PORT HAWKESBURY: The town is considering a funding application from Strait Area Transit.
Following the April 6 regular monthly meeting of Port Hawkesbury Town Council, Mayor Brenda Chisholm-Beaton confirmed that the town received a funding request from SAT.
“I know that there has been a request that has come forward to council during budget deliberations, of course, that whole budgetary process will have to play out to determine if there will be a change approved by council,” she said.
The mayor explained that while it deliberates, the town will study how service is delivered to residents.
“If the service delivery to citizens of the town and the in-kind doesn’t match, then council can certainly consider what that monetary contribution can be,” she noted.
At the regular monthly meeting of Inverness Municipal Council on April 1, District 6 Councillor John MacLennan said that during a recent meeting of the Strait Area Transit board, he asked why Inverness and Richmond counties contributed $100,000 each annually, but Port Hawkesbury provides in-kind funding.
In his opinion, MacLennan said Port Hawkesbury has “no intentions” of giving money to the transit service.
Warden Laurie Cranton said he raised the issue with Chisholm-Beaton, noting the new fully-accessible bus acquired by SAT will “mainly” serve Inverness County. He also noted that COVID-19 has also been a challenge for SAT.
The warden said another challenge for SAT is service within Port Hawkesbury, which doesn’t work for those with disabilities who cannot access taxis. He explained that SAT cannot serve Port Hawkesbury because the town has taxi services.
And while residents outside the town cannot use SAT within Port Hawkesbury limits, MacLennan said Port Hawkesbury residents can use SAT to travel outside the town.
Port Hawkesbury Chief Administrative Officer Terry Doyle said the SAT does “directly compete” with taxi businesses in the town, specifically Strait Area Transit’s dial-a-ride service. At the same time, he pointed out there are people coming into Port Hawkesbury via SAT and they have to get around, which does benefit town taxis.
“It is certainly something that we do have to bear in mind as a town because the taxi service and the taxi companies that operate here in town transporting people within town and outside of town, that’s their bread and butter, that’s their business model,” the mayor noted. “We definitely want to make sure that we are doing right by them as well.”
District 1 Councillor Alfred Poirier and Deputy Warden Bonny MacIsaac pointed out that SAT vehicles are taking users to the town where they spend money at Port Hawkesbury businesses
Council agreed to take a deep dive into this expenditure during budget deliberations.
Chisholm-Beaton added that the town wants to continue as an active partner of Strait Area Transit.
“At the end of the day, the town does support transit and does support connecting our communities together so we’ll definitely look at what the future of participation on the transit board looks like and whether it’s participatory or financially,” she added.