Entry #42: Breslau: Extend Existing Bus service to the Waterloo Regional Airport and Future GO Station

I do hope everyone had a merry Christmas and a happy holidays, now it is the end for 2015, I hope everyone has a great year in 2016! Since this will be the last blog of 2015, I was looking at how to end it with a bang, and I found it. When I was using Google Maps, I wanted to see what Breslau had, neighbourhood wise and how big it was. I was very surprised to see how built up it is out there, also very surprised to see that there is no bus service to Breslau or the Waterloo Regional Airport. So, from now to sometime in 2016, my new project will be to transfer the bus routes at Stanley Park Mall, and focus them out the Breslau I will post in this some of the ideas I do have in mind for focusing on routes 20, 23, 27, 34, 204 Highland-Victoria iXpress and the 205 Ottawa Street iXpress. So here are the ideas I have for sending service to Breslau:

Route 20 Victoria-Frederick: Modify route 20 from Stanley Park Mall to Waterloo Regional Airport via Victoria Street, Centennial Road and Fountain Street. This would provide a direct link between the Boardwalk, Downtown Kitchener and Breslau.

Route 23 Idlewood (Option 1)
Modify route 23 to service the Heritage Park Neighbourhood, Sims Estate and Lackner Boulevard to Breslau. Route 23 would provide a Fairview Park-Stanley Park-Breslau connection. New Sunday service between Fairview Park and Breslau every 30 minutes. 30 Minutes via Zeller/Heritage Park and 30 minutes via Sims Estate/Lackner.

Route 23 Idlewood (Option 2)
Modify route 23 to service Franklin Street, Heritage Park Neighbourhood, Sims Estate and Lackner Boulevard to Breslau. Route 23 would provide a Fairview Park-Stanley Park-Breslau connection. New Sunday service between Fairview Park and Breslau every 30 minutes. 30 Minutes via Zeller/Heritage Park, 30 minutes via Sims Estate/Lackner, and 30 minutes via Franklin.

Route 27 Chicopee
Modify route 27 to two way Service along Morgan Avenue, Sims Estate, Fairway Road to the Waterloo Regional Airport. This would provide a direct link between Fairview Park and Breslau and the Chicopee Ski Hill. Service Monday to Sunday would be 30 minutes.

Route 34 Bingemans
Extend route 34 from Shirley Avenue to Breslau via Victoria Street and Woolwich Street. New service along King Street and Wellington Street. New midday, evening and weekend service introduced.

Route 204 Victoria-Highland iXpress
Extend route 204 along Victoria Street and Fountain Street to Waterloo Regional Airport. This would provide a direct link between the Boardwalk and Breslau via Highland Road, Downtown Kitchener, Victoria Street and the Waterloo Regional Airport.


Route 205 Ottawa Street iXpress
Extend route along Ottawa Street to Woolwich Street and Fountain Street to the Airport. This would provide a direct link between Mannheim, Sunrise Centre, Ottawa Street, Woolwich Street, and the Waterloo Regional Airport.

These are the main ideas I have for Breslau and the Waterloo Regional Airport. I will do my best and provide a map with the service for Breslau.

I hope everyone has had a great year in 2015, I wish the best for you all in 2016.

Happy New Years!

Entry #41

Conestoga College students, your wish for more GRT service is on the way!

In the proposed 2016 budget, service changes include routes 10, 16, 61, 110, 111, 116.

Proposed Changes for 2016

*Route 10
- Increase AM and PM peak-periods to 15 minutes
- 30 minute evening service
- 30 minute Saturday & Sunday service

*Route 16
- Increase AM and PM peak-periods to 15 minutes
- Introduce evening service to approximately 10:30pm

*Route 61
- Increase AM and PM peak-periods to 15 minutes
- Introduce evening service to approximately 10:30pm
- Introduce 60 minute Saturday service between 10am and 6pm.

*Route 110
- Increase  PM peak to 15 minutes

*Route 111
- Increase service to 20 minutes during the AM and PM peak periods.

*Route 116
- Increase service to 15 minutes during the AM and PM peak-periods.

New Hamburg-Baden BusPlus*
Hayward-Hanson BusPlus

NOTE: *XX have been confirmed for 2016 service changes, the Hayward-Hanson BusPlus is still in the proposal stage.

