KENILWORTH – A bus will continue to travel between Guelph and Owen Sound twice daily, seven days a week, making stops in Arthur, Mount Forest, Fergus and Elora.
Wellington North entered into an agreement with Owen Sound for the Guelph Owen Sound Transit (GOST) in 2018 that was initially set to last until August 2023.
This agreement was later amended to continue until August 2025, thanks to available funding, and has now been extended to last until March 2026.
“There was some question as to whether this transportation service was still going to continue on,” noted councillor Sherry Burke. “And I just think it’s really important for our residents to know that this will be continuing.”
“There’s a lot of people that do use it,” added councillor Steve McCabe.
“They wish there were more travel times but it’s great to see that it is going to keep going.”
“I do get a lot of feedback from residents about the value of this,” Mayor Andy Lennox added.
“Though it is somewhat limited in terms of the number of runs per day, it is fairly widely used.”
Lennox continued, “I do get comments from people that the bus is sometimes too full.
“This has turned into an important transit link for our community [and] a need for our community.
“And ideally I’d like to see this become a more frequent service.
“It could even serve potentially as a place for students to use for extra curricular activities or employees to use to get to work or home from work,” he said.
Councillor Penny Renken added, “We are an aging population so it will be more utilized in the future, I’m sure.”
“The GOST service provides our community with a very affordable, twice-daily option for travel north or south on Highway 6,” notes a township report presented to council on April 7.
Every morning, a bus heading to Guelph stops in Mount Forest (136 Elgin St.) at 8:32am and in Arthur (156 George St.) at 8:52am, arriving at the Guelph Central Station at 9:47am.
The morning bus heading to Owen Sound stops in Arthur at 11:35am and in Mount Forest at 11:55am, arriving at the Owen Sound Transit Terminal at 12:57pm.
Every afternoon, a bus leaves Owen Sound at 2:30pm and stops in Mount Forest at 3:32pm and Arthur at 3:52pm, reaching Guelph at 4:47pm
The afternoon bus leaves Guelph at 5:32pm, stopping in Arthur at 6:27pm, Mount Forest at 6:47pm and reaching Owen Sound at 7:49pm.
A one-way ride between Arthur and Guelph costs $5, while travelling one way between Mount Forest and Guelph costs $10 and travelling one way between Arthur or Mount Forest and Owen Sound costs $15.
The bus runs seven days a week, including all holidays other than Christmas Day.
In 2018, Owen Sound received a provincial Ministry of Transportation grant of about $1.4 million for a bus connecting it to Guelph.
Wellington North signed a licence agreement with Owen Sound in order for the bus to stop in Arthur and Mount Forest, the report notes.
“This funding was announced at the same time that the County of Wellington also received transportation funding and subsequently launched the RideWell service,” the report states.
