Catégorie : Vision (Clarence-Rockland)

“The bottom line is it doesn’t look good,” said Stéphane Parisien, chief administrator for the United Counties of Prescott-Russell (UCPR), during the January 26 session of UCPR council.

Parisien referred to the ridership numbers contained in the latest operations report for the PR Transpo service. The public transist service has been struggling with its ridership numbers ever since it began in 2018 as one of several pilot projects for rural public transit sponsored through a provincial support grant.

PR Transpo history

PR Transpo began as a fixed-route setup with two 20-passenger buses, which were designed to include passengers in wheelchairs, that would provide inter-municipal public transit throughout the Prescott-Russell region, with a transfer connection in Orléans to OC Transpo for riders who wanted to go to Ottawa for personal reasons.

The UCPR would operate the service, through a contract with a private-sector bus company, and the provincial government would provide the operation funds for the pilot project for a five-year period. Both the UCPR and the eight municipalities would work together to promote the regional public transit service to Prescott-Russell residents. The UCPR would provide regular reports to the province on ridership numbers as part of an evaluation on whether or not the service would be viable at the end of the pilot project period to turn over to the private sector for continued operation.

PR Transpo had a late start and did not begin operations until April 2018. Ridership numbers were low during its first two years of operation. Then the pandemic in 2020 shut down the public transit service as part of the provincial lockdown. The service resumed operations in 2021 when the provincial government lifted some of its restrictions on travel during the second year of the pandemic.

The provincial government agreed to an extension on the pilot project’s timeline since very little if any of the support grant funds were spent during 2020. The UCPR did a review of the system and decided in June 2021 to change PR Transpo into an on-call public transit service. Residents could call PR Transpo for specific pickup and dropoff sites for their day’s use of the public transit system. The revamp included revision of the ticket prices for users of the service.

On-call ridership

Parisien told the eight mayors on UCPR council that the latest statistical report on use of the public transit service is not encouraging for PR Transpo.

“It’s neither viable nor sustainable in its present form,” he said.

The on-call version of PR Transpo operated for 19 months, from June 2021 until December 2022 when there was a temporary interruption in service. During that time there were 234 people using the public transit service, for a total of 6,167 boardings, including 21 boardings that involved a rider in a wheelchair. An online survey indicated the overall rider satisfaction rating for PR Transpo was 4.8 out of five.

The boarding numbers fluctuated over the last 19 months of PR Transpo’s operation, from a low of 94 in September 2021 to a high of a high of 609 in November 2022, but the report noted “an upward trend” in the amount of use of the public transit service. The greatest number of users were Hawkesbury residents at 28 per cent of the ridership numbers, people from the City of Clarence-Rockland and Alfred-Plantagenet Township the second-highest group of users at 15 per cent each, and Russell Township next at 14 per cent. More than half of the people using PR Transpo are adults, amounting to 63 per cent of users. Almost 20 per cent of riders are seniors.

“Since the transition to on-demand service, PR Transpo has experienced a minimal but steady increase in its number of users,” stated the report. “Between December 31 2021 and December 31 2022, an additional 108 users took advantage of the service.”

Even with the increase in rider numbers over the past 19 months, the total number of people using PR Transpo is 234 since the public transit service began operations. That is 0.2 per cent of the 95,600 people living in Prescott-Russell.

Cost for PR Transpo

The report noted that from April 2018 to May 2021, total operation expenses for PR Transpo as a fixed-route public transit system was $528,710.02. Fare revenue for that period totaled $21,835.68. The net cost for the service, minus the fare revenue, was $506,874.34, which was covered by the provincial grant funds for the pilot project.

From June 2021 to the end of November 2022, when PR Transpo changed to an on-call public transit service, the total operation expenses were $685,626.75. Total fare collected was $33,892.71. Allowing for inflation affecting the cost of fuel for the buses, PR Transpo’s net operation costs covered by the provincial grant were $651,734.04.

The province provided almost $3 million from its Community Transportation Grant program to cover almost all of the operation costs of PR Transport as a pilot project until March 2025. The UCPR agreed to provide $140,000 over the seven-year period for the project and provide in-kind management service for the project.

Now UCPR council and administration must decide what will be the future for PR Transpo.

“It’s not sustainable in its present form,” said Parisien. “We’re going to have to look at something else.”

UCPR council voted to accept the PR Transpo report for further review and discussion at a later date.

A minimum of 10 centimetres of ice is necessary for ice fishing, walking, or skiing while 12 centimetres is required for a snowmobile or ATV, 20 to 30 centimetres for a small motor vehicle and 30 to 40 centimetres for a medium-sized truck.

Many factors can affect the thickness of ice surfaces, including the type, depth, and size of the body of water, local currents, the presence of any chemicals in the water, fluctuations in water levels, air temperature, shock waves from vehicles travelling on ice, and any logs, rocks or docks located along the shore that may be absorbing heat from the sun.

