“It’s extremely exciting,” said Randy Grauer, the city’s general manager of community services. “The vision of this overall (growth) plan is a wonderful thing and it really solidifies our future.”

Planners and politicians at city hall have been discussing bus rapid transit for more than 12 years, but the current push aligned perfectly with federal infrastructure funding for such initiatives, Grauer said.

The money to pay for the contract comes from the federal government’s Public Transportation Infrastructure Fund, which stipulates initiatives like Saskatoon’s BRT plan be completed by April 18, 2018.

Despite the tight deadline, Grauer said the administration sought and received approval from council in May on the parameters for bids on the planning and design work.

Outside expertise is needed for project, Grauer said. In addition to the BRT system design, the engineering firm will also plan how to redesign the rest of the bus system around the BRT corridors, and design the transit stations. The firm will also study the feasibility of park-and-ride locations.

The BRT system would focus on increased service along corridors such as 22nd Street in the west and Eighth Street in the east that connect areas of future residential growth with commercial centres like downtown. BRT would feature dedicated lanes for frequent bus service along these corridors.

Saskatoon Transit has already started experimenting with increased frequency along Eighth Street and 22nd Street, although transit officials see these changes as at least partly to blame for lower ridership in 2016.

Bus ridership declined to 8.51 million rides in 2016 from 8.57 million in 2015.

Grauer said the current ridership “speaks for itself” and BRT offers a model designed to be competitive with other modes of transportation.

“This is a different type of service that will be a magnet both for ridership and for development along those corridors,” he said.

ptank@postmedia.com