Inter-community transit to cease at end of March

Jeff Helsdon, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Inter-community transit between Tillsonburg and other centres in the area will cease after the end of March.

At its Feb. 24 meeting, town council approved going ahead with a plan to inform the public of the service wrapping up as of April 1. Operated through provincial funding, Tillsonburg was the community tasked with administering the system that provides transit to connect to Port Burwell, Langton, Delhi, Ingersoll, Woodstock, Norwich and London. This does not impact transit within Tillsonburg.

The service is being discontinued due to the provincial Community Transit Grant Program that funded it no longer being available in the current format. The new program would require a joint application from all the affected lower-tier communities, and there wasn’t interest from other centres in proceeding.

A report from acting Director of Operations Chris Baird asked council to approve a plan to inform the public of the cessation of the plan, effective April 1, 2025, and to authorize the CAO and Director of Operations to renew the agreement for operating in-town transit from April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026.

Coun. Kelly Spencer said she had received a few calls and e-mails about the service, and asked Baird to confirm that Tillsonburg had done what it could to get neighbouring municipalities on board with an application to the new grant.

Baird answered that was correct, all needed to agree, and it didn’t happen. He said staff will watch for other funding opportunities.

Answering a question from Mayor Deb Gilvesy about ridership numbers, Baird said from August 2020 until Dec. 31, 2024, there were 7,500 riders on Route 1, which was the most popular. Ridership on Routes 2, 3 and 4 varied from 570 to 1,467.

“When you look at the ridership for the investment there it’s considerably low,” Baird said.

“It does seem like a big investment for low ridership,” Spencer agreed, adding community members who don’t drive use it. “I do hope that at one time funding through the provincial government can return and it will return.”

Gilvesy informed council the issue was raised with the Minister of Rural Affairs at the recent ROMA conference. Although there was a commitment to look into it, the election was called.

Council approved the motion authorizing staff to work on a communication plan to advise the public of the changes and to authorize staff to renew the contract for in-town services.