Brad Smith – Norfolk County Public Transportation Co-ordinator. Photo courtesy of Bob Montgomery.Brad Smith – Norfolk County Public Transportation Co-ordinator. Photo courtesy of Bob Montgomery.
Midwestern

Public Transit Considered For Grand Bend, Lambton Shores, Huron County, North Middlesex

The Grand Bend and Area Chamber of Commerce hosted a public meeting on transportation yesterday for residents of Grand Bend, Lambton Shores, Huron County and North Middlesex.

Spokesperson Glen Baillie explained that without public transportation getting from one community to another has become a huge challenge. He pointed out that a community like Grand Bend depends on young people to work in the bars and restaurants in the summer and with fewer kids in the high schools those young people are no longer available and have to be brought in from areas outside of the village but they have no way of getting into Grand Bend to work.

“So there are people who could use a way out of their towns and back into their towns who don't drive or don't want to drive or are too young to drive," he says. "So public transit can serve a social services need and employers need, an employee's need.”

Baillie also talked about the problems of isolation for people who are too old to drive or too young to drive, can't afford a vehicle or are prevented from driving for health reasons. He suggested some form of public transportation could address all of these issues.

The guest speaker at the meeting was Norfolk County Public Transportation Coordinator Brad Smith and he explained the transportation system Norfolk has had in place since 2011. Smith says originally the bus travelled between the five urban centres in Norfolk County but they found that wasn't efficient. Smith says the flexibility in their system allows them to make adjustments as required and they now have a system that travels from the centre in Simcoe to the outlining towns as demand requires but also does a circuit within Simcoe several times a day.

Smith adds they also have a weekend service that focuses on the tourism and hospitality industry in the summer.

“It's called the South Coast Shuttle. It focuses on a lot of the tourism-based industry in Norfolk County, so the wineries, the restaurants, the bed and breakfasts, the beaches and we're able to do a good reach across there so people all throughout Norfolk can experience that," he says. "On average, we're averaging about 35 to 40 riders a day right now.”

The objective of the meeting was to look into starting a service similar to the one in Norfolk County for Grand Bend, Lambton Shores, Huron County and Middlesex. Smith says the program is subsidized to tune of three dollars a year on each tax bill.

Read More Local Stories