Kids get two more years of free bus rides on summer weekends (4 council briefs and 1 cool photo)

A pilot project under which Sault children have been allowed to ride city buses free on summer weekends was extended tonight for another two years.

Originally approved to run June 27 through to Sept. 6 of this year, the Best for Kids initiative let children and a responsible adult ride free on weekends to the splash pad, John Rhodes Community Centre pool, skateboard park, pump track and the Manzo and Greco pools.

But COVID-19 wreaked havoc on Sault Transit operations and with ridership decimated no one could be sure how much the pilot cost.

City staff asked councillors tonight to extend the program until September 2021.

Ward 3 Coun. Matthew Shoemaker then argued that if the world doesn't get back to normal until mid-2021, data from a 2021 pilot will similarly not reflect a typical season.

Shoemaker persuaded his colleagues to extend the kid-friendly initiative until September 2022.

In other news:

• Coun. Shoemaker deferred his request to halt construction of a new traffic light near the new Pino's complex on Great Northern Road until issues about access to Walmart's laneway are resolved. Shoemaker reported that foot-dragging on the part of the retail giant's lawyers seems to have ended and negotiations with Superior Home Bakery, Leon's and Pino's now appear to be headed in the right direction. But the Ward 3 councillor recommended the issue be deferred only until City Council's next meeting on Oct. 26 "so that it's on our agenda in the event that things go off the rails."
• Council agreed to take $111,816 from this winter's snow-removal budget to pay a whopping repair bill on a leased road grader. Larry Girardi, the city's deputy chief administrative officer for public works and engineering services, said three new graders are currently on order and all will have a very special, heavy-duty, dual-input, circle-drive gearbox with a slip clutch to lessen the need for similar repairs in the future
• councillors agreed to consider upgrading Blake Avenue to Class A road status with sidewalks, curbs, gutters and sewers. That would allow the city to eventually install traffic-calming measures on a side street widely used by Saultites to avoid rush-hour traffic on Great Northern Road between McNabb and Oryme