The County of Simcoe is taking over the bus route between Collingwood and Wasaga Beach this year.
According to Dennis Childs, supervisor of transit operations for Simcoe, the county is picking up the local link route and two others in the county this year.
“That route has been very, very successful, and we want to keep it that way,” said Childs at the Development and Operations Standing Committee meeting on Monday night (April 15). “We’ll be taking over that route and we’ll be operating it exactly the way it is … so it will just be a different colour bus going down the street.”
The fare will remain the same ($2) as it has been under the Collingwood and Wasaga Beach partnership.
According to Brian MacDonald, director of public works and engineering for the town of Collingwood, this change in operation will save the town approximately $100,000 annually and another $105,000 every five years budgeted for bus replacement.
MacDonald said the money would be used to create a new Collingwood transit route, though the details of where the new route will be have not yet been decided.
Simcoe County is set to take over operation of the link route on August 6 of this year.
According to Childs, the Simcoe County Transit Linx program will also be adding a route from Wasaga Beach to Barrie (via Stayner and Angus) to the Allandale Station. The proposed fare for that ride is $6.
MacDonald said the timing of the two routes will match up allowing those taking the link from Collingwood to Wasaga Beach to catch the bus to Barrie with about a five to 10-minute wait.
A third new route announced by Childs at the standing committee meeting was one from Orillia (Lakehead University) to Barrie (Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre and Georgian College).
All new routes are set to launch August 6.
The county will also be including specialized service along the same routes for passengers in wheelchairs or with other accessibility needs. The bus for this service will pick up and drop-off passengers at home, and will need to be booked in advance.
The routes are a result of a county-wide transit study and part of a 10-year plan for transit in the county. Read more about the plan here.
