Orangeville to Shelburne transit service extended

March 27, 2025 · 0 Comments

Written By PAULA BROWN

LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER

Riders who use the weekday transit system to travel between Shelburne and Orangeville will continue to have access to the service as the County of Dufferin pushes the end date of their agreement with Grey County.

During their meeting on March 13, Dufferin County Council was notified that the Grey Transit Route (GRT) service between Shelburne and Orangeville, known as Route 2, would be extended for an additional three months.

The transit service was slated to discontinue on March 31 but has been extended in anticipation of grant funding from the provincial government.

“As talks have been ongoing with Orangeville to provide [transit], at the same time, Grey County has applied for transit funding from the provincial government, which would be ongoing and would allow us to fund our transit for five years,” said County Coun. Lisa Post, chair of the County-Wide Transit Ad Hoc Committee. “We were hoping to have heard about the grant funding before now, but with the provincial election, we’re worried that our extension until the end of March won’t be long enough. So, we are extending to the end of June.”

The transit service between Shelburne and Orangeville was launched in 2020 as a weekday service funded by a $2.3-million provincial grant received by Grey County and Southgate Township.

In July of 2024, Shelburne Town Council opted to discontinue the transit service after receiving correspondence from Grey County, indicating their intention to end pick-ups and drop-offs in the Town of Shelburne due to over-capacity.

To continue the existing service, the Town of Shelburne was required to purchase a second vehicle for Route 2 with the same seating capacity. The cost for the Town of Shelburne was estimated at $14,246 per month to operate and $170,952 for one full year of service.

That same month, Dufferin County Council approved subsidizing the transit service from September to December while discussions with the Town of Orangeville took place on the feasibility of Orangeville Transit supporting the route using an 8-12 passenger van.

In December of 2024, County Council approved an extension of the service with Grey County until March 31, 2025, following concerns with the logistics of partnering with Orangeville Transit.

According to the March 13 report, Orangeville Transit has proposed $14,000 per month or an annual budget of $168,000 to operate service from Shelburne to Orangeville using an 8-12 passenger vehicle during an eight-hour period.

With the five-year grant from the provincial government, Grey County would be able to provide the existing transit service for $100,000 or $8,333 per month.

The March 13 report notes that the estimated cost for Orangeville Transit to provide the same level of service as Grey Transit Route would exceed $168,000.

“As it looks right now, sticking with Grey Transit, if they do get this funding, will likely be the right way to go. They’re able to provide the service for a lower price than Orangeville will. Once the funding has been applied, it will actually fall below our budgeted amount, which would be really nice and allow us to have the same transit routes for a lower price,” said Post.

The current Grey Transit Route (GTR) service from Dundalk to Orangeville has a capacity of 18 passengers per trip and operates four north-south return trips per day with one stop in Dundalk, one stop in Melancthon, two stops in Shelburne and two stops in Orangeville.

The fare fee is $5 for adults and $4.50 for students and seniors.

County Coun. Gail Little, Deputy Mayor of Amaranth, questioned whether it would be possible to extend the Grey Transit Service to Grand Valley and other rural areas within the County of Dufferin.

Post said the initial plan, should the funding be granted, would start with Shelburne to Orangeville service and it would be re-evaluated based on the community’s response.

“The idea would be that we could continue with the Dundalk to Orangeville route as we have with stops in Shelburne and Melancthon and look at the data as it comes in for usage and find out where we can expand next,” said Post. “At this point we don’t have the data to be able to determine whether a Grand Valley to Orangeville route would be sustainable.”

In addition to discussing the potential expansion of the route, the reintroduction of weekend service was also noted as a priority.

In 2021, a five-month pilot project was launched by the Town of Shelburne to expand its transit service to include weekend rides between Shelburne and Orangeville. The project was discontinued in 2023 due to a lack of ridership and high financial costs for the Town of Shelburne.

County Coun. Darren White, Mayor of Melancthon, said he’s received numerous emails from residents inquiring about the weekend service.

“If we’re going to continue partnering on an ongoing basis then we need to look at restoring that weekend service at the very least, in fairness to the people that we’re trying to serve,” said White

Should the additional funding be received, the transit service would become a collaborative initiative between Grey County, Dufferin County and Bruce County with the creation of a joint governance model for transit.