Welland finally onboard with inclusion in region-wide transit system

Niagara | Welland | Transit |

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Published December 12, 2022 at 10:21 am

Niagara Region may have jumped the gun by announcing details about the region-wide amalgamated transit system before Welland had signed off on the inclusion of their fleet.

While Niagara Region announced last week that the region-wide amalgamated transit would finally hit the gas on January 1, it may have overlooked a small stall in the plan.

With the region announcing on January 7 the entire amalgamated set-up, including per-trip transit costs, Welland, the only municipality that was initially resistant, still hadn’t signed off on the deal.

That got taken take care of December 8 at a special meeting when Welland City Council approved the signing of the Municipal Transfer Agreement (MTA), effectively completing the upload of all City transit services to the Niagara Region.

Thus far, the other four transit components – Niagara Region Transit, Niagara Falls Transit, St. Catharines Transit, and Fort Erie Transit – had long ago signed off on the MTA.

The sticking point for Welland politicians were concerns over whether their residents would still be as well-served under a region-wide transit and whether there’d be disruptions to transit while switching over.

“We have always supported the regional transit model, but it was incumbent on this Council to make sure we left no stone unturned in exploring the best possible outcome for our residents,” said Welland Mayor Frank Campion.

“At the end of the day, ensuring transit is here on time and ready for January 1 as part of the regional system is very important.”

At the January 8 meeting, council also directed staff to review, and get advice on, the methodology applied to compute the 2023 levy allocation for transit operating costs.

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