Fernie city council has approved a partnering agreement with Tunnel 49 to continue a winter shuttle service for the 2025/26 season.
The city has partnered with Fernie Tourism and Tunnel 49 for the past two years after three Micro Bird busses were purchased using RMI funds.
City staff said they haven’t had much success generating sufficient ridership during their summer shuttle service, but the winter shuttle continues to do well.
Ridership for the 2024-2025 service was 11,863, a 13 per cent increase over the year prior.
There have been discussion around selling two of the shuttle to buy one larger vehicle, but CAO Michael Boronowski said they are monitoring ride sharing first.
“At present, Tourism Fernie and City staff would like to see how ride hailing advances,” he said.
“They’ll look at whether Uber or other ride hailing services are taking hold in Fernie before we consider the sale or potential trade in of two of the vehicles to purchase one larger vehicle.”
Daytime shuttles ran from Nov. 29-April 13 last year, but this years schedule has not been finalized.
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