Owen Sound’s operations committee is recommending the city scrap an hourly transit service pilot that was planned for the summer months this year, and instead maintain the status quo.
The committee resolved in a 6-2 recorded vote at its meeting on April 12 to recommend to Owen Sound council to offer a 30-minute transit service for June, July and August.
According to a report from Owen Sound’s Supervisor of Environmental Services Rick Chappell, providing the half-hour service during the summer will increase this year’s annual transit costs by about $162,000. The operating costs for transit in Owen Sound are still projected to fall within the city’s $1.12-million budget for 2022.
City council recently approved awarding a new five-year transit contract to Voyago to operate the city’s conventional and mobility transit services, starting in late August. The new contract provider will maintain the status quo, half-hour transit service in Owen Sound.
The plan to reduce Owen Sound’s public transit service to hourly on a pilot basis during the summer months of June, July and August this year was approved by council prior to the new contract being awarded, which ended up coming in at a lower cost than anticipated by city staff.
City Manager Tim Simmonds told operations committee members any surplus realized in the transit system this year would likely be applied to marketing and communications in a bid to boost ridership.