City council approves two new buses for Belleville Transit
by Alysha Wilson
Belleville transit has reached just over the half-way mark, moving forward to become 100 per cent wheelchair accessible within the next four years.
Of the 14 buses that Belleville Transit currently owns and operates, only eight are wheelchair accessible. Including the two newly purchased buses, the number has risen to 10.
City Council approved the purchase of the two new buses for Belleville Transit at the most recent council meeting. The new buses will be replacing two which have been in service for over 20 years. Hodgson said the cost is $896, 000 (before the GST rebate) to purchase the two buses. Making it $44, 800 for each bus.
"We're trying to speed the process up and get everything wheelchair accessible," says Peter Hodgson, manager of fleet and transit.
Hodgson confirmed in an interview that the buses rotate each hour so each route is covered by an accessible bus as much as possible.
"If the one [bus] that's there isn't accessible then the second one will be," says Hodgson.
If a rider is in need of one of the few available wheelchair accessible buses, Hodgson recommends they call transit before leaving to ride the bus in order to be certain an accessible bus is available to pick them up.
The city of Belleville plans to be 100 per cent accessible by 2012. Belleville Transit has bought one new bus each year since 2004, and one year they bought two. This is the second year that two buses have been purchased in order to speed up to process of becoming entirely accessible. The city saves money for several years before purchasing two buses.
Hodgson said the first bus will hopefully be running by the end of March or early April and the second will hopefully be here sometime in May.
"It should have been done a couple of years back," says Teri Watters, a first-year social service work student at Loyalist College.
Watters says people need to accommodate each other and work together to get the community up to date with people's needs.
It is up city council to decide how the $414, 000 (received from the provincial government) will be spent. Hodgson said the expenditures will be outlined in next year's budget. |
