FALL RIVER: Bringing transit to Fall River appears to be more complicated then the local councillor even thought it would be.
Cathy Deagle Gammon, the newly elected in Deputy Mayor and representative for Waverley-Fall River-Musquodoboit Valley, was responding to part of a question from The Laker News during a year end interview to 2023 and a look ahead at 2024.
It doesn’t appear that getting transit into Fall River is as easy as pie.
“I’m doing everything that I can to try to bring transit here to Fall River,” said Deagle Gammon with Charlie her dog on her lap inside her home in the community. “That’s the big challenge for me coming into 2024 because we desperately need to figure it out.”
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She was asked if when it does come forward if that’s the time for the community to stand with her and inform the transit authority why it’s important for this community and why it’s so desperately needed.
“I think it’s a much more complicated story than anybody ever thought,” said Deagle Gammon.
“Opening up the transit service boundary for discussion is the first step, second is articulating the need and evidence that there will be ridership (community engagement here will be essential), then determining the cost …. And that’s a big question.”
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She said it’s a question that the local residents even need to know ahead of time.
“That’s a piece of work that I have to do because there is a transit tax that gets charged if you are within a certain distance to transit” she said.
“We don’t pay that right now. So that would be another increase in our taxes.”
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That could make a difference in whether people want transit in the community as much as it appears they do.
“People need to understand that, and as councillor, my job is to make sure that the right information is in front of people so when they say yes, we want transit, they also have the right information to say this is the impact of that,” said Deagle Gammon.
“This is what it will cost, all of those kinds of things. Rural / Suburban transit is expensive and so we need to figure that piece out.”
