At this week’s council meeting, Town of Prescott staff and council members discussed the River Route bus route’s first months of operation.
According to a report by town staff member Matthew Armstrong, the bus route, which began operating at the end of August, has been developing at around the town’s expected pace. 457 total riders have used the bus route, as of the end of October, and 12.3 people rode on the buses per day in October.
Armstrong thanked members of City of Brockville staff for their help with the logistics of organizing the bus route, which stops in multiple locations in both municipalities, as well as in Edwardsburgh-Cardinal and Augusta. “I can’t say enough about how accommodating their staff have been,” Armstrong said, “being able to take people that don’t run a transit system, listen to our concerns, be able to address them and move them forward.”
Mayor Brett Todd is happy about the report’s findings. “While the numbers aren’t exactly going to knock anybody’s socks off,” Todd says, “it’s still very impressive considering the circumstances, with the pandemic, the fact that there are some people that wouldn’t want to travel that way right now, with regards to COVID. I think it’s really shown indications that this is gonna be a long term thing, and it’s gonna be successful.”
The report also says town staff are looking for ways to get permanent funding to continue the bus route past its current six-month pilot program, which ends in February. Armstrong says town council will decide on how to keep the bus route running in January.