It will soon be easier to get around Southwestern Ontario.

At a special meeting on Monday afternoon, Stratford City Council voted unanimously to enter the city into a Community Transportation Service, along with Perth County, North Perth and St.Marys, with Voyago.

The transportation service will feature a soft launch from November 16th to December 31st and will feature three routes, Listowel to Kitchener-Waterloo, Kitchener-Waterloo to St.Marys via Stratford and London to Stratford via St.Marys.

Officials say the “soft launch” is designed to support holiday retail shopping and restaurants and the routes and schedule have been adjusted to better accommodate those businesses.

Regular service would start in January and go to March 2023 and it would feature service from Monday to Saturday from Kitchener to Listowel-Waterloo, Kitchener-Waterloo to St.Marys via Stratford and London to Stratford via St.Marys.

Regular service would be geared to students and employers.

COVID-19 protocols are in place on all Voyago busses and without ridership revenue the project will cost the city just over $116-thousand over close to 2 and a half years.

Ontario previously gave the City of Stratford $1.45-million to help pay for the community transportation service and more details are expected to be announced closer to launch date.