The Municipality of Leamington is looking to partner with neighbouring municipalities to expand its transit service.
Mayor John Paterson says he has been talking with Chatham-Kent Mayor Randy Hope for many years about expanding the service into Wheatley. Paterson says he has also had discussions with Kingsville Mayor Nelson Santos about a service into Kingsville and Point Pelee National Park.
Paterson says they are just in the beginning stages of studying the feasibility of expanding the service.
"We got some extra funding from our gas tax to do a study on our existing transit service in Leamington expanding within our own municipality, maybe expanding to Point Pelee National Park during the tourism season and then looking at adding a route to Kingsville and Wheatley as a possibility," says Paterson.
The study is being funded through the gas tax fund. Paterson expects the report to be completed some time this year so they can potentially examine expanding the service in the 2018 budget. The report will look at demand for the service and possible ridership.
"It's going to come down to dollars and cents whether any of us can actually afford to do this," says Paterson.