County Transit

Regular service launches between Picton and Belleville

Seven years after the need was identified in the 2013 Vital Signs Report from The County Foundation (TCF), a pilot transit service between Picton and Belleville, with a stop in Bloomfield, was launched on August 24.There are four daily round trips, Monday to Friday, starting at Picton Metro with a loop through the town, before heading to Belleville via Bloomfield. At Belleville, passengers can connect to the transit there with the same fare ticket. The full schedule and route map is available at countytransit.ca. In addition to this, there is a Flex Route Transit Service, with on-demand scheduled runs available from Quinte Access with four daily trips along the Wellington to Picton corridor, plus one daily trip along Highway 33 between Trenton and Picton, as well as trips between Rossmore, Rednersville, Trenton and Belleville. These trips run Monday to Friday as well, and riders can contact Quinte Access directly at 613.392.9640 or via email info@quinteaccess. org for more information.

“This has been a long time in coming,” said Brian Beiles, president of TCF. “Our 2013 Vital Signs Report indicated transportation as one of the key issues, the others being learning and food insecurity. We created a working group for transportation, which had at the time the providers Deseronto Transit and Quinte Access as members, and also people like Community Care for Seniors, learning institutions such as Loyalist College, and the United Way, so it had a broad base of members in terms of service providers as well as those agencies who had clients who would be using transit.” That group came up with a vision to establish an integrated transportation service in the County that would be sustainable, barrier-free and affordable. Over the years, the County held a number of public open houses for input and information, and also provide significant financial support and was instrumental in obtaining a grant of $500,000 from the province to roll out a transportation plan. The project was officially launched in 2018, but a number of events conspired to delay its implementation. There was a change in government, a number of administrative delays, and a renegotiation of service agreements. Ultimately, Quinte Access became the sole provider both for the fixed route service, as well as the on-demand service. The funding allows for a three-year pilot project to determine whether the expected ridership will make the system sustainable in the long run. The project was expected to be launched six months ago, but the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic caused a further delay. Protocols necessitated by the pandemic limit the number of passengers on each trip. Currently, a maximum of six passengers can be carried. If the demand rises beyond this, Beiles said that either a larger bus could be used, or additional buses could be brought into service.

This is a pilot project, and it will be assessed on an ongoing basis. “Quinte Access is quite encouraged by the initial take-up,” said Beiles, while noting it was still early days yet. “I think three years is a reasonable time to see if we can make a go of this thing or not. By all accounts, the demand is there. Whether the demand translates into ridership is another question, given the fact that historically people have had to be very largely reliant on private transit.”

The new transit system will be marketed through a campaign funded partly by the municipality, as well as by $40,000 in Rural Economic Development Funding obtained by the County from the provincial government. “The marketing will have a regional focus reaching potential new riders through posters, postcards, radio, website, social media and newspaper,” wrote Grace Nyman, Community Services and Programs Coordinator for the County. “Marketing will be ongoing and consistent to ensure public awareness of this essential service. The fixed route service will deliver people to the Belleville bus terminal where they can transfer to one of the Belleville City buses. The route makes a small loop in Picton to provide riders the opportunity to travel within Picton for things like shopping, medical appointments or employment.” Nyman said there were no definite plans for expansion within the County, and ongoing assessments will determine if there is a need to make service or route adjustments. She also wrote that the groundwork for the transit service was established in part by the Women’s Institute. “The Women’s institute has been a long-time supporter and champion of specialized transit in Prince Edward County since 2007. To be able to expand on their vision to include fixed route and flex route essential transit service for the residents of Prince Edward County and to see ‘County Transit’ on the side of the bus makes it real and very satisfying. It has taken an army of people, a varying number of obstacles to overcome and much public input, but County Transit has finally arrived. Now we as a community have to work hard to ensure that it becomes a sustainable and growing transit service for years to come.”