Ride Norfolk provides public transportation within the

single-tier municipality A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

of Norfolk County,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

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. The program was originally classified as a "pilot project" and given the deadline of September 30, 2012 to prove its feasibility in the Norfolk County region. It was declared a permanent fixture in the region on May 16, 2012 after being deliberated before city council. Owing to its long-term status as a municipal program, Ride Norfolk (and Norfolk County Council) became eligible for nearly $90,000 per annum in

gas tax A fuel tax (also known as a petrol, gasoline or gas tax, or as a fuel duty) is an excise tax imposed on the sale of fuel. In most countries the fuel tax is imposed on fuels which are intended for transportation. Fuels used to power agricultural v ...

subsidies. It appears to serves as a

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to the now-defunct ''Simcoe Coach Lines''; which operated in the 1950s and operated to four different communities including the hamlet of Vittoria. According to a past issue of the ''Port Dover Maple Leaf'' newspaper, Ride Norfolk has been approved to continue operations through the end of 2013. All buses operating for Ride Norfolk operate on diesel fuel and were manufactured in 2011 by the

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

Summary

Originally, the bus service only traveled to the major communities of Simcoe,

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

Port Dover Port Dover is an unincorporated community and former town located in Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada, on the north shore of Lake Erie. It is the site of the recurring Friday the 13th motorcycle rally. Prior to the War of 1812, this community w ...

, Port Rowan, and Waterford. It only recently made stops in the smaller communities of St. Williams and Langton. The service officially started in 2011 and was operated by Sharp Bus Lines who also operate the school bus system in the county. Service is from Monday to Friday; with no services on Saturdays, Sundays, on major statutory holidays, or after 6:00 P.M.. Bus service originally did not travel to any of the major shopping centers, instead making trips to the Norfolk library, the senior citizens' home, the different pharmacies, and the

Norfolk General Hospital Norfolk General Hospital is a general hospital in Simcoe, Ontario, Canada; it is the only one in Norfolk County. The hospital was founded in 1925. It became an official teaching site for McMaster University's Faculty of Health Sciences in 20 ...

; a 2012 rerouting of the agency's services now places stops at Simcoe's

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and Whitehorse Plaza. However, it is expected that the mass transit program will someday be hooked into a larger regional system of mass transit for the entire

Southern Ontario Southern Ontario is a primary region of the province of Ontario, Canada, the other primary region being Northern Ontario. It is the most densely populated and southernmost region in Canada. The exact northern boundary of Southern Ontario is disp ...

region. The original budget of Norfolk County's mass transit system was finalized at $20,700 ($ with inflation added on); a small contribution to a cleaner future considering that Norfolk County has been without a safe and publicly accessible form of mass transit for many years. One of the negative features discovered by local residents was that a typical Port Dover-Simcoe round trip once had a cost of $12; which made it an expensive proposition for the people who need mass transit services.''Make shuttle service more affordable (letter to the editor)''
at SimcoeReformer.ca While the fare being offered by the local mass transit service at that time was cheaper than typical taxi fares in Norfolk County, it was still more expensive than other mass transit routes in Ontario. As of January 3, 2012, fares were reduced to $2 for a ride on the Simcoe service and $6 for a trip to Simcoe along any of the other routes ($5 if the ticket are purchased in bulk). It costs Norfolk County council $80/ride for the buses to operate; meaning that they have subsidized for approximately 75% of the transportation costs.

Social need

As a project to support the social needs of the region, it is projected to help abused women escape their hostile situations without relying on other people for transportation. It might never be profitable in a rural area to conduct mass transit so Ride Norfolk is basically a vital

community project A community project is a term applied to any community-based project. This covers a wide variety of different areas within a community or a group of networking entities. Projects can cover almost anything, including the most obvious section of conce ...

. Other rural communities may learn from Norfolk County's precedence and create a bus service catering their residents. There is less money lost on Ride Norfolk than it takes to operate the various ice hockey arenas, swimming pools and baseball diamonds; making Ride Norfolk pay off dividends in the social (but not the financial) department. Terminating the Ride Norfolk program at any time will revert the municipality to the situation of lacking sufficient transportation for those who cannot afford automobiles. Norfolk County's rural nature and lack of public transportation options between the dissolution of the ''Simcoe Coach Lines'' services of the 1950s and the adoption of the ''Ride Norfolk'' program in the 21st century have traditionally made the automobile the only viable choice for Norfolk County residents in the past. While seniors have depended on reduced fare taxi tokens to get around Simcoe in the past, official encouragement to use Ride Norfolk instead has caused them to terminate the taxi tokens for senior citizens as of May 1, 2013. A significant number of people who live in Norfolk County were born prior to the

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and are unaware of the advantages and disadvantages of travelling by bus as opposed to private taxi. Seniors cannot afford to purchase their own vehicles; as the average cost of a budget vehicle starts around $17,000 and

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prices have a tendency to fluctuate between $1.03 a litre and $1.32 a litre.Cost of living in Simcoe, Ontario
at Numbeo Unlike a traditional mass transit service like

London Transit The London Transit Commission (LTC) is responsible for the operation of the public transit system on behalf of the City of London, Ontario, Canada. It operates transit bus service and para-transit service. In 2014, annual ridership totaled 24.1 ...

Brantford Transit Brantford Transit is a public transit service serving Brantford, Ontario, Canada. It operates bus service for almost 1.3 million passengers per year. Services Regular routes operate on a half-hour schedule from the downtown terminal. *Monday ...

, bus drivers are given total decision making rights as to what roads are used to get from community to community.Freedom to Determine the Bus Route
at Ride Norfolk Nearly 20 people a day utilize this bus service as it delivers passengers through the five major communities of Norfolk County. The inadequate bus scheduling for the major town of Simcoe has been seen as a reason not to ride the transit service. The total cost of operations for Norfolk Ride in 2012 was estimated to be nearly $300,000; which is almost the same as every eligible taxpayer paying $150 upfront for the service. This money could put a lot of taxis on the road and hire more people than the bus service. However, the taxi service in the region has been known for being expensive and inconsiderate of the social needs of the lower-income people (particularly retired people, unemployed people, stay-at-home parents and the disabled people who are capable of living independently within the community). By having a bus service for these people instead of having multiple cabs on the road, it would help curb emissions and bring an element of

carpooling Carpooling (also car-sharing, ride-sharing and lift-sharing) is the sharing of car journeys so that more than one person travels in a car, and prevents the need for others to have to drive to a location themselves. By having more people usi ...

to people who would otherwise never experience it.

Route list

*Simcoe loop (weekday daily service) *Brantford (3x weekday daily service) *Delhi-Waterford-Simcoe (Mondays) *St. Williams-Walsh-Pt.Rowan-Simcoe (Tuesdays) *Delhi-Courtland-Tilsonburg-Langton-Simcoe (Wednesdays) *Waterford-Pt. Dover-Simcoe (Thursdays) *Waterford-Pt. Dover-Simcoe (Fridays) *Port Dover-Pt. Ryerse-Turkey Point-Vittoria-Simcoe (Fridays)

References

External links

Ride Norfolk Home PageSharp Bus Lines
{{Norfolk County, Ontario Transit agencies in Ontario Transport in Norfolk County, Ontario

Summary

Social need

Route list

See also

References

External links