{"id":7382,"date":"2024-05-28T15:27:22","date_gmt":"2024-05-28T18:27:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=7382"},"modified":"2024-05-29T14:25:17","modified_gmt":"2024-05-29T17:25:17","slug":"queens-county-transit-adds-vehicles-with-funding-from-ottawa-nova-scotia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2024\/05\/28\/queens-county-transit-adds-vehicles-with-funding-from-ottawa-nova-scotia\/","title":{"rendered":"Queens County Transit adds vehicles with funding from Ottawa, Nova Scotia"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Bill Smyth and Alex Doggett of Queens County Transit with one of the new hybrid SUVs the non-profit society bought with funding from the federal and provincial governments. (Queens County Transit Facebook page)<\/p><\/div>\n

Queens County Transit has received government funding to expand its fleet and to keep up with the growing demand for its service.<\/span><\/p>\n

The non-profit based in Liverpool has bought two new hybrid SUVs, thanks to $116,293 in funding from the federal and provincial governments.<\/span><\/p>\n

Alex Doggett is the chairman of the Queens County Transit Society.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt came at a very opportune time for us. We were in this condition where we were refusing rides because we didn\u2019t have enough vans and drivers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The new vehicles have been on the road since early April, Doggett said. The service now has eight vehicles, five of which are wheelchair-accessible vans.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBy having the two vehicles, we\u2019re able to keep up with most of the requests, not all of them,” he said. \u00a0<\/span>\u201cIt\u2019s quite amazing how busy the vans are.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Queens County Transit gave more than 8,000 rides last year. In April alone, their fleet was out 700 times.<\/span><\/p>\n

The service has been operating since 2018, when it started with three vehicles. It provides a relatively low-cost transportation option for anyone in Queens County. But it\u2019s become an important resource for seniors and those on low incomes.<\/span><\/p>\n

The federal government chipped in $93,034 through the Rural Transit Solutions Fund with the Nova Scotia government contributing the remaining 20 per cent, or $23,259.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kim Masland, Nova Scotia\u2019s public works minister and the MLA for Queens, said at an announcement on Friday that the funding will make a big difference in the community.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am so proud to support you. I have never been more proud and humbled to be the MLA for an area that is just growing more and more every day. And the big thing we take away every night is our hearts. The people\u2019s hearts in this community are absolutely incredible and they open them up and do the right thing every day for the people that surround them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Doggett said the service survives thanks to government funding like this and support from the community. The Region of Queens municipality also committed $48,500 in funding to the service for this fiscal year.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat it means is that we didn\u2019t have to go into a fundraising situation, going to the public,\u201d he said. “Where we’re non-profit, it<\/span> gets very tight at the end of the fiscal year for us and it\u2019s always great to have these types of programs.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He said the cost of gas has doubled in the past year and maintenance costs have also risen.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really been quite an undertaking and hopefully it will continue into the future.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Doggett said Queens County Transit is always looking for new volunteers and board members to help ensure the service thrives for a long time.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re at the point a number of us are seniors and it\u2019s time to get some younger blood in to carry on with this. Some of us are getting to the point where we\u2019re probably going to be stepping down and hopefully get other people to come in and take over.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The society has its annual general meeting scheduled for June 18 at 10 a.m. at their headquarters at 31 Milton Rd. in Liverpool.<\/span><\/p>\n

To book a ride with Queens County Transit, call 902-356-2670 or message them through their Facebook page<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Listen to the audio version of this story below<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/qctransitfundingstorymay2924.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Queens County Transit has received government funding to expand its fleet and to keep up with the growing demand for its service. The non-profit based in Liverpool has bought two new hybrid SUVs, thanks to $116,293 in funding from the federal and provincial governments. Alex Doggett is the chairman of the Queens County Transit Society. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[2254,1887,2251,2256,1200,31,49,133,2252,24,2257,2255,2253],"class_list":["post-7382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-affordable-transportation","tag-alex-doggett","tag-bill-smyth","tag-community-transit","tag-funding","tag-kim-masland","tag-queens-county","tag-queens-county-transit","tag-queens-county-transit-society","tag-region-of-queens","tag-rural-transit-solutions-fund","tag-transit","tag-transportation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7382"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7391,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7382\/revisions\/7391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}