A Grey Transit Route bus operated by Driverseat. (supplied photo)
Grey County council has approved some changes that will be made to the Grey Transit Route system next year.
During a council meeting on Aug. 12, a year one review report of the transit system was brought to council to consider. It also proposed an additional $220,000 — which will be finalized in 2022 budget discussions — to increase the days of operation for a one-year pilot.
If Grey County decides to continue to increase the level of transit service in future years and no grant is available to back them up, the estimated cost would be about $650,000 in 2023 and another $840,000 in 2024.
During the meeting, several councillors expressed their appreciation for the transit service and noted they were on board with supporting it.
Counc. Aakash Desai says, “to me, $223,000 to provide a higher level of service, is actually a no-brainer. It is not a service that affects a particular demographic or age group, it is a service that is used and appreciated by seniors as well as younger people, and people who are still working.”
Manager of Community Transportation Stephanie Stewart told councillors during the pandemic the system was able to hold it own in its first year of service. She says while ridership numbers were low, they remained consistent, with certain routes seeing strong growth.
Stewart identified in her report, over the last year, the transit system received feedback from driver interactions, community outreach, stakeholders, phone calls, emails, and a survey, finding residents expressed the need for more days of service and more stop locations.
With this in mind, changes to the current route schedule were proposed.
The Owen Sound to Dundalk, Dundalk to Orangeville, Owen Sound to Meaford, and Meaford to Blue Mountains routes, which all operate on a five day week schedule, will be upped to seven days a week and over the holidays.
The proposal for the Owen Sound to Wiarton and Owen Sound to Hanover routes, which run three and two days a week respectively, was to increase to five days and over the holidays.