Transportation collaborative awaits county approval

Jeff Green | Nov 05, 2009

Sue Leslie, Jane Drew, Deborah Andrews, and Dean Walsh slipped quietly into the back of the room at a Frontenac Council meeting a week or so ago (October 27).

They were a bit nervous, and they had every reason to be. Sue Leslie, Executive Director of Northern Frontenac Community Services (NFCS), and Deborah Andrews, Executive Director of Southern Frontenac Community Services (SFCS), represent social service agencies that have stretched their finances to the limit in 2009 by funding transportation costs for clients. Jane Drew is the director of Rural Routes Transportation Services, and Dean Walsh works for Community Living – North Frontenac.

The 2009 Frontenac County budget included $80,000 for transportation, but the money had been held back until the two agencies, along with partners such as Community Living - North Frontenac could come up with a business plan to provide integrated transportation services throughout the county.

With the business plan having been submitted earlier in the month, it was a mere formality for the 2009 funds to be released, and when that happened a collective sigh of relief could be heard from the back of the hall.

But the future of transportation in Frontenac County is by no means secure.

The Frontenac Transportation Collaborative Business plan, which includes an $80,000 annual contribution from Frontenac County, has been received but not accepted by county council, and on November 18, Leslie, Andrews et al will be front and centre as council considers formally accepting the plan.

Essentially, the business plan involves spinning off Rural Routes Transportation Services, which is currently the part of NFCS that provides rides for agency clients and others for a fee, into an independent entity that will serve North, South, and Central Frontenac.

SFCS, which is based in Sydenham, will drive clients over 100,000 kilometres this year and Rural Routes about 400,000. Most of those ½ million kilometres constitute rides for children or adults to medical services or services provided by the two agencies. The rides are funded in most cases by social service agencies such as Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Services, and are delivered by volunteer drivers who receive payment for mileage.

But the task of putting drivers together with clients is as onerous and expensive as it is necessary.

“In order to provide a range of services in a rural context we need to help people get to them,” said Sue Leslie, “so whether we like it or not we are in the transportation business.”

This led NFCS to set up Rural Routes three years ago, and while a Trillium grant helped get the agency up and running, ongoing operations required municipal support, leading to an appeal to Frontenac County.

While the county has supported Rural Routes for the past three years, it has always been as a project, and county councilors have been careful not to commit any funds for future years.

South Frontenac Mayor Gary Davison has been particularly wary of the potential costs of a transportation program, and he has been pushing for a program that covers the entire county. Rural Routes has been primarily covering the region from Verona to the north, the catchment area for NFCS, while SFCS provides their own, more limited service, for clients in the south. Putting the two services together has been a condition for ongoing county support.

The Frontenac Transportation Services Collaborative Business Plan is an attempt to do just that. It calls for Rural Routes to be spun off from NFCS and for the SFCS transportation to be dispatched through Rural Routes. Driver training, safety procedures, and the cost of transportation will be the same throughout the county, and in time a seamless service is to be developed.

For 2010, the plan calls for an $80,000 grant from the county, to cover about 27% of the costs of the service. $17,500 is slated for NFCS and SFCS - $15,000 to cover fees for rides that each agency funds, and $2,500 for their administrative costs - and $55,000 is slated to go directly to Rural Routes for operating costs, training and dispatch.

The business plan outlines several steps that will need to be completed in order for Rural Routes (or a re-named entity) to become an independent transportation service.

The county will likely have a presence on the Rural Routes Board, as will SFCS and NFCS, along with client representatives and other county agencies.

The reception the business plan receives at Frontenac county council on November 18 will likely determine the future prospects for Rural Routes.