The mayor of Port Colborne wants a single, permanent regional transit system.

Vance Badawey wants Regional Council to get behind bringing bus services in St. Catharines, Niagara Falls & Welland under 1 umbrella.  He wants a deal in place by spring 2013.

Right now, local bus routes are handled by individual transit companies.  They collaborate with the region on the inter-municipal Niagara Region Transit bus service, which is in year 1 of a 3-year pilot project.

Badawey tells 610 CKTB's Tim Denis "it's about due time that Niagara put both feet into the water & moved forward with one regional transit system".

The mayor says its important if Niagara wants to get permanent GO train service.  Now, Badawey says GO riders are being left stranded at the side of the road, unable to reach the "world class destinations" Niagara has to offer.

Regional councillor Andy Petrowski, one of the most vocal critic's of the regional bus pilot, says moving to a single service could actually cost taxpayers more.

He tells 610 CKTB's Tom McConnell if Badawey gets his way, communities like Niagara-on-the-Lake, Grimsby & Wainfleet will want in to the service too.  With the pilot project costing the region $4-million/year, Petrowski wants to know how much the people of Niagara are willing to tolerate to lose.