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City of Woodstock Will Not Support the North Oxford Transit System

Monday, 19 October 2020 12:55

The City of Woodstock is not going to support a North Oxford Transit system proposal from the County of Oxford.

WOODSTOCK - The City of Woodstock is not going to support the North Oxford Transit system. 

Oxford County Director of Public Works David Simpson was at the most recent council meeting for the City of Woodstock asking for support. Woodstock Mayor Trevor Birtch says the City did pass a motion.

"We have great concern over potential funding of that transit system, in fact we passed a motion that spoke to the County of Oxford, not being allowed in the municipal act to have a transit system."

Birtch says all of Woodstock City Council is in favour of ensuring people have access to transit, so that they can get to and from appointments and to and from their jobs.

"We understand that transit needs to be affordable and looking at the numbers, council felt it was too onerous for tax payers to fund a rural transit system at this point in time."

Birtch says the model based in Tillsonburg makes a lot more sense.

"They have done that in a very sensible roll out, renting a bus from the City of Woodstock at a very affordable price and the County of Oxford is looking at purchasing a bus through a 3rd party and also have a staff member. The numbers don't add up, it would be cheaper to provide people with taxi cab fare, rather than having a bus that circles around some of the villages." 

In the city staff’s breakdown using the total expenses published in the county report, the gross cost in the first year of service would be about $387 per rider trip and $100 per rider trip in the future.

You can find more information about the proposed transit system from the County online here. 

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