UPDATE: March 23rd, 2020: The City of Red Deer announced that the first bus will start at 6:45 am, instead of 7:45 am. These changes will start on Wednesday, March 25th.

 

March 22nd, 2020: In an effort to help reduce the spread of COVID-19, the City of Red Deer is reducing hours and frequency of their city transit, starting Monday, March 23rd, 2020.

Included in these changes is Red Deer Transit switching from a 30 min schedule to hourly. From Monday to Saturday, the first bus to depart from Sorensen Station will leave at 7:45 am, and the last one leaving from Sorensen station will be at 7:45 pm. 

Saturday and Sundays will also see the hourly department, with the first bus leaving Sorensen Station at 8:45 am, and the last one at 6:45 pm.

The changes to transit beginning Monday will ensure we are providing the service many in our community rely upon for getting to work or medical appointments in the safest way possible as we all work to minimize exposure,” said Bart Rowland, Emergency Operations Centre Director.

More information about the City of Red Deer's new transit schedule can be found by clicking here to go to their website. 

Fans pack inside the Centrium at Westerner Park for the Canadian Finals Rodeo in 2018. Photo courtesy of Tourism Red Deer.

Meanwhile, Westerner Park made the unfortunate announcement on March 20th that they would be laying off 90% of their overall workforce as an unprecedented measure during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“This was an incredibly difficult decision to make,” says Mike Olesen, Chief Executive Officer, Westerner Park. “We know these measures are necessary but still deeply impact our staff and their families. They have been very understanding, and we will work to support them in any way we can.”

So far, over 50 events have been postponed or cancelled between March 10th and April 24th after the Alberta Government banned any gatherings of 50 people or more. 

Westerner Park assumed any event after April 25th will also be affected, but they will wait and see how the pandemic situation continues to unfold before making any decision on those events.

With no revenue coming in to the non-profit organization due to the cancelled events, Westerner Park says the temporary reduction in staff was an important financial decision, as well as one done to help reduce the spread fo COVID-19.