Owen Sound is expecting a new fleet of conventional transit buses to be in service soon.
The city’s associate supervisor of environmental services Rick Chappell provided a public transit update to the operations committee at its March 16 meeting.
Chappell told committee members a new long-term fleet of five low-floor, ramp-equipped buses is expected to be operational by later this month.
The capacity of the new buses is 18 seats. They include front-mounted bike carriers and a new data management system that will allow for automated stop announcements, real-time monitoring of buses and more accurate passenger count information.
“This is going to be very welcome, the new fleet in the community,” says Owen Sound Deputy Mayor and Operations Committee Chair Scott Greig.
Ridership on the city’s conventional transit service remains well below pre-pandemic levels.
Chappell’s report says passenger counts during the final three months of 2022 were up slightly — 3.2 per cent — from the same period in 2021. However, ridership is still down more than 31 per cent from 2019.
Last year, the city collected over $249,000 in total revenue from fares and passes. That is more than 26 per cent lower than the amount the city’s public transit service generated in 2019 ($339,000).
