Prince Edward County is preparing to offer free bus rides for students.
During Thursday’s Committee of the Whole meeting, council considered a proposal for free busing as part of a presentation on their wider youth engagement strategy.
The new program would allow any high school student to present their student ID in order to use any of County Transit’s bus routes, allowing them to travel around the county. The program is being based on similar initiatives in Belleville and Kingston.
The program is estimated to cost the municipality a small amount due to lost fares, but is also expected to increase overall ridership of County Transit and potentially increase revenues in the long term.
While the proposal was originally only for fixed bus routes, Councillor Janice Maynard proposed an amendment that would include on-demand bus services in the program.
“There’s a lot of areas that aren’t on the fixed route,” said Councillor Maynard. “If you’re a 15-year-old in the village of Ameliasburg, it’s clearly not available.”
That amendment passed, and the motion was approved as amended.
The program is set to launch this summer.
