Hybrid public transit model recommended for Summerside, P.E.I.

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SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. — The Metropolis of Summerside is taking one other have a look at revamping its public transit system.

The town presently has a small public bus system operated by T3 Transit, which it subsidizes yearly for $23,000. However with Summerside’s rising inhabitants council has been contemplating upgrading the service for a number of years.

The town lately obtained an replace to a transit research it initially commissioned in 2021 and it has some suggestions for a way the group may successfully function a bus system – if it decides to take action.

The doc, produced by Dillon Consulting Companies (DCS), recommends a publicly owned and privately managed hybrid system for Summerside.

All the specifics instructed by DCS are simply solutions and should not mirror the system council finally adopts, however the marketing consultant’s report stresses that Summerside may assist such an endeavour.

“Though it constitutes an extra price, a brand new Summerside-centric transit system would offer important advantages to town’s financial system, society and surroundings, making it a worthwhile funding for town,” concluded the report.

DCS’s advisable hybrid mannequin would set fares at $2 per experience and would use 4 electrical buses.

The busiest components of town can be serviced by a hard and fast route system with two buses making common stops on weekdays between 8 a.m. and 5:45 p.m. They’d journey in an irregular circle sample that would come with Granville Road, Greenwood Drive, a part of Water Road, Notre Dame Road and Pope Highway, and attain into Slemon Park through Route 2.

The opposite two buses would function on an on-demand foundation between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. and would service the remainder of town. This a part of the service would require passengers to pre-book their journeys utilizing a web site or cellphone app.

DSC estimated town’s preliminary capital funding to arrange the service can be roughly $1.7 million, and the annual working price can be an estimated $500,000. Metropolis employees identified that there are numerous provincial, federal and personal sources of funding that might assist considerably decrease each the start-up price of this system and its annual working funds.

Mayor Dan Kutcher instructed the finance committee begin engaged on the file in preparation for the 2024 funds deliberations, the place the choice on whether or not or to not proceed will doubtless be made.

“We’re simply speaking concerning the {dollars} now; everyone seems to be theoretically in assist,” mentioned Kutcher.

Colin MacLean is a reporter with SaltWire in Prince Edward Island. He might be reached by e-mail at [email protected] and adopted on Twitter @JournalPMacLean.