The wheels on the buses will go round and round, but the City of Barrie is hoping students will opt for a ride on public transit instead of a school bus.
City councillors on Wednesday approved a high school pilot program with the Simcoe County District School Board that would provide students with free transit passes in a bid to encourage more kids to take public transit to their school instead of riding on a school bus.
"It makes very little sense to have a blue bus followed by a yellow bus in our city," said Coun. Clare Riepma, who introduced the direction motion.
The pilot will begin during the 2024-2025 school year in the area bounded by Big Bay Point Road, Yonge Street and Huronia Road and would involve about 82 students who go to Innisidale Secondary School.
Riepma said there are a lot of good reasons for the program such as climate change, saving road traffic and traffic safety.
"This is a great way to introduce students to public transit," he added. "Perhaps they will continue to use it after they graduate from high school."
Riepma says similar programs have been successful in places like Kingston.
During the pilot, students in the selected area will continue to receive access to school bus service as part of the board's transportation policies.
In a report to council, staff said the program gives the school board potential future alternative transportation options (whereby they could purchase student transit passes) to drive cost efficiencies.
Since the participation of students is unknown, a small pilot area was chosen to ensure Barrie Transit does not incur any capacity issues with its existing ridership. The city and board will work together to provide educational and transit materials to participating students.
The city and board will review the results of the program at the end of both the first and second semesters to determine next steps and potential funding opportunities to expand the program further.
"I think we all recognize that we have some learning to do and there will be some changes made, but in the long run this is something that the city will benefit from," said Riepma.
