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Ticket to ride: County councillors push for LINX weekend transit

'It is always a constant balancing act between the affordability of the program, the needs of our residents and rolling this out in a responsible and fiscally manageable way,' says county official
2020-09-03 LINX Transit MK
File photo

Even though ridership for the Simcoe County-run LINX transit system is up, there’s one big thing missing and that's weekend service, according to some council members.

“It’s a great service and I love the uptick in ridership, especially since we’ve just been through the pandemic, however there is a lot of concern, for the most part, with respect to seniors, students and those that have been left out of the loop with a transit service that only operates Monday to Friday,” said Springwater Township Deputy Mayor George Cabral.

County councillors were presented with an update at their Feb. 28 committee-of-the-whole meeting on the county-wide service, which provides service along six different corridors. Those include:

* Barrie-Springwater-Tay-Tiny-Midland-Penetanguishene 

* Barrie-Essa-Clearview-Wasaga Beach

* Barrie-Oro-Medonte-Orillia

* Wasaga Beach-Collingwood

* Bradford West Gwillimbury-New Tecumseth

* Midland-Tay-Severn-Oro-Medonte-Orillia.

“I was looking through the report to see if there was any indication if transit service would start to be provided on Saturday and Sundays and make it more of a whole service … and allowing students to travel outside of their community for work (or) provide seniors who don’t drive the opportunity to attend appointments and whatnot on (weekends)," Cabral said. 

Rob Elliott, the county’s general manager of engineering, planning and environment, noted one of the LINX routes, which runs between Collingwood and Wasaga Beach, does currently provide weekend service.

However, Elliott added the county is planning to update its transit master plan this year, which will look into the possibility of expanding weekend service to other routes. 

“The whole LINX service was just rolled out in 2019, based on what we understood the community needed at the time," he said. "Five years into this, as we develop our next plan, that’s going to look at all of those needs and requests of our community.

"It is always a constant balancing act between the affordability of the program, the needs of our residents and rolling this out in a responsible and fiscally manageable way,” Elliott added.

Collingwood Mayor Yvonne Hamlin said she hears quite often from residents about how difficult it is to get transit to Barrie from her town.

“It’s very difficult to get to Barrie from Collingwood by transit," she said. "You’d have to commit a substantial amount of time and it would be so great if we could get to Barrie to take advantage of some of the GO Transit trains."

Cabral acknowledged that while he understands it’s not something that can be done quickly, he’d like to see some consideration given to the idea of weekend service.

“I remember as a youngster growing up in Pickering when they opened up the GO train. Unlike Barrie, they provided seven-day-a-week service in order to accommodate people who were working, but it also provided one vehicle per hour," he said. 

On GO Transit's Barrie Line, Cabral said "the trains head down, they park at Union Station and they come (back) at the end of the day. That’s why I was a little bit anxious to find out about the LINX transit, because we also have in our community — in Springwater and Elmvale — some community groups put up a bus shelter to help facilitate the comfort of the riders. 

"It would be nice to be able to encourage that aspect, too," he added. 

The report presented to county councillors noted that although the LINX Transit system saw “stunted ridership performance” in the first part of the year due to COVID-19 and remaining restrictions, ridership has been grew continued to grow into 2022, with a total combined ridership of 195,450 — up by 69,215 riders from 2021 — which equals a 54 per cent increase from the previous year.

“In November 2022, LINX Transit reached a milestone of 500,000 riders from the start of the service in August 2018,” stated the report, which also noted LINX Transit is one of only a few transit authorities across the country that saw increased ridership during the pandemic.

“Transit staff have continued to participate in the transportation master plan (TMP) update, which includes a transit review," according to county staff. "The report is now expected to be completed in early 2023. Once the plan is completed, transit will better understand future growth and our relationships with local municipalities.”

The county report also explained that the TMP will aid in developing a five-year transit plan and a 10-year vision. 

“As the County of Simcoe continues to grow, it is essential to provide an environmentally friendly option to current and new residences for travel within the region," the staff report added. "We know county residents want expanded transit services that offer more routes, extended hours, and choices to local municipalities and weekend services."

The report also noted the transit provider has reached its maximum facility capacity and faces challenges in finding suitable indoor facilities in the county.

In order to meet potential growth, transit will need to build its bus facilities, and, as the LINX Transit system grows, new investments in zero-emission buses (ZEB) facilities, fixed-route, and specialized and on-demand service will be required — all of which are items that will be identified in the five-year transit plan and a 10-year vision. Plans are also in the works to create a reloadable smartcard-style payment system.

“Fare Integration LINX Transit and the City of Orillia continue to work on a reloadable smartcard payment system that will allow each other to use their smartcard on each others’ buses," the report stated. "The smart card will enable customers to pay for either LINX Transit or Orillia Transit using one card. The system will also be introduced to other transit authorities in the county."

Next up, county staff will continue to work on Fare Integration with other member municipalities, developing new proposed routes and service increases, as well as to continue the review of all the transit routes in order to lay the foundation for the five- and 10-year long-term plans. They will also continue to look for and seek out transit funding opportunities to support the growth of LINX Transit.