The colour of ice is an indication of its strength. Clear blue ice is strongest. White opaque ice is half as strong as blue ice. It is formed by wet snow freezing on the ice. Grey ice is unsafe as it indicates the presence of water in the ice.

If alone and in trouble on ice, the first thing a person should do is call for help. The Red Cross recommends to resist the urge to try to climb back onto the ice where a person fell in as the ice is weaker in this area. Instead, relax and try to re-enter the ice closer to shore where the ice is more stable.

When a person who has fallen through the ice is able to get out, they should crawl back onto the ice, and then continue to crawl, with the stomach on the surface of the ice, towards the shore. Do not stand up. Staying flat on the ice and crawling helps to keep a person’s weight distributed evenly.

When trying to rescue someone who has gone through the ice, the safest way to do so is from the shore. Call for help first, and then determine if trained professionals will be able to arrive soon.

Check if it is possible to reach the person using a long pole or branch. If possible, lie down and extend the pole to the person. If it may be necessary to go on to the ice, wear a personal floatation device and carry a long pole or branch. When near the break, get down flat on the ice to distribute weight evenly and crawl towards the hole. Tell the person to kick up as pulled out of the water.

When the person rescued is brought back safe to the shore, call for help.

For more information on winter safety on the ice go to https://www.redcross.ca/training-and-certification/swimming-and-water-safety-tips-and-resources/swimming-boating-and-water-safety-tips/ice-safety#:~:text=If%20you%20go%20onto%20ice,slowly%20crawl%20toward%20the%20hole.

From February 17 to 19, the Hammond Golf Club and the RiverRock Inn are hosting a weekend filled with events ranging from whisky tastings, masterclasses, cigar bar, sleigh rides, ice sculpting and live music.

Brought together by the Hammond Golf club, Broken Stick Brewery and Hammond Hill wilderness retreat, Whisky Wonderland will include some of the biggest names in scotch and whisky like Glenlivet, Bowmore, Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark, but also Canadian brands like Signal Hill from Newfoundland and Ontario’s Stalk & Barrel whisky.

The event is put on with Mike Brisebois, also known as The Whisky Explorer, who organizes tasting events across Canada, connecting whisky companies with consumers.

Tickets for the various attractions are available online as well as a calendar with a full list of the weekend’s offerings at www.whiskywonderland.ca.

Nepean visited the Rockland Arena on Friday, January 27, to start off the weekend and took the game into their hands off the drop, scoring just 1:07 into the first period. Nats captain Yanic Crête brought the score level early in the second, only to have Nepean pull ahead again after three minutes.

The third period saw the Raiders extend their lead with another two goals, one on a powerplay. Bradley Leblanc knocked one in for the Nats around the midway point of the period, but it wasn’t enough to keep Rockland from dropping points and the final score stood at 4-2 for the Raiders.

Returning to the Rockland Arena on Sunday, the Nats faced off against the Cornwall Colts, a team they defeated two of their three past games this season.

A scoreless first period led to two goals in the second, one for Cornwall followed by one from Crête, making for a 1-1 scoreline that would hold through regular time.

Cornwall, however, would take the game with an early first overtime goal, pushing the Colts ahead of the Nats in the Yzerman division.

The Nats will get a chance at redemption with the Colts returning to Rockland at the end of the week, Friday, February 3.

The following Sunday they will head out of town to take on a strong Carleton Place Canadians side.

Les Castors de Clarence Creek occupent la troisième place dans la Ligue de hockey junior de la capitale nationale (LHJCN). Les Castors ont 43 points après 29 matchs joués jusqu’à présent et une fiche de résultats de saison de 21 victoires, 7 défaites et 1 match nul. Les Rockets de North Dundas les devancent d’un point après 30 parties jouées et affichent une fiche de 21-7-2.  

La tempête hivernale de dimanche a forcé les Castors à reporter leur match à domicile du 29 janvier contre les Rangers de South Grenville au 4 février. Une victoire ce samedi soir et une autre le dimanche suivant contre Saint-Isidore pourraient permettre aux Castors d’écarter les Rockets et de prendre la deuxième place du classement de la LHJCN.  

Deux victoires pour commencer leur calendrier de février pourraient même donner aux Castors une chance de déloger South Grenville de sa position de leader au classement. Si les Rangers perdent un ou deux de leurs prochains matchs, ils pourraient être vulnérables à la succession des Castors. South Grenville a 46 points après 28 matchs joués jusqu’à présent avec une fiche de 22-4-2.  

Les Castors contre l’Inferno  

Les Castors ont été brûlés 4-1 par l’Inferno d’Almonte, un club de bas niveau, lors du match sur la route samedi dernier.  

Nicholas Gaumond a marqué le long but pour Clarence Creek, avec l’aide de Tristan Bolduc et Alexandre Charlebois. Shane Morris occupait le filet de Clarence Creek.  

Clarence Creek accueille South Grenville ce samedi à l’aréna de Clarence Creek. Dimanche les Castors sont à Saint-Isidore.