WELLINGTON COUNTY — It's official: RIDE WELL isn't going anywhere in 2025.
County council approved removing the program's pilot designation at a county council meeting Thursday morning in order to qualify for provincial gas tax funding that would make the county eligible to receive 75 per cent of municipal spending up to $835,000 for the 2025 fiscal year.
This is anticipated to reduce the program's proposed costs by "a minimum" of $100,000 annually.
Commenting on the program's ongoing capacity, booking and location issues, councillor Jeff Duncan called the program's successes "double-edged," saying a permanent program would allow them to make improvements while maintaining the service for existing users.
"This is a day that we've talked about for quite some time, this is when we decide what direction we wish to go in, whether to cease operations or to continue on with RIDE WELL as a permanent service," said Duncan at the meeting.
Staff is currently proposing RIDE WELL maintain existing services while retaining a contractor to provide accessible rides during normal hours in the short term as the service has experienced ongoing issues with its ability to provide accessible rides. This will have a net levy cost of $238,000 in 2025.
In the long term, staff have recommended RIDE WELL work towards implementing a fixed route to "accommodate growing demand" using the Ontario Transit Investment Fund, a provincial grant system that provides up to 73 per cent of a project cost over five years.
While all councillors were supportive of accepting the funding, some like county councillor Campbell Cork said they're worried council might be committing to more than they can support in the long run- calling the decision a "catch-22."
"At what point do we call it a success or a failure? And I think that has to be stated very clearly," said Cork. "It seems at this point like we might've bit off more than we can chew if we can't afford to put a whole bunch more into this and truly make it grow into an equity situation."
In a similar vein, Coun. Andy Lennox said county council needs to figure out what's more important to provide through RIDE WELL in the future; equity or affordability.
"We're at capacity now but we have regions of the county that haven't been able to access this so if we were to add enough capacity to service those areas more equitably, I'm not sure that it becomes affordable at that point," said Lennox. "That's my major concern."
Coun. Michael Dehn also shared concerns about RIDE WELL chasing away private enterprises by offering a subsidized service, mentioning a letter county councillors received a few months ago.
When Coun. Mary Lloyd suggested RIDE WELL on ride-sharing similar to the program's strategy pre-pandemic, Duncan said they are currently trying to encourage that.
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.
