Cavendish bus service opens 'whole new labour market'

A bus service between Charlottetown and Cavendish has been confirmed for this summer.

Visitors will be welcome to ride it, but its key purpose is to get employees to and from work.

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The tourism industry is concerned about labour shortages this year, with another record season expected. Cavendish is especially problematic, because it has a lot of tourists and not many local residents.

"It's opening up a whole new labour market to us," said Sandi Lowther, president of the Tourism Cavendish Beach Association.

"A lot of the employees who work out in this area are students and these students don't have their own vehicle. They're high school students or university students. Their mom and dad work. They have commitments to their jobs so as much as they wanted to come out and work for us, transportation was a huge problem."

The bus will start running in June and operate until Labour Day. Lowther said the project has been a year and a half in the works. The bus is a pilot project so there may be some tweaks to schedules along the way to find the right fit.

It will cost $10 and there will also be weekly and seasonal payment options. Some employers have already purchased seats for employees so they don't have to pay.

The whole project will cost about $70,000.

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