Local transit staff looking to make PC Connect more sustainable as future provincial funding uncertain

As ridership continues to increase for PC Connect — the transit service that connects Perth County communities, Stratford and St. Marys to each other and to larger cities in the region — following the lifting of pandemic restrictions last year, the future of the regional bus service remains somewhat uncertain without a commitment from the province to provide funding beyond March 2025.

At Thursday’s Perth County council meeting, county transit coordinator Maggie Kerr told councilors that PC Connect provided 9,144 rides last year — up from 4,034 in 2021 — bringing the transit service’s total ridership to 13,412 since it launched in November 2020.

“We had a really great year in 2022,” Kerr said. “We were able to launch a series of marketing and promotional campaigns that had a direct impact on our ridership, we were heavily involved in community and employer outreach efforts, and we implemented multiple service enhancements, all of which contributed to 127 per-cent ridership increase from 2021 to 2022.”

Though PC Connect was originally envisioned as a three-year pilot project funded by a $1.45-million community transportation grant from the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO), in July 2021 the province allocated an additional $1.5 million to keep the transit service operating until March 2025 so local officials had time to properly measure demand as pandemic-related public-health measures were relaxed.

And while the county and its local municipal partners have been active in advocating for additional funding to support PC Connect beyond 2025 — Kerr said they have submitted a business plan to MTO and spoke directly with ministry officials last year — a recent letter from the transportation ministry has left staff unclear as to whether the transit service will receive any additional funding beyond the end of the Community Transportation Grant program.

“The ministry understands the importance of the Community Transportation Grant program. That is why we were pleased to announce the two-year, $14-million program extension last year to provide recipients with additional time to fully establish their transportation services as their communities recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and build these services up to a sustainable level so that they can continue operating beyond the end of the program,” Minister of Transportation Caroline Mulroney wrote in a letter to the City of Stratford dated Jan. 31.

” … The ministry is committed to working with each municipality to provide the support and flexibility they need to deliver their (community transit) projects. … I understand that ministry staff have been in contact with your municipal staff about the issues that you have raised and are committed to working with you as you continue to build up the sustainability of your transportation service.”

Without provincial funding, Kerr told the Beacon Herald it will be up to PC Connect’s municipal partners to decide whether to continue funding the transit service with taxpayer dollars beyond the end of the program.

In the meantime, Kerr and her counterparts in Stratford and St. Marys are looking at ways to make the service more financially sustainable while continuing to advocate for further provincial funding.

“We are exploring different service models to reduce service costs and improve ridership,” she said. “We appreciate the financial support provided by the government to date, however we continue to advocate for additional and continued financial support, emphasizing the significant need for affordable and accessible public transportation in our rural communities, where none had existed before.”

This year for example, Kerr told county council that transit staff would work with its service provider, Voyago, and PC Connect app developer Blaise Transit to explore the potential for on-demand service — a model that has seen some cost savings in fuel and staff time after being implemented by Stratford Transit for weekend bus service.

In her report to council, Kerr said staff are also creating a PC Connect advertising program that would offer local businesses and services promotional ad space on the exterior of PC Connect buses to generate additional revenue, developing a testimonial marketing campaign to increase ridership and promote the importance of the bus service for riders, and investigating alternative sources of government funding for the bus service’s long-term sustainability.

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