PICTOU, N.S. — The towns of New Glasgow and Stellarton are getting a fixed bus route.
The service will start in April 2020 as a three-year pilot project which will bring passengers throughout the towns including seven main destinations:
- NSCC - Pictou Campus
- Foord Street,
- Aberdeen Hospital
- New Glasgow Library
- Dover Ave. and High St.
- Highland Square Mall
- Pictou County Wellness Centre.
The cost to passengers will be $3 per ride.
“It is our responsibility to our residents to try this,” said Stellarton councilor Simon Lawand at a Sept. 23 committee of the whole meeting.
At both Stellarton and New Glasgow committee meetings, councilors unanimously approved the project funding and it is expected to be approved at council meetings later in October.
If approved by the board of directors, CHAD transit will manage the service. Mayor Danny MacGillivray, who is executive director of CHAD excused himself from council chambers when the matter was under discussion.
MacGillivray told The News that the CHAD board will finalize its decision sometime in October.
“The big thing that’s going to be the time consumer is ordering the bus,” said MacGillivray.
Note- This map was made using the program Google Maps. The blue line highlights the proposed route. The letters do NOT indicate where the bus stops are expected to be placed.
Provincial and federal contributions of $132,500 and $80,160 respectively are expected to cover all of the start-up capital costs in the first year of the service.
The price tag for the bus is $160,000, and the remaining government funding will go toward a fare box and bus stop signs.
“It’ll be a pilot project for the first three years,” said New Glasgow mayor Nancy Dicks. “It works out really well, with Danny’s job with CHAD. He’s sort of been our expert in putting this together.”
While she hopes that other towns in the county will get on board in the future, she is nonetheless enthusiastic about the two-town project because “you have to start somewhere.”
Costs in the second and third years will be shared between the towns of Stellarton and New Glasgow and will be taken in through fare income, general donation and advertising.
The bus will run continuously, Mondays to Saturdays beginning at 7 a.m. and ending at 9 p.m. in a one-hour loop.
“It’ll be consistent, so people can learn the route easily,” said MacGillivray. “We have fixed routes now in Bridgewater, Yarmouth, Kentville, Port Hawkesbury, Antigonish, Halifax and Sydney. So why can’t we have one here in Pictou County?”
With Files from Kevin Adshade