Entry #40

Crosstown bus routes are the new way of getting around

Since many cities and municipalities, including the Region of Waterloo are looking are developing and creating crosstown bus routes that can move people around cities quicker and more direct. But before I continue, let's look at what a crosstown route is. The definition of a crosstown route is a route that connects the north-south, east-west, north-west, south-east route that people can use to travel quickly to get from one end of the city to another. Focusing more within the Region of Waterloo, more crosstown bus routes are being developed to move people from one end of the region to another. The best examples of crosstown routes are routes 1 Queen-River, 5 Erb, 7 Mainline, 8 University-Fairview Park, 12 Conestoga Mall-Fairview Park, 20 Victoria-Frederick, 31 Columbia, 51 Hespeler Rd, 52 Fairview Park-Ainslie St. Terminal, 201 Fischer-Hallman iXpress, 202 University iXpress, 203 Maple Grove/Mid-Region iXpress, and the 204 Victoria St.-Highland Rd. iXpress. 

The main hub for the crosstown routes meeting are at the Boardwalk located at the border of Kitchener and Waterloo. Eventually, there will be more and more crosstown routes that will be the "missing link" between cities within the Region of Waterloo. Eventually, the entire regional bus network would look something similar to Toronto's bus network which has many crosstown bus routes. 

More and more municipalities should be reevaluating their bus network in order to make the transit system more attractive to riders and that would improve ridership. 

It also comes to my attention, GO transit is also looking at expanding and creating more hubs and routes within cities that could have potential ridership. More hubs should have a GO transit stop in which would provide out of town connections so people can save money and use public transit.

Entry #39

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving everyone, I hope everyone enjoyed their turkey dinner, stuffing and much more! On April 2, Canadian Prime Minister Steven Harper called an early election that would last 79 days. As of October 11 there have been 850,000 people have cast their ballot during the advanced polls. That is an increase from 2008 but 90%. When I went to cast my ballot yesterday at the advanced polls, the people there were incredibly surprised to see a youth vote. I told them it was my first vote in the Federal Election, and they were very happy. I am encouraging all people to go out and cast there ballot in this Canadian election. 

When I was walking home after I cast my ballot (it was Sunday schedule for the bus routes) I noticed at least 5 people waiting for route #23 Idlewood. Route 23 does not operate on a Sunday/Holiday schedule. After seeing that many people waiting for the 23 at that stop, I wondered hoe many other people were waiting for it along it's route. I can see in January that the 23 gets 30 min Sunday/Holiday service. The ridership demand is there for the 23, I would recommend the 23 get Sunday service that would provide that missing link between Stanley Park mall and Fairview Park. 

The last time I went on a run on the route 5 Erb (5 Erb to Bridgeport/5 Erb to The Boardwalk) the Bridgeport neighbourhood section of the 5 is incredibly busy. I'm surprised that the 5 does not service that neighbourhood on Sundays. Maybe in the near future the full route 5 would get Sunday service. But this route also gave me an idea to extend the 23 to the Waterloo Regional Airport via the Heritage Park neighbourhood, Victoria Street and Fountain Street. The Waterloo Regional airport does not have any service at all, maybe creating a hub at the Airport that would connect routes like the 23, and 52  which would provide connections to Fairview Park-Sportsworld-Ainslie Street terminal (route 52 via Cherry Blossom) and the Heritage Park neighbourhood-Stanley Park Mall-Fairview Park (route 23 Idlewood). Another idea that a friend of mine mentioned was build a hub at Bingemans Park. Have routes 20 Victoria-Frederick, 23 Idlewood and 34 Bingemans service Bingemans park, this would provide 3 local connections to Downtown, Fairview Park-Stanley Park, and various neighbourhoods. 

I like the idea of moving the Stanley Park mall hub to Bingemans Park, this would provide families, seniors and teens a way to get to Bingemans Park. 

Let me know your thoughts on that. Have a great day everyone! 

David

Blog Entry #38 Route 20 Victoria-Frederick BACK to Charles St. Terminal and Changes to Conestoga College Expresses

Today, GRT (Grand River Transit) made some amazing changes. I say amazing changes because the changes involve routes 20 Victoria-Frederick, 110 Fairview Park-Conestoga College Express and 116 Forest Glen-Conestoga College Express. To begin lets review the route 20 Victoria-Frederick:

Route 20 Victoria-Frederick - This route has former routes 15 Frederick, 19 Victoria South combined that creates a crosstown route that connects The Boardwalk and Stanley Park Mall via Downtown Kitchener and the Heritage Park neighbourhood along the Victoria Street and Frederick Street corridors, which is in fact an amazing route, but the main issue was route 20 was pulled from Charles St. terminal as a test to see how people would react and use the on-street stops along Victoria Street, Weber Street, and River Road as well as the Boardwalk and Stanley Park Mall terminals to make connections. The test for the 20 failed horribly. There were so many complaints it was unbelievable. I understand everything should get ready for ION LRT, but first the King-Victoria hub should have been built then that would make an easy transfer from Charles St. Terminal to the hub would be smooth. I still believe that route 20 should also be extended beyond the Stanley Park Mall into the Idlewood, Zeller Drive and Sims Estate neighbourhoods (thus replacing rt. 23 and having another Boardwalk-Fairview connection.)

