$500,000 in funding will be given to Bancroft Community Transit over the next five years.
“It’s critical for many, many people,” M.P.P. for Hastings-Lennox and Addington Daryl Kramp said after the announcement. “In rural communities many people don’t have the ability to drive long distances,” Kramp added.
Director of Operations with BCT Gwen Coish says it’s been a long process since they put in the application for this grant last year. She says the provincial election last year caused a lot of confusion. Up until she got the call a few days ago saying BCT got the grant, Coish had been given no direction on where the grant application stood.
The five-year commitment will see $100,000 given to BCT every year for the next five years. “We want to have long-term predictability,” Kramp said when asked why the half-a-million dollars will be spread out over five years. He said it’s important for people and businesses to be able to plan for the long-term. Kramp added that with this funding he’s hopeful BCT will be able to expand its services.
The money will go to improving the service they give to the communities outside Bancroft, which are Highlands East, Hastings Highlands and Wollaston Township. Coish says they will look to purchase new vehicles and add bus stops. Also in the plans is increasing service to five days a week to those municipalities.
Coish, who was emotional throughout the announcement, says this funding has been something BCT has been dreaming about. “When we put the application in we dreamt big,” she told My Bancroft Now after the announcement. “Full speed ahead for Bancroft Community Transit,” Coish said.
The Ontario Government is helping 40 communities with the Comunity Transportation Grant program. $30 million will be distributed to those communities over the next five years to support local transit.