Officials announce new regional transit route connecting Picton to Belleville

Coming together to connect Prince Edward County to Belleville — that’s what happened in Picton on Tuesday.

It’s all about a new fixed bus route from the county to the friendly city. With the historic Crystal Palace as a backdrop, politicians, dignitaries and those involved unveiled the plan.

“It’s a necessity to enable people to get around Prince Edward County and back and forth to our northern neighbours Belleville and Quinte West, whether they work there or they just want to visit or they go to school,” said Steve Ferguson, mayor of Prince Edward County.

“So it’s a pretty significant link that’s been missing until now.”

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The new service is a partnership between Belleville Transit and Quinte Access.

“We’ve been providing transportation in the county since 2007 … for people with disabilities and seniors,” said Shelly Ackers, executive director of Quinte Access.

“So the calls have always been for the other group that doesn’t qualify for that — so we have students, people that work, that don’t have their own transportation.”

The majority of the three-year pilot project is being paid for by Queen’s Park. On the low-cost route, which began service on Monday, COVID-19 has restricted capacity at six passengers instead of the normal 12.

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Ackers says Tuesday’s announcement was just the beginning.

“This is kind of that first step to that regional approach working with Belleville and then we’ll open it up hopefully through Quinte West in the next little while, so the whole area will be accessible to people through one transit system.”

The new service runs Monday through Friday four times a day. More information can be found at CountyTransit.ca.

In addition, on-demand options are available in some areas of the county by calling 613-392-9640.