Nova Scotia

Pictou County Transit aiming to begin expanded service in spring 2024

NEW GLASGOW, N.S. — The expansion of Pictou County Transit (PCT) is going ahead.

After roughly a year of meetings, consultations and votes to see whether Trenton, Westville, the town of Pictou and Pictou Landing would be interested in having Pictou County Transit service them, the project can go forward after Pictou Landing’s band council voted in favour of getting the service on Jan. 9.

“It’s very exciting and a great opportunity,” said Heather Head, the communications director for Pictou Landing First Nation, in an email on Jan. 12.


Funding

In February 2023, the federal and provincial governments promised to invest nearly $600,000 in PCT if the towns agreed to sign onto the expanded transit project. The federal government is investing $475,144 in the project, while the Government of Nova Scotia is investing $103,863. Pictou County Transit Authority is also contributing $14,924.

The money would be used to purchase two additional buses, one to help the current bus that does the loop around New Glasgow and Stellarton and a smaller ten-person bus to pick up people in the other communities. The ten-person bus would then bring them to the main loop, giving them access to shopping centres, the Nova Scotia Community College, and the hospital.

“A cost-effective 10-passenger van should be more than enough to service their needs, we figure,” said Danny MacGillivray, Stellarton’s mayor and CHAD Transit’s executive director, a non-profit that oversees PCT.

When asked when the expanded service could begin, MacGillivray said the goal is to have the new routes functioning when the new buses arrive. Currently, he expects sometime within the next four to six months.

“We’re hoping for the spring,” he said.

He added the one-hour PCT loop is no longer in its pilot stage and is now a permanent fixture, and he hopes that this new three-year pilot servicing the other towns in Pictou County will be a big help.

“It’s a full-fledged service. It’s going well, and it’s exceeding our expectations in terms of ridership,” he continued.

Nancy Dicks, New Glasgow’s mayor and the chair of PCT, also expressed her excitement for the expanded bus service.

“It’s proven to be extremely successful and very well used. It’s something people are really looking forward to,” she said. “We’re really, really thrilled. Our ridership has certainly exceeded expectations.”

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