The City of Merritt celebrated Merritt Transit’s fifth anniversary with a coffee and cake reception at the Civic Centre on Tuesday.

According to a press release, ridership over the last five years has increased more than 200 per cent, while service hours have also increased from five days a week to six, and from 10.5 hours per day to 15.

“We’ve come a long way for a short time,” BC Transit Senior Regional Transit Manager Steve Harvard said in a speech to about 10 people. “If you want to talk about ridership… wow, what a success story.”

Harvard said when the buses began running, they averaged 1,500 riders per month. Last year, they averaged 4,600 per month.

Transit arrived in Merritt on Nov. 5, 2007, after members of city council formed a transit committee to start bus service in the city.

“For the first five months that we ran transit here in Merritt, it was all done by volunteers,” said Coun. Alastair Murdoch, who served on the transit committee. “It was fun, challenging and stressful that first year.

“Basically we started working in June or July, working with Transit on scheduling, routing, bus stops, and all that stuff. Then we had to hire the first two or three drivers to get that up and started.”

The plan became a reality with partnerships between the city, BC Transit, Thompson-Nicola Regional District, Lower Nicola Indian Band, and Nicola Valley Transportation Society.

“Residents both in the City of Merritt and in Lower Nicola have benefited by having access to a reliable and usable service,” Mayor Susan Roline said. “Congratulations on a well-deserved anniversary of five years.”

With ridership and service hours up, the transit board is now looking into whether it’s economical or necessary to expand.

“The next step is the more challenging thing,” Murdoch said. “Do we run to Sunday, do we run later in the evening, do we try to service parts of Merritt that haven’t been served so far, and if we do, how do we work that into our schedule?”

Murdoch said BC Transit funds half of the cost of operating the buses, which helps keep fares low. An adult fare is $1.50, and seniors and students pay $1.25 per ride. Merritt Transit operates once an hour on four routes through Lower Nicola, Collettville, Diamond Vale and the North End of Merritt.