Tillsonburg Transit

Friday, 9 May 2014 at 05:44

A passenger van service could be on the way for residents in Tillsonburg.

TILLSONBURG -- A business plan is in the works to try and get a public transportation system up and running once again in Tillsonburg.

A small group of community leaders met this week and gave themselves 30 days to come up with a plan that would be financially viable within the town.

Special Services Coordinator at the Tillsonburg Multi Service Centre Max Adam says transportation programs in general don't make money but recreation opportunities in the town don't make money either.

"You need to look at the cost and let's say it was $10,000 in the hole. Well, okay that's a bad thing but you need to look at all the good that $10,000 got you. It got people moving throughout town, maybe they are stimulating business, easier to get groceries, whatever the case may be."

Adam says while it will always be hard to sustain a transportation program, the Multi Service Centre is already successfully operating a similar program where they charge $6 for a round trip ride within the town and a volunteer driver would get $5 of that money.

He says current Tillsonburg Councillor Brian Stephenson and former mayor Steven Molnar are going to be taking a closer look at the town's transportation bylaw.

"You get into the world of paying your drivers well then you are a private company and you're not what we are, we are completely volunteer driven so there are some details to hammer out there so we need to take a look at Tillsonburg's bylaw, see what it says."

Adam says his ultimate goal with the municipal program would be to offer it at no charge to the rider.

He says the solution they come up with will not be a bus system but rather a passenger van which can fit 8-10 at the most.

"We are focused on within the boarders of Tillsonburg right now. After we get that in place, we will focus on getting the people outside of the town, to the rest of the County and also elsewhere such as London, wherever people need to go because we know that's a huge issue."

While Adam didn't outline the specifics of the program just yet, he did say it would be a creative solution combining both the private and public sectors and has the possibility to be similar to the model currently in place by the Multi Service Centre which uses volunteers.

He said at the next Steering committee meeting is when most of the concrete details will be hammered out. That meeting is expected to be scheduled for sometime within the next 60 days.