T:GO Inter-Community Transit will cease operations

The Town of Tillsonburg confirmed last Monday that inter-community bus service from Tillsonburg to area municipalities--including Ingersoll and Woodstock--will cease effective April 1, 2025 due to a lack of funding. The decision was made at Council’s February 24 Regular Council meeting.

T:GO routes within the Town of Tillsonburg are not affected by the change and will continue.

To date, operational costs for Inter-Community Transit have been funded by a provincial Community Transit Grant.

“The idea of an inter-community transit service originated amongst the members of the South Central Ontario Region (SCOR) in 2020,” says Mayor Deb Gilvesy. “Tillsonburg took on a facilitation role at that time in terms of applying for and receiving the provincial grant, but it was intended to be a collaborative initiative.”

It was hoped that with provincial seed money, inter-community transit ridership would grow and the service would become financially viable over time. That has not been the case.

“The Community Transit Grant was originally set to end in 2023 but was extended to 2025 due to COVID-19,” explains Landon Chan, the Town’s transit coordinator. “Town staff developed several options to amend the routes in an effort to retain the service but there has been no financial buy-in from our County neighbours.”

“The province’s funding priorities have shifted somewhat,” adds Mayor Gilvesy. “While the Ontario Transit Investment Fund is active, it has a funding pool of $5 million for all rural areas across Ontario. The grant also requires municipalities to work with other stakeholders and partners in teams in order to apply. It’s not a project Tillsonburg can take on alone.”

While the loss of T:GO’s inter-community transit will be felt in the community, Gilvesy notes that Town is continuing to look at transit options.

The Town has already applied to the Rural Transit Solutions Fund – Planning and Design fund. If this application is approved, Tillsonburg could look at designing a new transit solution.

Tickets for the T:GO inter-community transit service will be sold until March 31. Unsold/unused tickets can be returned to the Tillsonburg Customer Service Centre (10 Lisgar Ave.) for a full refund.