Intercity Bus Services

[lenaitch]

Toronto needs new subway cars, or Ottawa wants to build a new light rail line, the Province and the Feds usually make a generous contribution. Does either level of Government provide any funds if Simcoe County, City of Cornwall or City of Thunder Bay wants some new busses to provide additional service?

They do, and smiley faces and big cheque photo ops help, but they are inconsistent and sometimes require the receiving municipalities to craft complex grant applications (I believe the fuel tax rebate is relatively consistent). Buying the capital items is one thing, ongoing operating and HR costs are another.

 

[Urban Sky]

They do, and smiley faces and big cheque photo ops help, but they are inconsistent and sometimes require the receiving municipalities to craft complex grant applications (I believe the fuel tax rebate is relatively consistent). Buying the capital items is one thing, ongoing operating and HR costs are another.

Sure, but providing operating funding to municipal bus operators is hardly a federal responsibility or concern, especially in a province as demographically and economically strong as Ontario…

 

[lenaitch]

Sure, but providing operating funding to municipal bus operators is hardly a federal responsibility or concern, especially in a province as demographically and economically strong as Ontario…

It could be argued that services such as municipal transit, housing, etc. aren't federal responsibilities at all but here we are.

 

[Bordercollie]

Sure, but providing operating funding to municipal bus operators is hardly a federal responsibility or concern, especially in a province as demographically and economically strong as Ontario…

Between all of those municipalities, they should be able to justify weekend service from Barrie to Collingwood. The tourists alone should make that route viable.

 

[Urban Sky]

Between all of those municipalities, they should be able to justify weekend service from Barrie to Collingwood. The tourists alone should make that route viable.

I’m not arguing against expanding municipal bus service in whatever county(ies) Barrie and Collingwood are located. I just fail to see why such local service should be co-funded by the federal taxpayer when there are multiple other layers of givernment which are much closer to such concerns…

 

[lenaitch]

Between all of those municipalities, they should be able to justify weekend service from Barrie to Collingwood. The tourists alone should make that route viable.

The Linx network is primarily intended to connect County communities for education (college/university campus'), healthcare and, to a lesser degree, employment. For example, the Midland/Penetang - Barrie route stops at RVH and Georgian College. If you want to get to Allendale you have to take Barrie transit.

It is a County-funded service and Barrie (along with Orillia) are municipalities separate from the County. Maybe it will someday grow into something more. Maybe someday GTA tourists will be willing to trudge their coolers and floatees from Allendale to Wasaga and back again, but when your primary source of income is property taxes, options are limited.

 

[DirectionNorth]

The Linx network is primarily intended to connect County communities for education (college/university campus'), healthcare and, to a lesser degree, employment. For example, the Midland/Penetang - Barrie route stops at RVH and Georgian College. If you want to get to Allendale you have to take Barrie transit.

It is a County-funded service and Barrie (along with Orillia) are municipalities separate from the County. Maybe it will someday grow into something more. Maybe someday GTA tourists will be willing to trudge their coolers and floatees from Allendale to Wasaga and back again, but when your primary source of income is property taxes, options are limited.

My opinion is that the province ought to fund a large portion of municipal transit operations; given the post-COVID number of $4 billion or in subsidy so across the province, I think 1/3 of the subsidy (up from about 10% today with the gas tax fund) is reasonable, at about $1.5 billion annually. Though you'd have to juggle other use cases (healthcare, education). To prevent municipalities taking advantage of this for short-sighted (ahem, York Region, Ottawa) tax cuts, the province could set a limit at which point their subsidy disappears, eg. service must be at least 100% of 2019 levels, going to 120% (still leaving cities with a 20% drop in taxes, if they choose) in the future. There is precedent: the province funded 50% of transit operations until Mike Harris happened.

Wasaga beachgoers is probably closer to intercity transit; the province could theoretically fund an intercity bus service as well, running a parallel "Intercity" service (with the aim of profit) and "Regional" service (a baseline service for rural residents to access the nearest big town). But that's probably yet another conversation past the one above ...

 

[Bordercollie]

My opinion is that the province ought to fund a large portion of municipal transit operations; given the post-COVID number of $4 billion or in subsidy so across the province, I think 1/3 of the subsidy (up from about 10% today with the gas tax fund) is reasonable, at about $1.5 billion annually. Though you'd have to juggle other use cases (healthcare, education). To prevent municipalities taking advantage of this for short-sighted (ahem, York Region, Ottawa) tax cuts, the province could set a limit at which point their subsidy disappears, eg. service must be at least 100% of 2019 levels, going to 120% (still leaving cities with a 20% drop in taxes, if they choose) in the future. There is precedent: the province funded 50% of transit operations until Mike Harris happened.

Wasaga beachgoers is probably closer to intercity transit; the province could theoretically fund an intercity bus service as well, running a parallel "Intercity" service (with the aim of profit) and "Regional" service (a baseline service for rural residents to access the nearest big town). But that's probably yet another conversation past the one above ...

GO transit (Bus service) from Barrie, to Wasaga Beach and then to Collingwood Owen sound is a no brainer. Hourly from 6am to midnight. Considering the number of people who travel that corridor that kind of service should be justified and would help reduce car traffic.