Last week a new Transcollines bus line servicing the Pontiac region started operation, adding two more daily round trips to and from Gatineau, though the service was not officially announced to the public until after the bus’s first trip had been made.
As reported in last week’s edition of THE EQUITY, the new weekday route will see a bus depart the Park-O-Bus des Allumettières in Aylmer at 6:42 a.m and arrive at the bus stop at the MRC Pontiac office in Campbell’s Bay at 7:50 a.m., with stops along the way in the Municipality of Pontiac, Bristol, Shawville and Bryson. It will then depart for the city from Campbell’s Bay at 7:53 a.m., arriving at the Parc-O-Bus station at 9:01 a.m. In the afternoon it will make a second trip to the Pontiac, leaving Aylmer at 3 p.m. and arriving in Campbell’s Bay at 4:08 p.m., and then depart for the city at 4:11 p.m. and returning to Aylmer at 5:19 p.m.
The new service will complement the 910 bus that travels between L’Isle-aux-Allumettes and Cégep de l’Outaouais (Gabrielle-Roy campus) every weekday.
Clarisse Danjon, MRC des Collines coordinator for management and monitoring of organizational projects, explained via email that 40 per cent of the line’s funding would come from the provincial ministry of transport, with nine per cent coming from user fees. The remaining 51 per cent would come from municipal sources. THE EQUITY requested a more detailed breakdown of the funding but did not receive it in time for print.
Danjon said that the route had been selected to “serve as many users as possible while maintaining reasonable travel times.” She added that the schedule was selected based on “various surveys of travel habits.”
“We supplement our analysis with our knowledge of the area, our experience, and discussions with local stakeholders,” she wrote.
The service was announced in a press release on Transcollines Facebook page in French only on Apr. 21, the day after the new bus line launched. While a bilingual press release is available on the MRC Pontiac’s website with an Apr. 20 date stamp, the MRC did not post anything about it to social media until Apr. 22.
During the MRC meeting on Apr. 16, MRC director general Kim Lesage announced the new line, and said there would be further details published in a press release the following day, which did not happen. THE EQUITY requested further details about the new line and its funding from Lesage, but did not receive a response in time for publication. It should be noted that MRC communications coordinator Francis Beausoleil left the MRC at the end of March.
