Fort Erie is on board with a new enhanced 5-year transit plan.
The town heard from experts hired to make recommendations to improve transit.
The suggestions include adding another bus next year, extending transit services to include new areas of the town, increasing frequency during peak times of the day, extending the hours of operation to accommodate for people’s work and school schedules, considering adding a new Sunday bus route to the schedule, and replacing “Flag Stop Services” in urban areas with bus stops.
Council adopted in principle recommendations presented by the Transit Consulting Network to improve the current transit services in Fort Erie over the next five years.
“We conducted our last transit study in 2011,” said Carla Stout, Manager, Transit Services. “Recommendations from the study resulted in extended service hours, an additional bus and new fare options. The changes had a positive impact on our transit system and community as a whole, but times have changed and our community is growing which is placing more pressure on our transit services.”
In June 2016, the Town hired TCN to review the current transit services and to assess the transit needs based on community feedback.
“Public transit is one of the most important services we offer our residents because it can directly affect a person’s livelihood and economic well-being. It is a key to future growth and to attracting and retaining our young people,” said Mayor Wayne Redekop. “Results of this study have shown us that our current transit system is not meeting the needs of all members of our community and we can’t let that continue. The recommendations provided will help increase the efficiency of our current transit system and facilitate its integration with the regional transit system.”
“Geographically, Fort Erie is hard for a transit system to operate effectively because there is a lot of area to cover with population nodes spread out across all of Fort Erie; however, that’s no excuse. We should be servicing all of Fort Erie not just some of it,” said Chris Knutt, Ward 6 Councillor. “The inclusion of Blackcreek and Stevensville has been a long time coming and I’m happy to say that we’re finally at the point where we can begin to make it happen.”
Although the plan has been approved in principle, TCN is recommending a significant increase in budget over the next five years.
The implementation of the plan is dependent on Town Council’s approval of funding during its annual budget deliberations.
For more information about the Transit Route, Bus Stop & Facility Improvements Plan report, visit forterie.ca.