Colchester/Truro public transit concept continues to grow

TRURO - Public transit is an idea whose time has come for Colchester County, Mayor Bob Taylor believes.

And, to that end, Taylor will be requesting that the municipality seek funding to undertake a feasibility study on the merits of having public transit in Truro and nearby outlying areas of the county.

"There is supposed to be federal money to do that sort of thing," said Taylor, who will be bringing the issue to this week's county council meeting. "That's where we'll be going Thursday night, is just to talk about working with the town (of Truro) and so on and maybe a joint effort to look at a feasibility study."

Last week, Truro Mayor Bill Mills told the Truro Daily News he had been approached by an individual with a proposed business plan for initiating a public transit system.

Although the individual has not been identified, Mills said the routes the man proposed included Truro, Bible Hill, Millbrook, Debert and, possibly, Brookfield, provided it can be determined there is demand for such a service in those areas.

"From what I see so far, there's probably some pretty good potential there," Mills said.

Taylor agrees.

"Yeah, I really think so and you hear it quite often," he said, of the desire for public transit. "People are thinking about it and are interested in it ."

That could include, Taylor said, families that own a second vehicle for commuting to work, or seniors or low-income individuals who often require the use of a taxi and who could benefit from cheaper transportation costs.

Many people don't make big money, the mayor said, "and if they can save a lot every day in transportation I would think they would want to think about it and look at it."

Yet another advantage to reducing the number of vehicles on the road, Taylor said, is that it would free up parking spaces throughout the town.

"I think there's a lot of components to it to make it work but I think the big thing right now, if there is funding available for a study, is that we pursue that and see what we find out."