The future Grey County’s transit routes appears to be bleak.
This week, Grey County announced that as of March 31 it is cancelling three of its four transit routes due to the discontinuation of provincial funding for the service.
Two days after making the announcement, Grey Highlands Mayor Paul McQueen raised the transit situation at county council’s meeting on Feb. 27.
County staff painted a grim picture for the future of the transit routes. The county received $2,774,000 for transit through the provincial Ontario Community Transportation Program. That funding expires at the end of March, which prompted the county to cancel routes running from Owen Sound to the Town of The Blue Mountains and from Owen Sound to Dundalk. A route from Dundalk to Orangeville continues to run, but faces funding issues as well.
CAO Kim Wingrove explained that the Dundalk to Orangeville route has additional funding from Grey and Dufferin counties. However, the money is just enough to keep the route running until June 2025.
Wingrove said there is another provincial program, the Ontario Transit Investment Fund (OTIF), that is available. The CAO said Grey and Dufferin counties submitted an application to the program in January. However, she noted there is just $5 million available and it’s a province-wide program.
“It will be very difficult to see a lot of service for that amount of money,” said Wingrove. “We have a lot of work ahead of us to try and see our way through this.”
McQueen asked if it was possible to consider a new financing model for the transit service. He noted that the provincial funding for the transit program limited what the county could charge passengers using the service. McQueen suggested the county approach the province about a new model that might include provincial, county and lower tier municipal support along with higher fares for riders.
“You may have to pay to keep it going,” McQueen said. “Is it viable to make a delegation in the near future to see if there is a possibility of continuing this service?”
Southgate Mayor Brian Milne slammed the provincial government for ending the program funding.
“The current government had every opportunity to extend the funding for this program. We have made it clear how important it is to our residents,” said Milne. “They chose not to.”