Plans to expand transit in PEC to go before council

Plans to expand transportation services in Prince Edward County will be before councillors at Thursday’s committee of the whole meeting.

Prince Edward County’s director of community development, Neil Carbone, seeks council approval of a recommended service this month, to move forward with inplementation in the fall.

Open house meetings were held in Wellington and Picton in April to outline a four-stage integrated plan to provide transit services for all ages.

The project has been in the hands of the municipality, the County Community Foundation with involvement from several dozen stakeholders and organizations, including Community Care for Seniors, the ROC, Social Services, Access Quinte and Deseronto Transit. Funding of more than $130,000 has been announced from federal and provincial levels. The plan would roll out in stages over five years, and applications for funding to offset costs are ongoing.

Presently, Deseronto Transit offers limited services between Picton, Bloomfield and Belleville and Quinte Access buses are only used by seniors and people with disabilities. Potential partnerships with these existing public transit services, as well as taxis, are included in the business case.

Net operating cost is pegged to move from the $15,000 the County budgets now for Deseronto Transit, to $175,000, though more than half of this cost is expected to be off-set by provincial gas tax and other funding. Quinte Access is funded by the federal Gas Tax Fund.

Committee of the Whole meets at 1 p.m. at Shire Hall.

Some of the slides from the open house presentation: