Perth County Council will receive an information report at the January 23 meeting regarding public transportation in the county.
With the PC Connect service ending it's rural route service on March 31 following the end of a pilot project, council will receive information on what options still remain for people around the county.
Economic Development Officer Justin Dias says despite the rural routes ending, PC Connect will be maintaining its main inter-town and city routes, which are operated and funded as a separate service under the PC Connect name by the City of Stratford, the Town of St. Marys and the Municipality of North Perth.
"The inter-community routes, those are the routes that take people from, for example, Stratford to KW, Listowel to KW, Stratford to St. Marys and London. So those routes were not impacted by the end of the pilot project, that was just for the rural routes," Dias emphasized.
For more info about the service as well as stay up to date on developments: https://www.perthcounty.ca/en/pc-connect-transit-system.aspx.
Dias states that the report to council will go over other local transportation offerings.
"Obviously to mobility bus, OneCare Easy Ride, so that service is primarily a specialized service, servicing folks with mobility needs. The remaining services, obviously there's many taxi services within many of the local Perth County communities," said Dias.
County staff haven't been directed to look into any new county-run transit initiatives, but Dias says that may change down the road if an opportunity arose. He notes that the county is always listening to employers regarding transportation issues for the workforce.
"We're always interested in hearing from businesses on how we can get folks to work. PC Connect was part of that puzzle for awhile and transportation as an issues, it's not going away," noted Dias.
Info on the still operational inter-community PC Connect routes can be found here: https://www.perthcounty.ca/en/living-here/schedules-and-maps.aspx.
