Owen Sound’s next transit contract will maintain the city’s half-hour service after all.
City council voted at its meeting Monday night to approve a staff recommendation to award a new five-year transit service delivery contract to Voyago and maintain the status quo.
The new contract will begin on August 27.
According to a report by the city’s outgoing director of public works and engineering Dennis Kefalas, the total contract price for Owen Sound over the five-year period is $4.94-million for conventional transit and $1.24-million for mobility transit.
The city had been reviewing its conventional transit system and council had discussed cuts to service after hearing in budget talks late last year estimated cost of transit service delivery would increase 49 per cent in 2022 — about an additional $500,000 — while ridership has been in steady decline for most of the past decade. Three bids were submitted to the city on a request for proposals it put out for its new transit contract. Kefalas says Voyago offered the lowest cost per hour to operate the service.
Voyago’s proposal will provide the city transit services at a reduced cost than what it had budgeted in 2022. Kefalas’ report says the expense to provide the service status quo in Year 1 of the contract is just over $951,000 for conventional transit, below the $1.13-million allocated. The mobility transit cost for 2022 under the new contract would also be about $44,000 below budget.
“This reduction would be fully experienced going forward into 2023,” says Kefalas.
Coun. Scott Greig says it’s a terrific outcome to have the 30-minute transit service continue in Owen Sound.
“This is fundamental to the success of our community,” says Greig. “We have an older community that is reliant upon transit, whether it’s going to the hospital or getting groceries.”
Kefalas notes the buses Voyago will use to operate the service will be low-floor, a design that has no steps between the ground and floor of the bus at a minimum of one entrance to enhance accessibility.
Voyago is the current operator of Guelph Owen Sound Transit (GOST), a daily bus service that runs between Owen Sound and Guelph along the Highway 6 corridor.
Kefalas says in his report staff will be monitoring the transit system’s performance during the first year of the contract and could explore an expansion of service on a pilot basis between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. at a cost of $110,000.
“This would be a perfect opportunity to explore the use of an on-demand service,” he says.
Only Coun. John Tamming voted against the recommendation, saying he could not support the expenditure as he believes the days of conventional transit are over.
“I can’t support a five-year extension of what I think by the year 2028 will be seen as a very antiquated way of getting people around,” Tamming says.
Coun. Richard Thomas moved and supported the recommendation, but also made comments suggesting he doesn’t necessarily see long-term viability in the conventional transit system.
“I still believe the days of conventional transit are numbered. I think a five-year contract is good, but I’d really like to see the city moving forward looking at alternate methods of providing rides in this city to the people who need them,” Thomas says. “This will keep us going for now. But, I would like to see us do that in the future.”
While the city has approved a new transit contract to be implemented in late August and maintain the half-hour service, as it stands now there are still plans for a reduction on a pilot basis for an hourly service in June, July and August. However, staff will be looking into whether the regular half-hour service can be provided during the summer while keeping within the city’s 2022 transit budget.
A report is expected to be prepared for the city’s operations committee at its April 12 meeting.