{"id":8650,"date":"2025-05-01T18:53:17","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T21:53:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=8650"},"modified":"2025-05-01T18:53:17","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T21:53:17","slug":"no-joke-queens-county-transit-leader-in-reasonable-rural-rides-in-nova-scotia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2025\/05\/01\/no-joke-queens-county-transit-leader-in-reasonable-rural-rides-in-nova-scotia\/","title":{"rendered":"No joke: Queens County Transit leader in reasonable rural rides in Nova Scotia"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Donna Croft and Gil Johnson of Queens County Transit in Liverpool are gearing up the group’s Yuk Yuk’s fundraiser at the Astor Theatre on Saturday. (Rick Conrad)<\/p><\/div>\n

Queens County Transit got on the road seven years ago with one used wheelchair-accessible van catering mostly to seniors in Liverpool.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we started out, we had one old used wheelchair-accessible van that we got from over in Clare. And I think it was in the garage more than it was on the road,\u201d says chairman Gil Johnson.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, the community organization based in Liverpool provides affordable transportation around Queens County and beyond.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s one of 23 rural transit services around Nova Scotia.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Queens County Transit fleet has grown to eight vans, five of which are accessible. And it employs 11 people, nine of whom are drivers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ridership is up too, by almost 30 per cent over the past two years. In 2023\/24, the service completed 8,218 trips. About three-quarters of those were for seniors. Ridership so far this year is up by more than 1,000, with only half of overall passengers seniors.<\/span><\/p>\n

But with increased popularity come increased costs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWithout community support we would be dead in the water, we wouldn’t be operating,” Johnson says. <\/span><\/p>\n

“Seven years ago, Queens County was one of four counties in the province that did not have a transit system. Today, we’re one of the leaders and we’re proud of that and we want to be able to keep going but we can’t do it without funding partners, fundraisers. \u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Queens County Transit has organized its first major fundraiser at the Astor Theatre for this Saturday, May 3. They\u2019ve teamed up with the Yuk Yuk\u2019s standup comedy tour for a show at the historic theatre at 7:30.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Comedians <\/span>Francois Weber, Andrew Evans and Ian Black are set to hit the Astor stage.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s going to be a good event,” Johnson says. “It\u2019s going to be something new. Yuk Yuk\u2019s haven\u2019t been to Liverpool in quite some time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

They\u2019re also planning a silent auction at the event.<\/span><\/p>\n

Queens County Transit gets about 35 per cent of its operational funding from the province and some other funding from the Region of Queens.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That funding and community support are vital so that the service can continue to offer rides to residents at reasonable rates.<\/span><\/p>\n

A round trip within Liverpool, Brooklyn or Milton costs $10. That goes up to about $15 for longer rides to other areas of the county.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the service also offers much-needed subsidized rides for medical trips to Queens General Hospital in Liverpool or to Halifax.<\/span><\/p>\n

Manager Donna Croft says that through funding from the Queens General Hospital Foundation, it can offer a round-trip to an appointment in Halifax for as little as $100. The full cost is usually $160.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not only the seniors we\u2019re catering to,” Croft says. “We\u2019re catering to all ages. <\/span>Say a mom with an infant has to go to the city to the IWK and she has no means of getting there or she has to wait for an ambulance to take them through. We have the monies through (the hospital foundation) that we can do that drive for them to get her to the IWK.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cT<\/span>hat’s a huge piece of the mandate of community transit, is to be able to get people to those appointments in an affordable fashion because it goes back to our funding partners,” Johnson says. “They’re the ones who help us subsidize those rides. But if you wanted to rent Queens County Transit to go shopping just on your own or to go for a drive, that’s available as well. It wouldn’t be subsidized. It would be fully funded out of pocket.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Tickets are still available for the Yuk Yuk\u2019s comedy fundraiser through the Astor Theatre box office or Ticketpro.ca<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

And if you need a ride on Queens County Transit, they ask that you contact them at least 24 hours in advance by contacting them at 902-356-2670, by email at <\/span>info@queenscountytransit.ca<\/span><\/a> or message them on Facebook<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/qccr_queenstransityuksmay125.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

Listen to an audio version of the story below<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Queens County Transit got on the road seven years ago with one used wheelchair-accessible van catering mostly to seniors in Liverpool. \u201cWhen we started out, we had one old used wheelchair-accessible van that we got from over in Clare. And I think it was in the garage more than it was on the road,\u201d says […]<\/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":[38,2256,3057,2947,39,3058,49,133,3060,3059,2253,3061],"class_list":["post-8650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-astor-theatre","tag-community-transit","tag-donna-croft","tag-gil-johnson","tag-liverpool","tag-municipal-transit","tag-queens-county","tag-queens-county-transit","tag-rural-transit","tag-rural-transportation","tag-transportation","tag-yuk-yuks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8650","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=8650"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8653,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8650\/revisions\/8653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}