Article content

Thursday’s provincial budget will include funding for a rural bus project to connect small towns and municipalities with medium-sized cities.

Transportation Minister Brian Mason announced the pilot at Wednesday’s Rural Municipalities of Alberta (formerly the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties) spring convention in Edmonton.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or NDP announces pilot project for rural buses Back to video

He was mum on a dollar figure attached to the project, saying more details will be included in Budget 2018.

The plan makes good on part of the NDP’s 2015 election platform to reinstate more bus services to rural communities.

Mason told Postmedia the project came from a dearth in transport options after Greyhound cancelled a number of regional routes, leaving rural Albertans without options.

The government first looked at subsiding the cancelled routes, but with ridership on some buses hovering at just three or four people each day, Mason said it wasn’t practical.