The transit numbers are in, and those numbers are positive.
An update on Collingwood’s transit expansion project was presented at the Development and Operations Services Standing Committee on Monday night. The staff report recommended that council receive the update for consideration as a permanent service enhancement during the 2019 budget deliberations.
The net costs to the Town of Collingwood in 2019 would be about $100,000.
“(Our transit) has not typically had large ridership, and to see these increases is very exciting,” said Mayor Brian Saunderson. “It’s also essential for our residents and residents from Wasaga Beach and the Town of Blue Mountain just to be able to get to work and home.”
According to the staff report, despite Colltrans routes seeing a steady decline in ridership over the past three years, ridership jumped up from September 2018 onward once the new hours were implemented.
Overall, the Colltrans link saw a 13.4 per cent increase in ridership, the Wasaga Beach link saw a 34.7 per cent increase, and the Blue Mountains link saw a 64.6 per cent increase.
“At one point we were operating our CollTrans buses on biodiesel. Are we still doing that?” asked Coun. Deb Doherty.
Kristofer Wiszniak, public works and transit co-ordinator with the Town of Collingwood, conceded that the biodiesel had been discontinued, adding that the town had transitioned to a more clean-burning fuel.
In 2018, Collingwood approved up to $35,000 from the town coffers for the nine-month pilot project, which also had support from Blue Mountain, extending service hours on weekends. The pilot is running from July 1 to March 31, 2019.
The Wasaga Beach link also got an extra hour of service on weekdays from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.
The Blue Mountains link service doubled to run from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day. Previously, the service included a gap in the afternoon from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and the last bus ran at 7 p.m.
According to the staff report, all three municipalities will be presenting the report to their respective councils prior/during budget deliberations with the intent of gaining a commitment from all councils to proceed with the permanent service increase beyond March 31, 2019.
An increase in the transit service schedule was one step in improving regional-based transit needs as identified by a transit working group that includes stakeholders from The Blue Mountains, Collingwood, and Wasaga Beach. The group also proposed a private sector ride sharing employee shuttle that would operate solely for employment business. This would require the private operator to have permits from all service areas to allow for the company to cross borders.
The committee supported the recommendation, moving it forward to the next regular meeting of council.
- with files from Erika Engel
