Business View Magazine | August 2020

142 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE AUGUST 2020 constantly looking for ways to keep fares as low as possible,” he adds. “I think we’ve been very successful over the last few years, incorporating advertising opportunities within our shelters and our benches; we’ve tripled the revenues that we’ve brought in from those outside business sources and that’s allowed us to keep fares low. So, we do not raise fares every year like a lot of other transit services must.” In 2017, CKTransit launched its “Affordable Pass” for Chatham-Kent residents that have an annual combined family income at or below the Statistics Canada before- tax, low-income measures table. The pass is 65 percent less expensive than the cost of a regular adult fare. On July 20, 2020, the Chatham-Kent Municipal Council approved a new Master Plan for public transit in the jurisdiction called “Driving Forward.” It was the culmination of a year-long public consultation and research process aimed to define the transit needs of residents, and discover how the Municipality can meet those needs. More than 190 hours of consultation through open public sessions and interviews with community stakeholders, local businesses, and ridership produced over 2,000 comments to inform the report’s conclusions. Ultimately, Driving Forward seeks to shift the image of public transit in Chatham-Kent from a service for those captive to the system, to an effective tool to help accomplish municipal priorities for the benefit of all residents. The 60 actionable recommendations in Driving Forward will guide the development and design of transit operations, as well as identify the infrastructure and capital assets required to support implementation over the next 5-10 picking up other riders and dropping them off along the way.” In order to make the new service financially sustainable, Clark says that they limit the number of buses catering to the lower nighttime ridership to two – three less than are normally on the road within Chatham during the day. “This allows us to operate, essentially, the same service level with less vehicles,” he submits. “And because there’s a lower ridership, we no longer have to use the fixed route.” “I also want to point out that affordability is a huge concern for our ridership, so we’re