County staff will facilitate discussions between various agencies providing services in rural areas of Wellington in an effort to find a workable model for a coordinated rural transportation system.
A report recommending measures to fill identified transportation gaps in rural areas was received for information by Wellington County council on Sept. 25.
The report, Towards Coordinated Rural Transportation, was prepared by Dillon Consulting under contract from the Rural Ontario Institute. The study looked at transportation challenges facing rural communities in the study areas, which included Wellington County, Dufferin County and the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville.
A review of existing transportation services within Wellington County revealed a desire among several organizations to improve rural transportation, the report notes.
“There is already some coordination taking place through Wellington Transportation Services, a collaborative network of community service providers. The existing services within the county are also fortunate to have a number of resources, such as their own vehicles and a pool of volunteers.”
However, the report notes, no existing transportation service in the county is benefitting from provincial gas tax funding.
“There is the opportunity to potentially access this funding when developing a coordination model,” the report states, pointing out the county could benefit from “a significant increase in revenue towards transit services” if it were responsible for the delivery of public transit or community transportation services. This revenue could be used to expand services to meet various gaps in the community, the report indicates.
There is already a considerable amount of coordinated transportation going on in the county. The report reveals there are currently 40,000 to 50,000 “demand-responsive rural transportation trips” being delivered annually in Wellington County by a variety of service providers.
“Most of this service is provided for seniors and persons with disabilities, with priority given to medical trips. Demand for trips is likely two times greater than what is being supplied today and some markets are not served at all,” the report states.
Within Wellington County, the consultants recommend creation of a partnership between the county, participating local municipalities, social service agencies and employers. Private sector bus operators would be used to enhance corridor or fixed route service, but would not form part of the partnership.
“To be successful, it is recommended that the county act as a coordinating body for the partnership group,” the report states. “In this role, it would participate in service planning and would approach the province to receive provincial gas tax funding. This funding must flow through a municipality.
“A lead partner would also need to be selected to schedule and dispatch trips, handle customer service requests and monitor the service.
“Other partner agencies would contribute through funding, in-kind use of vehicles, resources and/or expertise. The lead partner would not take ownership of any of the vehicles.”
The report also suggests a second working group should be created to assess the feasibility of expanding on fixed route service between Fergus/Elora and the City of Guelph as well as exploring employee shuttle services to major employers, particularly in the north of the county.
“This group would take a top-down approach to service planning with a goal of improving transportation services for youth and those looking to access employment areas. This group would also need to identify new funding sources or partnerships to provide the service improvements.”
Councillor Jean Innes, a member of the county’s social services committee, said the report “allowed us to look at what networks we have. It took a look at the hodgepodge we’ve got out there.
“The bottom line is there’s a lot of assets on the ground here,” said Innes, adding transportation initiatives in Wellington, “will be driven by the local municipalities.”
She added, “The nice thing about this report is, for the first time, we’ve actually sat down – we’ve got something to show the province so when you talk about millions for subsidies for Toronto, we can say, ‘we’ve got nothing.’”
Councillor Bruce Whale pointed out there are some missing elements in the report, including interviews with potential users of a coordinated transportation system.
“Are we doing follow-up?” he asked.
Warden Chris White replied, “It’s a complete report in terms of what they intended to do … absolutely there’s gaps.”
However, White pointed out the report will help the county to determine what it wants to do in the area of coordinated transportation, something he said is definitely up for discussion.
“Transportation is absolutely in the room,” White stated.
