Bancroft Community Transit (BCT) announced a new pilot project yesterday called ‘Connect Hastings’, which is aimed at re-establishing transit access to Belleville.
Director of Operations Gwen Coish said Foley Bus Lines used to offer transit services to Belleville, but hasn’t in recent years.
She said their clients at BCT have been asking to bring the service back.
The new bus service will be offered in partnership with Central Hastings Support Network (CHSN), and the bus will be provided by Switzer-CARTY in Madoc.
Coish said Bancroft Community Transit volunteers make almost daily trips to places like Belleville and Kingston with their clients, but cost-sharing the mileage expenses would make the trip more affordable for users.
“We’re hoping for it to be revenue-neutral, so that we’re not going to lose anything, and we’re not looking to gain anything except for providing a service to our community that they’ve been asking for and that is desperately needed in our community,” she said.
Coish said the bus schedule is still being finalized, but the bus will likely start in Madoc, then come to Bancroft and go back to Madoc, before continuing on to Belleville.
“There are individuals in Madoc that want to come to Bancroft for the day, so we want to be able to accommodate that…it’s bringing people to our community as well, it’s not just taking people out,” she said.
She said ‘Connect Hastings’ is starting out as a pilot project because they want to gauge the public demand for this kind of inter-community transit service, and also analyze how the service can best serve the community’s needs.
The first trip will be next Friday, Oct. 24, with service being offered once a month at different times of the month until December. Coish said this way, BCT and CHSN can decipher what the best time is for running the service.
