The City of Flin Flon and Town of Creighton have reached an agreement on public transport. For the first time in over a decade, City of Flin Flon buses will now run routes through Creighton.
Flin Flon buses began running the new altered schedule Sept. 9 and are planned to run it until next June, when the deal will be reevaluated.
The new City bus routes will include three forays per day into Creighton, making four stops within Creighton (at the intersection of King Street and Bereskin Avenue, Elander Avenue, Fourth Avenue and the Creighton Tourism Building) and three at areas of Flin Flon near Creighton. Those runs will go from approximately 9 a.m.-9:30 a.m., 11:37 a.m.-12:12 p.m. and 4:40 p.m.-5:05 p.m. Monday to Friday.
To make room for the new routes, some Flin Flon stops will be stopped at fewer times throughout the day - the buses will not stop at the old North of 53 Consumer’s Co-op building or at Ross Street near Ruth Betts while coming back from Creighton around 9:30 a.m.. 12:12 p.m. and 5:05 p.m. during those five days.
The idea of running the buses between both communities has been a topic of discussion for years between local leadership.
“This has been discussed at the Regional Economic Development Commission table as a cross-border public transportation community collaboration,” said City of Flin Flon chief administrative officer Lyn Brown about the deal.
“The Town of Creighton will be responsible for the increased cost of providing the extra stops into their community.”
Back in 2011, shutting down Creighton local bus service was estimated to save the Town of Creighton about $50,000 a year. How much the Town would be paying to restart service is not yet known as of press time.
Flin Flon city buses used to run service between Creighton and Flin Flon until 2011, when the Town of Creighton cancelled the service, citing financial concerns and low ridership. Despite a petition that circulated asking for the service to continue, it was eventually cancelled. Flin Flon buses only ran routes within Flin Flon municipal limits for over a decade since, until last week.
Earlier this year, the City of Flin Flon received a federal grant for just under $1.8 million through the Permanent Public Transit Program (PPTP). The money will go toward a new handicap-accessible transit bus, connecting the City’s existing bus stops with sidewalks and providing accessibility upgrades, including curb cuts and shelters. That project is not related to the project bringing buses into Creighton.
