By Hub staff

With Councillor Jim McManaman the odd man out, Owen Sound city council voted Thursday to grant the beleaguered downtown bus terminal a one-year reprieve, while seeking a partnership for the terminal that may reduce its annual total cost, now between $90,000 and $100,000.

The result is that this controversial decision will be taken, not by this pre-election council, but by the new one to be elected this fall.

The special meeting of council, packed with a crowd of about 60 people, was punctuated by applause when the final decision was taken, more than two hours into the lengthy meeting. Afterwards public transit advocates declared victory, saying public pressure had won the day. "It's a great compromise," said United Way head Francesca Dobbyn. "It's, let's look at what we can do, now that we have the community's support."

Also at the meeting, council voted to return to a four-route transit service plan, rather than three, and to go ahead with an eight-year leasing arrangement for six new, smaller buses, intended to save the city money. On average no city route carries more than 15 passengers at a time, council heard during the meeting.

A motion by Councillor Peter Lemon, a fervent advocate of a more generous public transit system, to purchase a mixed fleet of small and large buses was rejected by council. His was the only vote in favour.

During the meeting, McManaman spoke passionately about the need to reduce transit costs, saying it would be irresponsible for council to do otherwise, given the severe fiscal crunch the city faces. "We are going to be looking at an enormous tax increase in 2015." McManaman said he'd taken many calls from constituents who believe the transit system should be done away with altogether, but that he doesn't share that belief.

Councillor David Adair, who is running for deputy mayor in the fall municipal election against incumbent Arlene Wright, briefly caused an uproar when he declared that a candidate could win election this fall by campaigning to abolish publish transit. He later voted with the majority in advocating a one-year extension for the terminal. Councillor Bill Twaddle also spoke in favour of cutting costs. He too voted for the one-year reprieve.

After the meeting, Lemon declared the day's result "a victory for a lot of people in the community."