Hampton Pulls The Plug On Comex Funding

Hampton residents who travel to and from Saint John by bus may soon have to find another option.

Town councillors recently voted to stop funding the Comex bus service at the end of the year.

It comes as the town faces higher costs for a service which is only used by a few dozen people.

Mayor Ken Chorley said they were told their annual subsidy would rise from $68,000 this year to more than $100,000 in 2021.

“Times are tough for everyone and to put $100,000 into a bus service is a little bit rich for our blood at this point in time,” said Chorley.

Comex, which is operated by Saint John Transit, shuttles commuters from Hampton and the Kennebecasis Valley to and from Saint John each weekday.

The Hampton Comex run includes two trips from the town each morning and two trips back later in the afternoon. According to Chorley, there are only 40 to 50 people who take advantage of the service to and from Hampton.

“I feel very bad for those people that do take it but I think most people would agree that that’s a little bit much of a subsidy for the town at large to be paying for approximately 50 people to go back and forth to work in Saint John,” he said.

It is not clear what will happen to the Hampton Comex now that council has decided to stop paying for the service. Chorley said they notified the transit commission of their decision but have not received any details from them.

In October, a high-level overview of the long-awaited Saint John Transit operational audit was presented to members of Saint John’s growth committee.

The report contained 17 short- and long-term recommendations, which include reducing the number of Comex routes from three to two.

“With respect to Comex, that will require discussions with the communities it serves with a view that Saint John is not subsidizing that service offering in any way,” said Stephanie Rackley-Roach, the city’s acting director of corporate performance.

The report, which was put together by consulting firm Stantec, has yet to be released in its entirety.

Hampton councillors are not the only ones to raise questions about the transit service in recent weeks.

In November, Quispamsis Coun. Pierre Rioux voted against the town’s 2021 budget after his motion to remove Comex funding for one year was defeated. Rioux said he believes the $173,000 budgeted for the service could be better spent in areas like road paving.

“We’re supporting a system that is in my estimation, at least in the last few months and it looks like the foreseeable future, is wasting our money,” said Rioux.

“We’re in the midst of paying $174,000 for a service which is serving, I can only guess, 25 or 30 people.”

Finance committee chair Coun. Kirk Miller said the town’s ad hoc Comex committee was waiting for updated information from the transit commission and, once they have it, would provide the council with a recommendation going forward. At this point, no recommendations have been brought before the council.

When asked what would have to change for Hampton to support Comex once again, Chorley said it would be nice to see increased ridership.

“We’ve tried over the years. We’ve had little campaigns saying ride the bus,” he said. “I think even the transit commission advertised it several years ago.”

“If people want to take the bus and make it known and there’s enough of them, I think that with Saint John Transit, we could discuss it. I’m not going to say it would end in any different situation than what we have at the present time.”

We contacted the City of Saint John for comment from the commission, but spokesperson Lisa Caissie directed us back to the Town of Hampton.