Municipally-Run Transit Service Marks Fifteen Years of Operation

PORT HAWKESBURY - Fifteen years after the Strait region's first-ever community transit service got under way, and less than a year after complaints arose from Richmond Municipal Council members about inconsistent service within the county boundaries, the board chair for Strait Area Transit (SAT) feels the service has overcome its recent challenges and is poised for a big leap forward. 

Blaine MacQuarrie, who is also a member of Port Hawkesbury Town Council, told Telile LJI journalist Adam Cooke that SAT has been successful in attracting eight full-time and part-time drivers for its compliment of busses, cargo vans and automobiles. This is a far cry from the same period in 2022, when the service struggled to retain more than three drivers on a regular basis. 

Co-funded and co-administered by the municipalities of Richmond County, Inverness County and Port Hawkesbury, SAT now operates daily fixed-route service between Port Hawkesbury and Inverness along Route 19, which connects the two communities along Cape Breton's western coast. The town also provides Dial-A-Ride service to Richmond County residents and serves a diverse list of clientele that includes students attending the Nova Scotia Community College's Strait Area Campus and the French-language public school Ecole Beau-Port, as well as those needing transport to their workplaces and seniors attending medical appointments or just seeking to break up social isolation. 

With SAT ridership doubling over the summer, MacQuarrie feels the transit cooperative is well-positioned to keep growing over the next 15 years. 

This week's edition of Roundtable also features a lively discussion from the September 5 regular monthly meeting of Port Hawkesbury Town Council, which saw town councilor Jason Aucoin bring forward a request from a Richmond County all-terrain-vehicle (ATV) club to have the town consider expanding ATV access along its trails and streets.

While Mayor Brenda Chisholm-Beaton suggested at the time that such a move could result in tourism spin-offs for Port Hawkesbury, several town residents took issue with the idea and the by-law proposal was ultimately quashed at the town's Committee of the Whole meeting on September 19.