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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Improvements to Yellowknife's transit system could cost anywhere from nothing to $560,000, a Toronto consultant told city council members Monday during a committee meeting.

While city councillors and administration were told as much before in a report provided by the consulting company Entra Consultants, the company's transit expert, Dennis Fletcher, was flown in to provide councillors with the opportunity to ask him questions one-on-one.

Councillors had already expressed support for the no-cost options, which include manoeuvring the schedule to allow for full-day Saturday service, but any options which require more spending would have to wait for the 2010 budget.

Either way, the city has its work cut out for it if it wants to give the transit system a boost, said Fletcher.

"This is not the kind of market where (it's) you build it and they will come," he said.

"There are some pretty serious problems with the service itself," he added, referring to how the transit study came about.

Undertaken in 2007, the transit study was prompted by suggestions which came out of a marketing study commissioned earlier that year.

The marketing study recommended that before the city embarked on an advertising campaign, it should fix the problems with the service itself.

Fletcher experienced some of those quirky problems first-hand while riding the buses for the study.

Drivers passing by parts of the route has been a huge problem, he said.

Fletcher said he was on Route 2 during the middle of the day when the bus skipped a whole section of downtown where the Sir John Franklin high school stop is located.

When he asked the driver why he didn't go to the school stop, the driver replied "nobody ever stops there," said Fletcher.

"Well not anymore," responded Fletcher, who added he believes the "passing" situation has since improved.

The most expensive system overhaul, pegged at $563,000 in addition to the current operating costs of $738,858, would bring service to the Niven Lake and Kam Lake areas, add another route and bring total bus service to 68 hours weekly. Fletcher estimated the option could bring in at least 50,000 new rides annually, if not 100,000.

There were four options suggested for changes, each with their own variations.

While there was also some suggestion to eliminate midday service and allocate the hours elsewhere, one councillor, at least, cautioned against it.

"I think it may be a slippery slope to eliminate midday service," said councillor Lydia Bardak.

Others stressed weekend service, particularly for Saturday, were important.

"I, for one, would really like to see Saturday straightened out," said Coun. Kevin Kennedy, who added lightly that he would run the buses 24 hours a day if he could.

"When it's 40 below there are never enough buses," joked Coun. Paul Falvo.