In a few weeks the Calgary Regional Partnership (CPR) will be closing its doors forever, the result of the creation of the Calgary Metropolitan growth management board.

CRP was a unique regional partnership of municipalities fostering an entrepreneurial approach to its focus on the economy, environment, transportation and community development. Much of their work will be put on hold, if not mothballed, by the new regional growth board, already preoccupied with startup challenges. 

So with years of work invested in developing regional transit threatened you can imagine the relief when the CRP board, including Mayor Jeff Genung, voted unanimously in favour of turning over the project to Southland Transportation. 

Genung centred on the word "legacy" when speaking of On-It.

"Through these discussions on whether to wind down CRP or keeping it going in some respect, it has been sad," says Genung. "There are 14 years of hard work put into this by the region and to have it brushed aside on a provincial level has kind of been defeating. It's been hard on the staff there and all of us partners as to what's going to happen.

"So this is one of those nice to see news stories at the end to say not everything is lost. This will be carried on by the private sector but with the On-It brand and it will transition into something, not just die."

The regional partnership has taken the concept of regional transit from its infancy to the pilot project stage and was on the verge of launching a new pilot project. Baseline and statistical research and surveys for Cochrane, Strathmore and Chestermere had already been completed.

"It looked very favourable for people's interest in terms of regional transit," explains CRP executive director Colleen Shepherd. "Had we been continuing as a voluntary partnership we would have been now looking at providing a service plan and potentially launching a plot in that corridor, including Cochrane."

Fortunately, the partnership had already established a strong working relationship with Southland in both of its other pilots. 

"I think our partnership was quite unique for developing a very emergent system in this region. With the CRP vision, we were just delighted to find a service provider to operate it that got it. They truly have the region at heart."

"It has taken so many years from developing original transit plans to staging the brand to developing awareness in the public to now launching pilots, it would be such a shame for it to go away. And it would take years to reinstate itself. So the collective goodwill is retained, which is amazing, and they can build on it. I think they are the right company to do it."

Branding takes time to establish and "On-It" was a hit.

"It's such a beautiful brand, people love it," says Shepherd. "It gets lots of recognition, it helps build a transit culture."

Shepherd takes pride in the model created, which they have labelled "Transit Lite" and strongly believes other regions should consider applying the same approach to establishing new transit systems.

"We actually looked to a public-private partnership as the way to go. It's leaner, it helps both sides, it's win-win."

CRP invested in developing and implementing the strategy as well as the On-It branding, but for hard capital costs of facilities and buses, they turned to the private sector.

Southland did not directly pay to acquire On-It but they did bare some costs. They had already wrapped three buses for the summer week runs to Banff and were eligible for upwards of $90,000 in penalties from CRP for premature closure of contract terms. 

In the meantime, Mayor Genung has participated in meetings with Southland last week to discuss regional partnership and more will follow.

"On a lot of levels, it has been a win for our community."

The acquisition of On-It by Southland was announced yesterday and comes into effect on Feb. 28, 2018, the same day the CRP ceases to exist.

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