Stratford bus system gets financial commitment from town council

The town of Stratford is making a financial commitment topublic transit, setting aside $90,000 for equipment upgrades to the private company that runs the area bus service.

T3 Transit, which runs the system for Stratford, Cornwall and Charlottetown will be using the money to update its bus fleet.

"We believe very strongly in having sustainable community and transit is a big part of that," said Stratford mayor David Dunphy.

"We've got many users in Stratford, seniors, students, newcomers that use the service and we haven't purchased buses for a number of years."

It's good news for T3 Transit owner Mike Cassidy.

"We know within the next six months we have to do a certain spend," he said.

"We are estimating that the initial spend should be close to $500,000 and it's nice to see that they have already made their approval."

Wear and tear

Cassidy confirmed age is becoming an issue with some of the buses.

"Many of our vehicles have been with us for 10 years and we travel 2,300 kilometres a day on the municipalstreets here in Cornwall, Charlottetown, and Stratford so it doesn't take long before the wear and tear affects your units," he explained.

Cassidy also said the company is looking at smaller vehicles, or mini-buses, to keep costs down. They cost $125,000, as opposed to $500,000 for a full-size bus.

Under a renewed 10 year agreement with T3 Transit all three municipalities are responsible for an operating subsidy.

Charlottetown provides 75 per cent. Stratford 15 per cent and Cornwall 10 per cent.

The city of Charlottetown has earmarked $225,000 for updating the fleet.

It's counting on provincial and federal funding to make up the rest of its obligation.

Charlottetown officials have said the city understands the need to update the fleet is pressing and is looking at what can be done, such as fixing urgent problems, until all three municipalities can get their funding in place.

The Town of Cornwall is also in discussions with T3 Transit.

Over the next two years T3 Transit says about 2 million dollars is needed for the fleet, but those improvements would last for another five to seven years.