GOST Service Extended Four More Months as Regional Transit Decision Slides to 2027

The City says buses run to December 31. Grey County council will decide 2027 funding after the October 26 election seats a new council.

Jul 30, 2026

Guelph Owen Sound Transportation will operate through December 31, 2026, the City of Owen Sound said Thursday, extending the regional bus service four months past the August 31 date its current authorizations were set to expire.

Grey Transit Route 2, between Dundalk and Orangeville, will also run through year’s end.

Funding for 2027 has not been approved. The City said money for next year’s operations will be included in the annual budget for Grey County council’s consideration.

Grey County council’s membership changes after the October 26 municipal election, when the heads and deputy heads of council who sit on it are elected. Mayor Ian Boddy, who sits on county council for Owen Sound, is not seeking re-election.

The announcement came the same day the counties of Bruce, Dufferin, Grey and Wellington, together with Saugeen Mobility and Regional Transit, issued a joint statement on interim service across the region. That statement did not give an end date for GOST.

The regional study

The four counties and SMART are working with Dillon Consulting on a draft unified regional transit plan. Dillon is expected to present the draft to the four councils and the SMART board this fall for information. Final decisions on a long-term regional model are anticipated in 2027.

Under the joint statement, GTR Route 5 between Owen Sound and Wiarton returns in the fall. Route 5 ended service December 31, 2024, when its operating funding expired.

A seasonal extension of Route 5 to Sauble Beach will be considered for summer 2027, pending funding approval — a year later than the July 2026 start Grey County staff contemplated in May.

Neither statement explains the change. The City’s release does not mention Route 5 or Sauble Beach.

What the extension rests on is not stated

Owen Sound council approved extending the City’s agreement with 947465 Ontario Ltd., operating as Voyago, on February 9. That extension ran five months, to August 31.

A staff report prepared by the City’s Supervisor of Environmental Services, Heidi Jennen, put the gross operating cost at roughly $176,873.90 excluding HST, including just over $151,000 for contracted transit services and $25,000 for fuel and program staffing, against fare revenue staff estimated at $12,000 to $16,000 a month.

Grey County approved funding for that five-month period on November 13, 2025, on the condition that the City continue to operate the service. The February staff report anticipated Grey County folding GOST into a broader regional system as of September 1.

Licence agreements with the municipalities where GOST stops were extended on the same schedule. Centre Wellington council authorized its amendment, in report PLN2026-15 dated March 23, to run to August 31.

Neither statement issued Thursday identifies who will operate GOST after August 31, what agreement covers September through December, what the four-month extension costs, or which council or councils approved it.

The City of Owen Sound is not among the parties to the four-county statement, but issued its own release and named a City staff member as the contact for GOST inquiries.