Route 110 Fairview Park-Conestoga College Express and Route 116 Forest Glen-Conestoga College Express

With all respect to Conestoga College, it's growing and needs more bus service. Since, I understand that Conestoga will be getting their ONE cards with similar payments like the University students (Bus tuition within the card) then more service will be delivered. This means 203 iXpress would be extended to Fairview Park via Sportsworld, the College and Highway 401 and many new routes and current routes being redesigned. But since that's a bit far away, GRT looked at route 110 and increased the frequency during the PM peak hour from 30 minutes to 20 minutes with an extra trip to Fairview departing Conestoga College at 6:07pm.
The 116 changed departure times from 58-28 to 25 and 55.

I believe this is 'phase 1' of many to connect more and more people.

That's the blog for today, have a great day everyone,
David

Blog Entry #37 King-Victoria Hub, Charles St. Terminal, Route 20 and Cambridge Ctr. Terminal

It has been two weeks since the implementation of the new 2015 GRT routes, which have picked up within the first few days of being in service. These new service changes are for the better, not just because of the LRT coming in the next few years, but in general because more and more subdivisions are being built and they require other methods of transportation. The main point of this particular blog post is mainly focusing on the new King-Victoria transit hub, the Charles St. terminal and the route 20. To being, let's look at the King-Victoria transit hub. The King-Victoria hub is going to be the main terminal for making connections in Downtown Kitchener, but there is a catch, not all of the routes will be servicing the hub. The routes that will be servicing the hub via on street parking include routes 6 Bridge, 7 Mainline, 20 Victoria-Frederick and the 204 Victoria-Highland iXpress. The routes actually turning around within the hub include routes 2 Forest Heights and route 34 Bingemans, with the possibility of routes 3 Ottawa South, 4 Glasgow, 11 Country Hills, and 22 Laurentian West (Depending what the 2016-2017 GRT service changes are proposed and what will look like). The routes that will not service this hub include route 1 Queen-River (transfer at Frederick/King also known as Kitchener Market Square), 5 Erb (transfer at Uptown), 8 University-Fairview Park (transfer at Fairview Park or any where else along the 8 routing), Route 23 Idlewood (Stanley Park-Fairview Park run, transfer to the hub at Fairview or Stanley Park mall) 27 Chicopee (transfer at Fairview), 29 Keats Way (Transfer at the Boardwalk or University/King) 31 Columbia (Transfer at Conestoga Mall), 33 Huron (Transfer at Block Line Station). In order to get people used to transferring to make connections on the street, the hub should have been built before the LRT construction, that way, people could have been taught to make transfers on the street, rather than making these huge changes and requesting people to transfer on the street without warning. As for the Charles St. terminal, I heard rumours floating around that it will no longer be around once the King-Victoria hub is operational, but it turns out, Charles St. Terminal will be used as a back up terminal. I can see that Charles St. becomes a Greyhound terminal (mainly greyhound, more runs will be needed to be created) with some GRT buses servicing it (route 2 and other routes) then continuing to the King-Victoria Hub. Since the introduction of the new revised route 20 Victoria-Frederick, it no longer services Charles St. and it is the only bus that travels along Frederick St. and services the Frederic Street mall. There have been many issues with the 20, mainly with senior citizens asking why the route 20 no longer services Charles St and what other bus routes can be used to make connections with the route 20. Personally, route 20 should have never been taken out of Charles St., it needed to stay in that terminal until the new hub was built then pull every bus out of Charles St. and move it to the King-Victoria hub. Now looking south of the Region, Cambridge, one of its main hubs is the Cambridge Centre. There are two main hubs in Cambridge, Ainslie St. and Cambridge Centre, these transit terminals are very very busy and as proposed in 2015, the Cambridge Centre terminal would be moved closer to Hespeler Rd. to make connections with the BRT (currently route 200 iXpress, as of 2017 ION BRT). Unfortunately, it was not moved this year, but in 2016 it will be moved to make more direct connections with the BRT along Hespeler road.

