Transit in Huntsville. For a lot of people, it is a non-issue because they have never had to take the white bus that snakes around the town performing a loop every two hours. But if you need to get to work, get groceries or just get across town, it can be a bit of a clunky system for some.
The Town of Huntsville is undergoing a review of the system starting this week, with Economic Development Officer Scott Ovell meeting with key stakeholders including users and employers to see what can be done to improve it:
One idea that has caught on as a pilot project in Innisfil, a town of 36,000 near Barrie, is forming a partnership with ride-sharing company Uber. Innisfil was spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a bus system that ran empty most of the time. Now, saving all that transit budget, they offer up a subsidized ride for $5 and the rider tops up another $3 to $4 on average and gets door-to-door service any time they need it:
Compare that to a cheaper $2.25 per ride bus system in Huntsville, that does not run on Sundays or holidays and runs 8:00am to 7:00pm Monday to Friday:
Ovell says it is vital the Town get affordable housing and usable transit organized to attract potential employees for the hundreds of jobs on offer that employers are struggling to fill currently.