of months last summer before calling it quits, after failing to attract sufficient ridership.
However, the volunteer board of directors are now exploring a revival of the service with a new business plan.
“I hope the community rallies together to make this happen,” said Lynne Van Laarhoven, spokesperson for the company’s board of directors.
“We went away to lick our wounds but we’re not dead.
“We ran out of cash; the former service was not sustainable. But while the service to the southern rural area and Pioneer Park was a failure the service between Aldergrove and Gloucester Industrial Estates was building and we want try to to bring that service back.”
Businesses in Gloucester had benefitted from the trolley service which brought workers to the plants and offices, including the large-scale EV Logistics warehouses which supply the Jim Pattison company stores in the west.
The Greater Vancouver Zoo is also supportive of the transit revival possibilities here.
A “brain-storming” meeting will seek input from business owners on how best to provide the service.
“We need to focus on business so we know what we need to do to make it happen,” said Van Laarhoven.
“We think leasing shuttle buses, 15-person capacity, this time would better serve this area, and we would try to keep it to a $2.50 or $3 standard fare.”
The company’s full board will attend the meeting. The directors include Van Laarhoven, Dave Miller, Anna Nosek, Michelle Evans, Patsy Homan, Sandy Burton and Dave Austadt.
The meeting is set for May 1 at 7 p.m. at the Greater Vancouver Zoo’s meeting room.
For more info. Lynne Van Laarhoven can be reached at email: lynnev@aldergrovetrolleycompany.ca, or call 778-242-5966.