YELLOWKNIFE - Yellowknife's public transportation system will undergo a review after the city receives a grant from the federal government.

City council says more people should be using the city's public transportation service and plan to review the system with federal funding. In 2006, annual ridership was estimated at 166,000, up from 133,000 in 2004. - Guy Quenneville/NNSL photo On the Bus 2007 Forecasted ridership - 175,000 Budget - $783,000 Revenue from users - $283,000 2006 Estimated ridership - 166,000 Budget - $769,000 Revenue from users - $271,000 2005 Ridership - 155,000 Budget - $630,000 Revenue from users - $252,000

City councillors and administration say the service, while busy during peak times, is underused and something needs to be done about it.

The city is considering two projects to improve the service: an analysis of transit routes and increased promotional activities for public transit.

Several councillors voiced concerns that the city's buses are not being used to their full potential.

"I've watched the buses quite a lot," said Coun. David Wind. "At rush hour, they're quite full. I've even noticed tons of instances when there are people standing in the buses. They're quite well used at that time.

"But at other times of the day, I've seen buses where there might be one or two people on them - or they're completely empty. That's the conundrum we live in terms of providing a viable transportation system in a community the size of Yellowknife."

Other options were discussed during the meeting. Coun. Paul Falvo even brought up the possibility of issuing free bus passes to city staffers as a means of promoting the bus service.

That option was met with some reluctance.

"I think it's problematic, because if you make these city passes available only to city workers, then there is a negative kind of perception of that in community," said Wind. "People might see it as city workers getting some sort of special benefit."

Wind said the city should go even further than issue passes to city staff if it really wants to increase bus use and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"If you're going to do this to encourage ridership...and if that is going to produce a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions for the city...then why not make a bigger step and make ridership free for everybody? Then we can make a significant reduction in greenhouse gases."

Despite some differences over the approach to the transit problem, most of council agreed the review is a step in the right direction.

"One of the things that we'll be requiring funding for is to do more data collection and analysis of where any additional routes should go," said Coun. Kevin Kennedy. "It's important for us to do this based on data. I actually think that's a smart idea."

City administration will approach city council with a plan in the next few weeks. The city will then apply to the federal government for the funding for the project.