Penetanguishene seniors know that sometimes, it just pays to wait for the bus.
A pilot project was tentatively approved by Penetanguishene committee of the whole at their recent meeting, which would see seniors age 65 and over receiving free ridership as their neighbouring Midland counterparts.
However, council stressed, that it hasn’t taken effect as of yet and would only see activation in a few months if approved in a future council meeting.
“So it’s not approved tonight – it’s approved in principle; there’s still a lot of work to do,” insisted Mayor Doug Rawson, guessing “‘June-ish’, and we’ll let staff come up with a communication plan”.
During the recent meeting, a staff report from the transportation and environmental services section regarding seniors transit fares was presented for committee discussion, with several options included.
Penetanguishene and Midland, who share in a joint transit system between the two towns, had both applied for a New Horizons grant program in 2022 which would provide free transit for seniors in their respective communities. Midland received the grant allowing free seniors fare for Midland residents, but Penetanguishene didn’t receive any response to their application.
At the Penetanguishene budget discussions in November when attending residents voiced their concerns regarding town issues, the subject of the disparity of seniors fares between communities was raised.
In a later meeting of council, a request was put to staff to see if Penetanguishene seniors could experience the same free ridership as Midland by simply having the municipality take a loss on the cost difference for immediate implementation, all while waiting on the grant response.
Transportation and environmental services chair Coun. Suzanne Marchand explained that of the staff options, it was recommended that: “there be no fare for seniors aged 65-plus as a pilot program, and that we proceed with doing this… because we still have not heard from (the New Horizon) grant we’ve made an application for; and that we move forward in waiving fees for our seniors as we wait for this.”
She added that it would be a one-year trial for the pilot program with an approximate $10,000 to the municipality due to revenue loss from the fare removal, with possible funding being provided from the Council’s Contingency Fund in the 2023 budget.
Public works director Bryan Murray also provided an overview of the report, explaining that the intent would be to align with Midland’s consistency by implementing a photo card system for qualifying seniors.
As the committee of the whole approved the recommendations to be sent to the May regular council meeting for formal ratification and adoption, a member of the audience began asking questions of the program, its implementation and the overall feasibility – questions that Penetanguishene senior staff hadn’t explored in depth to that point.
While committee members and staff responded answer by answer, it was CAO Jeff Lees who stepped in to explain that the questions being asked didn’t have definitive answers, as the process hadn’t yet been completed and the proposal wasn’t fully approved.
“We appreciate the patience,” Lees said.
“I think there’s some good questions, and as we push out communication and a media release after council ratifies, then we will seek to answer a lot of these questions up front so that the seniors and the community have those answers.”
Of note was Murray stating that a workable timeframe would require council approval at the May regular meeting followed by staff implementation in the transition weeks afterward. Finance/treasurer director Carrie Robillard assured the audience member that if the pilot program were to be approved, there would be no difficulty in refunding any unspent amounts on current cards.
The transit system and seniors fares report, including history and financial implications, can be located on the agenda page of the Town of Penetanguishene website.
Meetings of Penetanguishene council are held on the second Wednesday of each month, and can be watched live on Rogers TV cable 53, or on the Rogers TV website.
Archives of council meetings are located on the Town of Penetanguishene YouTube channel.