A Belleville city councillor says he will continue to press council to review its recent decision to keep running a public transit bus in the Cannifton area north of Highway 401.
Thurlow Councillor Paul Carr says residents continue to complain to him about the so-called 33 stop Route 9 bus.
“The bus continues to be empty so it costs $460,000 a year to run that route using provincial gas tax, gas tax that we could hold in reserve or use for other projects.”
Carr also says running a diesel bus all day with few passengers is anything but environmentally friendly.
Council voted to continue Route 9 with provincial gas tax funding until March of next year when an evaluation will be done. Public transit says the bus has been carrying an average of almost 2,000 passengers a month.
An online survey of residents in the Cannifton area showed almost 90% would not support higher property taxes to pay for public transit in the area. Property taxes would increase about $210 a month to pay for public transit in that area on a home assessed at $300,000.
Carr says he’s more than willing to host a town hall on the issue saying it’s not up to council to tell people what they’ll get and what they want. “It’s us (politicians) that take direction from them.”
