At the town council meeting last Monday (Feb 26), town council approved an amendment to the 2024 Capital Budget.

This request was for an additional $400,000, so the town could purchase two new transit vehicles to incorporate into their fleet.

That money was part of the Local Government Fiscal Framework Program funding provided by the Provincial government.

"In the initial design model, the initial transit was designed for about 24,000 users per year," explained Chief Administrative Officer Elaine Vincent at the town council meeting. "Currently, we are doing 80,000 trips per year. To put it in perspective, we have three times the demand of what our system was designed for."

As a short-term solution to the problem, the town is bringing on temporary leased buses, until they receive their own vehicles.

With up to a ten-month production timeline, this funding will now allow them to have their order in the queue.