A rural transportation program got the green light to continue operations until 2025 at Wellington North council.

The G.O.S.T (or “ghost”) service enables residents of Wellington North, with stops in Arthur and Mount Forest, to travel to Owen Sound and Guelph.

The bus line, per their website, is "a public transportation service connecting people from Owen Sound to Guelph and stops in between including Chatsworth, Williamsford, Durham, Mount Forest, Arthur, Fergus and Elora."

The program, unlike county service Ride Well, doesn't have an organized database to track numbers and diagnostics, according to Dale Small, township manager of community and economic development,.

Coun. Sherry Burke told council she still thinks COVID-19 took a toll on the numbers though.

"I really think that it's a good news story that we're going to be able to extend this program, and I feel that perhaps the program didn't get off to a very good start as it was during COVID," Burke said.

"Happy to see that we are going to be able to provide affordable means going into the future, at least until 2025 for folks," she added.

Mayor Andy Lennox said services like Ride Well and GOST don't get the attention they rightfully deserve.

"If that point to point transit works for you it's by far the most economical. If you need that more specific door to door if I could call it that, that Ride Well offers, it offers that flexibility," Lennox explained.

"I think both of them suffer from a certain extent of people not being aware of them and I think these are both great services that we need to talk about because there's a lot of people out there that don't know they exist," he added.

Small said the value of the program is immense. He too was pleased to see the extension that will allow the provincially-funded service to continue running at least through the year 2025.

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