Despite rising costs, no new routes for public transit in Fort Erie
November 21, 2024 at 4:11 AM
It doesn’t appear that the old “Green Route” will be coming back to Fort Erie next year, despite council requesting the return of a conventional bus route to the east end of town in August.
And while taxpayers will face a larger bill for public transit in 2025, those added costs won’t come with new services.
“The percentage increase did not change, it came in at 5.8 per cent, with no new routes or services that would be added,” Regional Councillor Tom Insinna told local councillors at the November 18 council meeting.
“It will be very interesting to see how NTC (the Niagara Transit Commission) will support Fort Erie after raising fees for service while the routes will not change.”
For the past couple years, transit services have been transitioning to a new integrated system after municipal services amalgamated in 2023.
Earlier this year, Fort Erie’s two services–the specialized transit service and the OnDemand, or microtransit, service–joined other smaller Niagara municipalities in switching over to Voyago as the service provider.
Fort Erie will be going up to 32,294 service hours in 2025, an increase of 26 per cent, which “accounts for most of the increase in budget allocation,” according to Mayor Wayne Redekop in a follow-up email to Fort Erie Radio.
In August, Redekop put forward a motion calling on the NTC to create a conventional bus route for the east end of town as early as next year. Redekop’s vision would have seen a route similar to the old “Green Route” run in conjunction with existing microtransit options.
“There are sufficient riders now in the east end of town where a return to conventional service is possibly warranted,” Redekop said at the time.
Councillors approved the August motion but it wasn’t enough to lead to changes at the regional level.
Redekop told Fort Erie Radio that council is continuing those discussions with NTC, which would require the allocation of a bus and realignment of operating hours between the conventional service and the on-demand microtransit service.
The NTC budget news was just one of the regional budget related updates that Insinna gave councillors. The Region has also approved a nearly 13.2 per cent increase to the Niagara Regional Police budget.
“With the new 28 constables to be hired it will be interesting to see how many will complement the staff already here in Fort Erie,” Insinna said.
Finally, the water/wastewater budget is seeing a 12.27 per cent increase, with rates to be developed later.
The increase does come with some new staff, including another person in Crystal Beach to monitor local facilities, Insinna said.
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About The Author
Luke Edwards
Luke Edwards is a longtime Niagara community journalist who has covered a variety of beats, including business, agriculture, the wine industry and politics. When not writing, there's a good chance he can be found at a baseball diamond or curling rink.
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