Formerly | Banff Public Transit |
---|---|
Parent | Bow Valley Regional Transit Services Commission [1] |
Headquarters | Banff, Alberta |
Locale | Banff, Alberta Canmore, Alberta Lake Louise, Alberta |
Service type | bus service |
Routes | 14: 7 year-round, 5 seasonal, and 2 temporally suspended |
Stops | 120 |
Destinations | Canmore, Alberta; Banff, Alberta; Lake Louise, Alberta; Banff National Park, Alberta; Kananaskis Country, Alberta |
Hubs | 3 |
Fleet | Nova LFS |
Daily ridership | 4,500 (weekdays, Q2 2024) [2] |
Annual ridership | 1,556,300 (2023) [3] |
Fuel type | hybrid electric, diesel fuel |
Operator | BVRTSC |
Website | roamtransit |
Roam is the public transit system for the towns of Canmore, Banff (located inside Banff National Park), and Lake Louise (located inside Banff National Park) and in the Bow Valley of Alberta's Rockies in Canada. The system is managed by the Bow Valley Regional Transit Services Commission (BVRTSC). In 2023, the system had a ridership of 1,556,300, or about 4,500 per weekday as of the second quarter of 2024.
Roam was formerly known as Banff Public Transit and the town has had some form of public transportation since 1994, contracted to a variety of private operators.
The system was re-branded as Roam in June 2008. At the same time a new fleet of four hybrid buses was acquired and operation of the service was turned over a new private contractor, Brewster Inc., a local tour bus company.
On April 21, 2011, the Bow Valley Regional Transit Services Commission (BVRTSC) was formed by the town of Banff, the town of Canmore and Improvement District No. 9. This new government agency was authorised to provide or coordinate local and regional transit services in the Bow Valley. [4] Although not a voting member, Parks Canada actively participates in commission meetings. [4]
In the fall of 2012 the BVRTSC took over responsibility for the transit service. [5] On December 3, 2012, regional transit service between Banff and Canmore began. [6]
There are currently fourteen routes, seven that operate year-round and five that operate seasonally (May to September). [7] Service is provided using hybrid Nova buses, each decorated with scenes from the National Park, featuring either a grizzly bear, elk, mountain goat, moose, buffalo, fish, fox, lynx, wolf, etc.
Route | Districts/Areas Served | Frequency | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1 Sulphur Mountain | Banff Sulphur Mountain District, Banff Downtown District, Banff Uptown District [8] | 40 minutes | — |
2 Tunnel Mountain | Banff Springs District, Banff Downtown District, Banff Uptown District, Banff Tunnel Mountain District [9] | 40 minutes | — |
3 Banff-Canmore Regional | Banff Downtown District, Banff Uptown District, Bow Valley Trail, Downtown Canmore [10] | 60 minutes | Regional fare required |
4 Cave & Basin | Cave and Basin, Bow Falls, Banff Downtown District, Banff Uptown District [11] | 60 minutes | Operates Friday-Sunday, mid-May to September 30 |
5T Three Sisters | Downtown Canmore, Carey/Homesteads, Three Sisters [12] | Weekdays: 33–60 minutes Saturday: 37 minutes Sunday: 75 minutes | Currently operating fare-free |
5C Cougar Creek | Downtown Canmore, Cougar Creek, Bow Valley Trail [13] | Weekdays: 33–60 minutes Saturday: 37 minutes Sunday: 75 minutes | Currently operating fare-free |
6 Lake Minnewanka | Banff Downtown District, Banff Uptown District, Lake Minnewanka, Banff Train Station [14] | 60 minutes | Operates mid-May to mid-September |
7 The Banff Cantre | Banff Centre District, Surprise Corner, Banff Downtown District, Banff Uptown District | 30 minutes | Currently not operating due to Temporary Banff Centre closures |
8S Lake Louise Banff Senic | Johnston Canyon, Bow Valley Parkway, Lake Louise Village Centre, Lake Louise Lakeside, Banff Downtown District | 4 hours 30 minutes | Temporary Suspended for the 2024 season Regional fare required Operates July to August |
8X Lake Louise-Banff Express | Lake Louise Village Centre, Lake Louise Lakeside, Banff Downtown District [15] | 60 Minutes | Regional fare required |
9 Johnston Canyon | Johnston Canyon, Bow Valley Parkway, Banff Downtown District [16] | 60 Minutes | Regional fare required Currently operating as a Weekend Service |
10 Moraine Lake | Moraine Lake, Lake Louise Village Centre, Banff Downtown District [17] | 60 Minutes | Regional fare required Operates September to late-October/early-November |
11 Lake Louise Local | Lake Louise Ski Resort/Park and Ride, Lake Louise Village Centre, Lake Louise Lakeside [18] [19] | Operates Seasonally | |
12 Grassi Lakes | Downtown Canmore, Spring Creek, Bow Valley Trail, TeePee Town, Hospital Hill, Quarry Lake, Kananaskis Country; The Canmore Nordic Centre, Grassi Lakes [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] | 60 minutes | Currently operating fare-free. Currently operating as a Weekend Service Operates May Long Weekend to September 15 |
Banff National Park is Canada's oldest national park, established in 1885 as Rocky Mountains Park. Located in Alberta's Rocky Mountains, 110–180 kilometres (68–112 mi) west of Calgary, Banff encompasses 6,641 square kilometres (2,564 sq mi) of mountainous terrain, with many glaciers and ice fields, dense coniferous forest, and alpine landscapes. Provincial forests and Yoho National Park are neighbours to the west, while Kootenay National Park is located to the south and Kananaskis Country to the southeast. The main commercial centre of the park is the town of Banff, in the Bow River valley.
