Transit Cape Breton buses busy as riders take advantage of no-fare summer travel

In the Cape Breton Regional Municipality this summer,there is such a thing as a free ride.

All Transit Cape Breton bustravel is free for July and August to the delight of users.

"It's really convenient, and it saves me a bit of money," said riderRoderick Russell.

Russell saidhe rides the bus pretty much everyday for work, and onnicer days, he and his family use the bus to get to parks around the municipality.

Earlier this year, regionalcouncil approved the two-month pilot project as a means ofpromotingthe bus service with a view to increasingridership.

It was also hopedthatdata gathered from users would help determine the future development of the service.

'It's more crowded'

Regular rider Jean MacNeil is happy with the program,even if it makes for a busier bus.

"I think that's pretty good, yeah. Some days I get on and it's more crowded,"MacNeil said.

Another rider, Nancy Gill, says she wouldn't mind if she still had to pay the fare, but she'd like to see longer hours on some of the routes.

Someroutes aren't served after 5 p.m.

"I think it wouldhavebeen better if they increased the hours and maybe had them free just one day throughout the week," saidGill.

Ridership up

Bus driver Paul Wall says there's definitely been an increase overall in the number of people taking the bus.

"There's been a few times there [when]I literally had to refuse people because they had kids with them and I just didn't have room for them to sit down with the kids," he said."So that's how busy it is."

Shana Lawrence helps organize the free bus program for CBRM.

"We want to make it easier for people to access transit and,in turn, increase ridership. So that's our end-all goal and we hope that it helps. We hope that it works."

The CBRMhas created a Google app to help people find busroutes.

Lawrence says there's also a survey to gauge user reaction.

That information could help improve the busservicein the future.