After a lot of lobbying and much political wrangling, a bus service taking Northumberland County residents to other Towns and to the Go Train in Oshawa is now in service for a one year trial. Called “Commuter Connect” you first must register then you must buy tickets online or by phone. The service operates two routes (lines) connecting at Northumberland Mall and there are four return trips per day – Monday to Friday. Tickets start at $3.00 one way within a community (but there’s only one stop in each community – so huh?); $9 for Multi Zone one way (Travel to other Northumberland communities) and $13 one way for the Durham line which connects to the Go Train in Oshawa from Northumberland Mall and Port Hope. Also available are packages of 10 or 20 tickets or unlimited monthly rides.
It’s hard to say how popular this service will be or what criteria the operators have for continuing the service past the one year pilot. It’s being operated jointly by Northumberland County, Metrolinx, Hop In Technologies (for the online technology) and Community Care Northumberland.
As well as registering and buying tickets online, you can also buy tickets in person at Community Care locations:
- Cobourg: 1158 Division Street
- Campbellford: 174 Oliver Road
- Brighton: 46 Prince Edward Street
The service parameters were guided by an online survey which had over 1,100 responses.
Download the timetable here or go to the Commuter Connect web site.
Go to the web site for fees and how to buy tickets online.
Resources
Print Article:
Seems like a good idea to me. I expect I will use it occasionally.
For those who find it inconvenient to their purposes, there’s always the existing VIA rail as an alternative. I’ve found VIA quite useful often enough in the past.
This bus will not be of any use to the persons who would like to go to Toronto for the theatre..
which is a pity as there are many of us who would love to go up but late night driving is beyond
us now…
If Metrolynx is part of the group running this then why can’t we use the Metrolinx Presto card?
Has anyone at staff figured out the potential tax burden this will have on Cobourg taxpayers. Will there be a one year audit…there should be.
The bus from Northumberland Mall to Oshawa Go sounds good but the last bus back leaves Oshawa at 5.20 PM. If your Go train from Toronto is late it’s a loong walk back to Cobourg:)