Lake Louise is a hamlet within Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. Named after Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, it lies in Alberta's Rockies on the Bow River, 3 km (1.9 mi) northeast of the lake that shares its name. Initially settled in 1884 as an outpost for the Canadian Pacific Railway, Lake Louise sits at an elevation of 1,600 m (5,200 ft), making it Canada's highest community. The nearby lake, framed by mountains, is one of the most famous mountain vistas in the world.
Banff is a resort town in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada, in Alberta's Rockies along the Trans-Canada Highway, 126 km (78 mi) west of Calgary and 58 km (36 mi) east of Lake Louise, 1,400 to 1,630 m above sea level,
Canmore is a town in Alberta, Canada, located approximately 81 kilometres (50 mi) west of Calgary near the southeast boundary of Banff National Park. It is located in the Bow Valley within Alberta's Rocky Mountains. The town shares a border with Kananaskis Country to the west and south and the Municipal District of Bighorn No. 8 to the north and east. With a population of 17,036 in 2023, Canmore is the fifth-largest town in Alberta.
Mount Rundle is a mountain in Canada's Banff National Park overlooking the towns of Banff and Canmore, Alberta. The Cree name was Waskahigan Watchi or house mountain. In 1858 John Palliser renamed the mountain after Reverend Robert Rundle, a Methodist invited by the Hudson's Bay Company to do missionary work in western Canada in the 1840s. He introduced syllabics there—a written language developed for the Cree, as part of his missionary work. He only visited the Stoney-Nakoda of the area around what is now called Mount Rundle in 1844 and 1847.
Moraine Lake is a snow and glacially fed lake in Banff National Park, 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) outside the village of Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada. It is situated in the Valley of the Ten Peaks, at an elevation of approximately 1,884 metres (6,181 ft). The lake has a surface area of 50 hectares.
The Three Sisters are a trio of peaks near Canmore, Alberta, Canada. They are known individually as Big Sister, Middle Sister and Little Sister.
Castle Mountain is a mountain located within Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies, approximately halfway between Banff and Lake Louise. It is the easternmost mountain of the Main Ranges in the Bow Valley and sits astride the Castle Mountain Fault which has thrust older sedimentary and metamorphic rocks forming the upper part of the mountain over the younger rocks forming its base. The mountain's castellated, or castle-like, appearance is a result of erosive processes acting at different rates on the peak's alternating layers of softer shale and harder limestone, dolomite and quartzite.
Pacific Western Transportation provides a variety of bus services in the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Yukon. Depending on the location, it offers scheduled and chartered school busing, municipal transit and handi-bus services, airport passenger services and local and long-distance coach charters.
Highway 1 is a major east–west highway in southern Alberta that forms the southern mainline of the Trans-Canada Highway. It runs from the British Columbia border near Lake Louise through Calgary to the Saskatchewan border east of Medicine Hat. It continues as Highway 1 into both provinces. It spans approximately 534 km (332 mi) from Alberta's border with British Columbia in the west to its border with Saskatchewan in the east. Highway 1 is designated as a core route in Canada's National Highway System and is a core part of the developing Alberta Freeway Network.
Highway 1A is the designation of two alternate routes off the Alberta portion of Trans-Canada Highway 1. However, it is not the only name used for spurs off Highway 1 - Highway 1X is another such designation. Despite these highways being suffixed routes of Highway 1, they are not part of the Trans-Canada Highway network, and are signed with Alberta's provincial primary highway shields instead of the Trans-Canada shields used for Highway 1.
Bow Valley is a valley along the upper Bow River in Alberta, Canada.
The city of Calgary, Alberta, has a large transportation network that encompasses a variety of road, rail, air, public transit, and pedestrian infrastructure. Calgary is also a major Canadian transportation centre and a central cargo hub for freight in and out of north-western North America. The city sits at the junction between the "Canamex" highway system and the Trans-Canada Highway.
The Abbot Pass hut was an alpine hut located at an altitude of 2,925 metres (9,596 ft) in Abbot Pass in the Rocky Mountains in Alberta, Canada. It was nestled between Mount Victoria and Mount Lefroy, straddling the Great Divide, which, in this region, defines the boundary between Banff National Park in Alberta and Yoho National Park in British Columbia. While close to the border, the hut lay entirely in Banff National Park, and was the second-highest permanently habitable structure in Canada. The hut was maintained by the Alpine Club of Canada.
The Spray River is a tributary of the Bow River in western Alberta, Canada.
Alberta's Rockies comprise the Canadian Rocky Mountains in Alberta, Canada. On the southwestern part of the province along the British Columbia border, the region covers all but the south of Census Division 15.
The Riverside Transit Agency (RTA) is the main transit agency for western Riverside County, California, United States. RTA provides both local and regional services throughout the region with 32 fixed-routes ,3 CommuterLink routes, Micro Transit in the Hemet San Jacinto area, and Dial-A-Ride services using a fleet of 339 vehicles. In the cities of Corona, Beaumont and Banning, RTA coordinates regional services with municipal transit systems. In Riverside, RTA coordinates with the city's Riverside Special Services, which provides ADA complementary service to RTA's fixed-route services.
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The Rocky Mountain Outlook is a weekly local newspaper based in Canmore, Alberta, Canada. The Rocky Mountain Outlook is delivered across the Bow Valley in Banff, Canmore, Lake Louise, the Municipal District of Bighorn and the Stoney Nakoda First Nation. The paper covers news in and around the Bow Valley region, which spans from Lake Louise in the west to the Stoney Nakoda First Nation and Kananaskis Country in the east. The paper does not charge readers and relies on advertising for income.
Media related to Roam public transit at Wikimedia Commons