City Announces Update on Brockville Transit

Brockville – In an announcement on their website today, (April 17, 2024), the City of Brockville has given an update on the state of Brockville Transit busses.

With a lot of modified bus routes used in the last number of months for the transit service, the city wanted to give an update to the residents and users of the service.

“You may have noticed that we have been posting about a lot of transit updates lately. We know that having a reliable way to get around the city is an essential service that we provide, as is having a predictable schedule that you can rely on.” the announcement stated.

They also added, “To be as transparent as possible, we want to provide you with an update so that you can better understand what is happening and when we anticipate being able to return to a more predictable schedule.”

They have provided some information that has led them to this point.

• Anticipating the end of life of a couple of our buses, we ordered 2 new buses in early 2023
• These were set to arrive in November 2023, however, supply chain issues have delayed their arrival. The most recent Estimated Time of Arrival for these buses are:
  • Bus 1: late April 2024 to early May 2024
  • Bus 2: late June 2024 to early July 2024
• In 2023 we had to remove an existing bus (Bus #50316) from service due to a structural issue with the frame
• This has left the transit service operating without any spare capacity until the first new bus arrives
• When a breakdown, repair, or inspection occurs, we don’t have a spare bus to bring into service, so we move to the modified two-bus route system.

They also said that they will likely be operating the transit system without this spare capacity until sometime in May, which means that route modifications are likely to occur until May when they receive the first new bus.

The announcement went on to say that as much as possible, the city will complete minor repairs outside of service hours to not impact the transit service. Larger repairs and inspections need to be completed during regular working hours as they often require 2 technicians to complete

They said they are also working on a new maintenance schedule so that they can stack maintenance and inspections together as much as possible. This will lead to a transit service schedule that is more predictable, where service outages and route modifications occur less frequently, but for a longer duration, and where they can announce the changes in advance.

“We will still be at the mercy of breakdowns or unexpected issues, but should help reduce last-minute announcements about route changes and service outages.” the announcement said.

Changes to transit services will be announced on their website at: https://brockville.com/announcements/

“We thank everyone for their patience and understanding.” the city said.