Adam Bramburger
Beaver Staff
A pair of five-year funding commitments from Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation could set the wheels in motion to make it easier for people to get around in Lennox and Addington County.
A joint submission by the County and Lennox and Addington Seniors Outreach Services (L&A SOS) was successful in obtaining $262,000, one of 39 allocations under the Community Transportation Grant program. Addington Highlands received $265,505 and Deseronto, $290,598.
The $30-million fund allows for initiatives supporting local transit or inter community bus service in areas that are unserved or under serviced by public transit.
L&A SOS executive director Wendy McDonald said the organization’s application was submitted close to a year ago She said the grant is intended to support a planning session on how community resources can be used to improve transportation options for those in need.
“We’ll be in a five-year contract between the County, us, and the ministry. We will be able to better look at what are the needs and how we can sustain services,” she said. “This funding will help put on a planning day and help with the co-ordination to get something going.”
McDonald hopes that L&A SOS can do some joint planning with Land O Lakes Community Services, who is administering the service in Addington Highlands. There, according to a report in the Frontenac News last year, they’re looking at providing scheduled twice-monthly routes to places like Napanee and Belleville which will be accessible to the general public for a fee.
There is also a desire to work with other service agencies in lower Lennox and Addington.
“We just need to be around other agencies to brainstorm, listen to their difficulties and see if there is anything we can do,” McDonald said. “If we get all the right players involved, things can happen.”
The sustainability of any services imagined will be key. McDonald said quite a few years back, L&A Following collaboration with other service agencies, L&A SOS created a centralized dispatch service called Trans Hub allowed five other agencies to access its volunteer drivers to provide more affordable transportation for non-senior clients. Initially, pilot funding came from the South East Local Health Integration Network in 2012 and L&A SOS was able to partner with the County in 205 to gain access to Ministry of Transportation funding for the service, but it was then on a year-to-year basis. The service still operates today, but McDonald said there’s a chance to do more.
“It really has to go through a planning stage. The first little bit of money we used, we came up with a small Band-aid. Knowing we have five years to dive in, we might be able to come up with something more substantial.”
McDonald said that planning process will likely take place this spring and there will be a blanket invitation sent out to a number of potential partner agencies.
Deseronto Transit does also offer routes that run into the Napanee area. Mayor Dan Johnston said this month the town hired a new service co-ordinator for the system, Jenny Johnson, and she’ll play a leading role in route and financial planning.
“We are happy to have her on board and she comes with a strong administrative and financial background which will assist with the overall operations of the program.”
The town will use the grant money to expand its route offerings, particularly during morning hours.