RDN board approves grants budget increase supporting GERTIE passes

Rachelle Stein-Wotten

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Gabriola Sounder

An increasing need among Gabriolans for help getting around the island will be addressed in part by the addition of a community grant from the Regional District of Nanaimo.

In June, People for a Healthy Community received a $3,300 grant from the regional district to purchase and distribute up to 20 annual GERTIE bus passes to low-income members of the community. With some supplementary support from the Gabriola Community Bus Foundation, the operators of GERTIE, PHC already provides 50 passes, but demand is greater than budgets allow, PHC’s grant application notes. An annual pass costs $165. PHC says it has already received requests for 10 more bus passes, and are expecting more. With the additional funds from the RDN grant, 70 individuals will now be able to receive passes at no cost.

The Sounder reached out to PHC for additional comment, but did not hear back as of press time.

Steve Earle, Gabriola Community Bus Foundation board member, said the foundation has been subsidizing the cost for a set number of GERTIE passes for the past four years. In 2020, 30 passes were provided, followed by 40 in 2021 and 50 for the past two years.

“Initially we received some funding from the Gabriola Health Care Auxiliary for this, but in recent years the funding has come from PHC,” Earle said. “The amount is limited, and it hasn’t covered all of the lost fare revenue, so the balance has been a GERTIE subsidy.”

PHC also helps clients with transportation via taxi vouchers. For 2023, PHC received $10,003 from the RDN to distribute the vouchers.

A total of 14 organizations out of 34 applications in the RDN received community grants this year, all together $69,252. The HOPE Centre on Gabriola also received a community grant for $5,853 to put toward the purchase of heat pumps. The RDN board also voted at its June 13 meeting, with two directors opposed, to more than double the community grants budget for the 2024-28 financial plan to $170,000. “We would also be losing money, if we were not supporting” applicants, who are primarily volunteer-run organizations addressing community issues including social and environmental, Area C director and community grants committee chair, Lauren Melanson, said.