Belleville Transit continues to see a significant decline in ridership, largely due to the cap on international students at Loyalist College.
City Councillor and Transit Operations Advisory Committee Chair Kathryn Brown says July was down 60,000 riders over July 2025 and will likely have declined about 600,000 rides by the end of this year compared to last year.
However, she says the news is not all bad. “But when we look at those numbers compared to post-pandemic levels, it’s still a considerable increase from what we were experiencing.”
She adds they’re using the situation to take advantage of available drivers to enhance mobility service. “So we will have drivers who will have dual routes driving both types of vehicles and doing pickups along the way. So that was advantageous because we know our mobility transit continues to increase every single month.”
Belleville Transit is also introducing changes to its schedule after Labour Day, changes Brown says have received very positive feedback.
“In terms of redeploying some of those buses to routes that were either not being served previously, like Potters Creek, and out past Jameson Bone Road to Amazon. We’re going to be able to coordinate transit into those areas now. And again, doing so without any additional vehicles or drivers.”
Brown says fares were increased earlier this year to keep up with the times and lessen the burden on taxpayers.
She notes they have been hit hard by tariffs as parts needed for both conventional and mobility transit buses only come from the United States.
