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“Our tenants were experiencing significant difficulties with customers being able to access their premises during game days,” said shopping centre manager Terri Klyne.

“The uptake on the program was far greater than anyone had ever anticipated.”

It’s one sign of the outstanding popularity of the shuttle service, which stemmed from an agreement between the city and the Roughriders to provide 155 hours of free busing each game. The city was expecting about 3,000 residents to take up the offer on any given game day. Instead, an average of 6,000 people made use of the program.

Coun. Mike O’Donnell said demand has been “astronomical.”

“I tried it from different locales,” he said. “People were happy, very happy.”

Normanview was actually the least popular of the five locations, according to city data, with 1,143 riders on average. Southland Mall was the favoured pickup point, with a per-game average of 1,527 fans.

Estimates for the 2018 season run up to 8,000 bus riders for each event. In response, council voted Monday to increase the billable hours from 155 to 350 per game. That will cost the Roughriders organization $372,600.

The new stop at the former Sears building will be ready in time for the Eagles concert on May 17, Bells told councillors at Monday’s meeting.

Coun. Jerry Flegel, whose ward sits in the far north of the city, wasn’t sold on the Warehouse District solution. He lamented the loss of Normanview and suggested a deal with Walmart, Superstore or Home Depot in the north end. He said that the old pickup spot was also convenient for people travelling from outside Regina.

“You’ve taken a northwest location, gotten rid of it and put in more downtown,” he objected. “I think there’ll be a missed opportunity, with 80,000 people in this quadrant that aren’t going to have bus service.”

awhite-crummey@postmedia.com