The Town of Collingwood and the County of Simcoe joined forces at the recent Association of Municipalities (AMO) conference in Ottawa this week to get going on making improvements to transit and Highway 26.
Staff and elected officials from the Town of Collingwood and the Town of the Blue Mountains gave a joint delegation with the ministry of transportation on Aug. 20, while the County of Simcoe gave another delegation on transit later that same day.
“We asked the ministry if they would contribute funding toward a transportation study of traffic in the South Georgian Bay area,” Collingwood Mayor Yvonne Hamlin said following the delegation.
The study, which would focus on Highway 26, is expected to cost $600,000. The affected municipalities are hoping to split the cost three ways evenly between Grey County, the County of Simcoe and the province, all chipping in $200,000 each.
“It would be led by the local municipalities,” she said.
Public transit in Collingwood runs from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week, with TransitPLUS special buses for people with disabilities, and on-demand weekend service on the Crosstown route only. TransitPLUS is a door-to-door assisted service that requires an advance booking.
With the announcement late last week that Collingwood’s last standing taxi service Ace Cabs would be closing up shop as of Sept. 30, transportation options in Collingwood are becoming more front-of-mind for residents. Hamlin shared that the town has finally hired a new transportation co-ordinator about a week ago after an extensive search, Sandy Falcon, who will be starting shortly on the work required to expand on-demand transit options in town.
The town has a partnership with Ace Transportation for their accessible taxi service – which will still run despite the taxi service closure – with extended hours of operation.
Hamlin said both Collingwood and South Georgian Bay transit options are always front-of-mind for her.
“It’s always urgent,” she said.
Over at the County of Simcoe’s delegation, County of Simcoe Warden Basil Clarke said his upper-tier municipality is seeking more money for the transit options they provide.
The county runs the LINX transit service which celebrated its fifth anniversary last year, and reported transporting more than 700,000 riders across Simcoe County’s municipal boundaries in that time.
“The ridership has exploded. We want to add more stops,” said Clarke, adding the county would also like to explore partnerships with other counties, including Grey.
“We want to come to the table together. It’s about finding any funding we can find to support this,” he said. “Transit is crucial.”
Clarke said the county is currently studying where LINX ridership has been most popular, and what riders want in terms of new stops in Simcoe County.
“We will be expanding, but it could happen faster with more funding,” he said.