By expanding GOVA Transit Route 106 through a western loop of Val Caron, it’ll hit up two schools, a daycare and various businesses currently underserved by public transit.
So described Ward 5 Coun. Mike Parent, who introduced a successful motion this week to introduce the route expansion as a pilot project beginning on April 19.
If ratified by city council as a whole on Feb. 18, the route expansion will stretch west of Municipal Road 80 down Valleyview Road to the south and Main Street to the north, linked at the west by a run along the north/south Belislie Drive.
The route expansion was first proposed by La Cuisine Kitchen Cabinets Inc. owner Roxane Guénette-Lafleur, Parent said.
Her business is located near the corner of Belisle Drive and Valleyview Road, which is currently unserved and approximately 1.7 kilometres to Municipal Road 80, which GOVA Transit serves.
“For us, it was about employment opportunities for individuals who might not have a vehicle,” Guénette-Lafleur told Sudbury.com, enthused to learn about this week’s route expansion approval.
Valleyview Road doesn’t have sidewalks, which she said is fine in the summer but becomes dangerous with winter driving conditions.
“It’s all about health and safety and equal opportunity for everybody,” she said. “I had one employee who was a designer who is a new Canadian and taking three buses to get here, and walking 20 minutes-plus just to get to work on time.”
“Any little thing you do has a domino effect,” Parent told Sudbury.com. “The solution found will offer three opportunities in the morning and three in the afternoon for people to offer the new bus stops along that route.”
With Route 106 freshly added to GOVA Transit as part of the service level boost city council members approved to take effect Aug. 24, 2024, he said now’s the time to adjust things.
Previously known as Route 105B, Route 106 was cancelled during the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the Sept. 26, 2023, city council meeting, Ward 6 Coun. René Lapierre submitted a petition signed by more than 160 residents requesting the route be reinstated.
This support has continued, Parent said, noting that although final numbers won’t be known until later this year, he’s confident it will remain in place as a permanent route.
“We want to encourage residents to use this to show there is ridership,” he said, adding that he plans on letting people know through social media, a targeted city mailout to area businesses.
Route 106 starts at the downtown terminal, proceeds north through a loop in Val Therese and then back south to its starting point. The expansion is proposed to add the loop through Val Caron.
This week’s committee support was unanimous, pointing to the likelihood it will be ratified by city council as a whole on Feb. 18.
The pilot program would run from April 19 to Nov. 28, and come at a cost of $23,870. A business case will follow, analyzing such things as user numbers, for city council members to consider making it permanent during 2026-27 budget deliberations.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.