The wheels on the bus are going ’round and ’round later in the evenings with expanded transit service hours in Lindsay.
Kawartha Lakes residents have spoken up about their desire for later bus service hours on weekdays and an earlier start Monday through Friday.
Those were the findings of a survey conducted in May that asked Lindsay Transit riders if they were satisfied with the hours that buses currently run on weekdays and weekends.
Lindsay Transit currently operates four conventional bus routes Monday to Saturday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The survey found that 75 per cent of those polled said they’d welcome a change to Lindsay Transit’s current service hours. Almost 72 per cent of respondents asked for the hours to be extended until at least 10 p.m. on weekdays.
As a result, effective September 29, transit hours will be extended from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. from Monday to Saturday for both Lindsay Transit and the LIMO Specialized Transit services. All stops and departure times on the hour will remain the same, and Sunday service hours will not change.
“We’re excited to be able to extend the hours of service for our Lindsay Transit riders,” said Rodney Porter, fleet and transit services manager for Kawartha Lakes, in a media release. “The survey showed us that there was a community need to extend our hours later into the night on weekdays and we’re happy to be able to do that for our riders.”
Robert Horvat, Kawartha Lakes’ supervisor of transit services, told kawarthaNOW that the survey results reflected the municipality’s expectations.
“We didn’t find anything surprising with the survey results,” Horvat said. “If anything, they more or less validated our plans for the service hours extensions.”
Horvat said the survey also showed “a strong push to start our service earlier as well, but at this point we’re only able to offer the extended hours in the evenings.”
Since there was more interest in extending the hours later into the night than adding hours earlier in the morning, Kawartha Lakes determined that the extended hours at night would be more beneficial to its riders.
However, Horvat said the municipality will monitor ridership during the new extended evening hours for the next six to 12 months.
“If the demand isn’t there, then we’ll re-examine the service hours again and potentially shift towards an earlier start.”
For more information on Lindsay Transit, including transit stop locations, departure times, fare prices, and where to buy tokens or passes, visit the Lindsay Transit page at the City of Kawartha Lakes website.
