Queens County Transit will not increase their fares despite rising inflation thanks to a one-time funding bump from the federal and provincial governments.

The organization received $46,617 as part of $10.9 million being distributed to transit operators in Nova Scotia.

Chairperson of Queens County Transit Tara Smith says the money couldn’t come at a better time as they’ve just added a sixth vehicle to their fleet.

“We do have a little bit of money there to hold us through during tough times because gas is probably going to go up and down and we have to be ready for that, and we have to still be able to provide our service,” said Smith. “We do have six vehicles now on the road so we've had an increase in insurance, increase in tires, our vehicles are on the road constantly so, we were really happy to be able to provide that service but we don't want it to cost the people of Queens county anymore, so really good news.”

Queens MLA and Public Works Minister Kim Masland made the announcement outside the Queens County Transit office.

As the former Seniors Safety Coordinator with the RCMP, Masland remembers speaking with organizers as they were developing Queens County Transit about how so many people need reliable and affordable transportation.

“I hear daily from constituents within Queens that are sharing their stories with me that they've used Queens County transit to take them to their dialysis employments weekly, that they've used Queens County transit to take them to medical appointments in Halifax. I've heard stories about needing to use Queens County transit to get to the airport to go visit gravely ill relatives,” said Masland. “It just plays such an important role in our community and it's so valuable and I'm just so proud of where we are with our transit system here in Queens County.”

The federal government is investing $750 million to help municipalities across the country maintain transit service levels as ridership declines due to the pandemic.

To access the funding, provinces had to match the federal contribution in transit investments and support improvements in housing supply.

Of the $10.9 million, the largest operator in the province Halifax Transit received $8.65 million with the remainder divided among 20 community transit operators and seven other fixed-route operators.

The funding was distributed based on overall transit ridership, but the province was permitted some discretion so that all operators received a nominal amount.

Smith says during the height of the pandemic they had to reduce the number of people travelling in a vehicle but since people have become more comfortable living with COVID-19 Queens County Transit has seen their ridership increase dramatically.

“In March of this year, we were pleased to see that our ridership reached 5,000 people, 5,000 rides within our last year, so that's great,” said Smith. “When we had talked about our projection over the course of our future in Queens County, we had looked at 10 years we would have a ridership of 5,000 people and you know, we did that in one year.”

From humble beginnings around a table as an idea in 2018, Queens County Transit now has six vehicles including what Smith believes to be the first hybrid gas/electric wheelchair accessible vehicle in a transit fleet in Nova Scotia.

Smith is pleased that in such a short span of time, Queens has gone from the last county in Nova Scotia without transit to one with a reliable and supported transit organization that will continue to grow to meet the needs of its residents.

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
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