Yarmouth is getting ready to launch a badly needed transit system.

The town is ready to order a 14-passenger, wheelchair accessible bus that should be up and running by November, Coun. Ken Langille told CBC's Information Morning on Monday. The bus will cost between $150,000 and $160,000.

The service will begin at 7 a.m. and run every 30 minutes until late in the afternoon, between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. On Fridays and Saturdays, the service will be available later, said Langille.

The route will be around the edge of Yarmouth: Water Street, Starrs Road and Argyle Street.

"The major streets in the town would see this bus running every half hour. It would be a reverse kind of run," Langille said.

"It would start in one direction and come back opposite. It would hit major centres, shopping centres, malls, hospitals."

The transit plan includes bus shelters and at least two full-time drivers and maybe one part-time driver will be hired, he said.

Officials didn't want the service to be expensive, so tickets are $3 a day.

"You can go on that bus all day for $3, then if you want to go on it for a week, it will cost you $15 — $50 per month. A year is $500. You use a smart card, tap card and you're on it," Langille said.

"It is remarkable how it is going to work."

A reliable transit system is needed in Yarmouth as fewer people have cars, especially seniors, he said. Town officials are hoping young people will find the bus convenient, too, as the service will provide transportation from the town to a nearby lake where there is a swimming program.

Langille acknowledged Yarmouth will have to heavily subsidize the new transit service that is expected to cost several hundred thousand dollars for the first year. The town hopes to run it for the first year or two, then turn it over to a private operator.

"The goal is to become self sustainable. We're not in it to make money, but to provide a service," Langille said.