Pictou County transit is expanding.
On Monday, PCT announced they are becoming a permanent public transit service after a successful three-year pilot project. The release states the one-hour fixed-route transit service will be funded through the Town of New Glasgow and the Town of Stellarton’s operational budgets, with scalability to expand to other towns.
PCT manager Danny MacGillivray said the service is also moving into other Pictou County communities, with the Towns of Pictou, Trenton, and Westville as well as Pictou Landing First Nations will join through a sale of the service agreement. As part of a three-year pilot project, a 10-passenger van going into each community three times a day to pick up and drop off passengers, with the van feeding the main loop in New Glasgow and Stellarton.
MacGillvray said they purchased the new 10-passenger van, which will join PCT’s main and back up busses for the main loop.
PCT launched in May of 2021 as a three-year pilot project, a one-hour fixed-route bus service between the Towns of New Glasgow and Stellarton. During the pilot period, an average of about 2,500 people used the transit service every month. In 2023, they saw over 3000 riders per month. MacGillivray said they are happy with how the ridership grew.