Entry # 36 My Review of the Grand River Transit 2015 service Changes

As of September 7 2015, Grand River Transit has altered many routes even discontinued others, the routes that have been changed are route 1 Stanley Park, 2 Forest Hill, 7B via Weber, 8 via Franklin,  20 Victoria Hills, 23 Idlewood,34 Bingmans and new 204 iXpress Victoria-Highland. The routes that have been discontinued are routes 15 Frederick, 17 Heritage Park, 19 Victoria South, 24 Highland and 25 Queen South. These changes needed to happen and these changes are for the best. So without further question, here is my review of the new Grand River Transit 2015 service changes:

203 Maple Grove iXpress: With the introduction of new weekend service on the 203 Maple Grove iXpress, this will provide travellers an alternative to get to Cambridge. This iXpress route connects Sportsworld Crossing and the Cambridge Centre via the Lovell Industrial Park, Cambridge Industrial Park, and the community of Fisher Mills along the Franklin Boulevard and Maple Grove Road. Since the introduction of this iXpress route, it has gotten busy as GRT riders have found another way to get to Cambridge Centre as well as getting people to work on weekends. The one thing I would like to see for this iXpress is for it get be extended out to the Conestoga College Doon and Cambridge campuses during the midday and weekends to provide another alternative for passengers to get to other destinations. As I am beingnning to see a trend between the industrial routes (route 14 Waterloo Industrial, 33 Huron, 34 Bingemans, and 67 Lovell Industrial) will no longer be peak hour routes but be part of the service 7 days a week to provide workers and shopping centres service. Like the 203 and 52 via Cherry Blossom.

204 Victoria-Highland iXpress: This express route connects The Boardwalk and the intersection of Ottawa and Lackner via Ira Needles Boulevard, Highland Road and Victoria Street. Since the introduction of this iXpress it has gotten busier than former route 24 Highland. That is because rt. 24 Highland mainly connected Downtown Kitchener and the Forest Heights West neighbourhoods and it was 30 minutes Monday to Saturday. The 204 iXpress route connects more and it is more frequent, this iXpress route is an excellent alternative to get to places. The business on Highland Road and Victoria street get more business from passengers because the 204 is 15 minutes Monday to Friday 30 minutes evening and weekend. 

1 Queen-River: This route connects The Boardwalk and Fairview Park via Downtown Kitchener along Ira Needles Boulevard, the community of Forest Heights West, Queen Street, Krug Street, and River Road. This crosstown route is amazing, it is very direct and it allows passengers to connect with other routes at The Boardwalk, Charles Street Terminal, Stanley Park Mall (board on River Rd.) and Fairview Park. This route will be extremely busy, especially during the AM and PM peak hours, the midday it can also get pretty busy, depending what time during the midday. I can see in the future that route 1 gets 15 minute service all day to provide connections with routes at each of route 1

2 Forest Heights: This route connects Charles St. Terminal and the communities of Forest Hill and Forest Heights. Since this route has been expanded beyond Fischer-Hallman, it can be a greater improvement from what its original routing. With rt. 2 servicing Rolling Meadows Dr., Driftwood Dr., and Westheights Dr., it will get busy and will pick up more service. 

7B via Weber: Streamlined this section of the route 7 Mainline to provide direct service along Weber Street to Fairway Road, with route 1 servicing Kinzie and Thaler, route 7B will be more direct and can make connections faster.

8 via Franklin: With the removal of the East Ave. extension this gives passengers more time to make connections at Fairview Park and Charles St. Terminal. 

20 Victoria-Frederick: This route has been combined with former routes 15 Frederick and 19 Victoria South to provide an East-West crosstown route connecting The Boardwalk and Stanley Park mall via the Victoria Street and Frederick Street corridors the Heritage Park neighbourhood and Downtown Kitchener. I like this route that it is very direct and can provide other connections with other routes along Victoria Street and Weber Street. Since this route no longer services Charles St. Terminal, there are other routes that route 20 can connect with. Like on Weber Street route 4 Glasgow, 6 Bridge and 8 University-Fairview can be connected with route 20, and on Victoria Street route 7 Mainline, 6 Bridge, 34 Bingemans and 204 Victoria-Highland iXpress can be make connections with to get to the Charles St. Terminal.

22 Laurentian West: With the introduction of Sunday service route 22 is going to require more than 60 minute Sunday service. Since the service started on September 7 (Labour Day) nothing was open, but this up coming weekend, the malls are open so that means route 22 will get much busier than normal.

23 Idlewood: Since this route has been modified to operate along Zeller Drive, Oldfield Drive, Holborn Drive, Old Chicopee Drive, and Fairway Road connecting Fairview Park and Stanley Park Malls, it has gotten much busier than traveling along Lackner Boulevard. The main issue I have seen is that the seniors have to transfer in order to get to the Frederick Street mall (route 20) and downtown kitchener (route 1). If the route 20 was combined or interline with 23, it would provide more options for people as well as get busier than normal. Sunday service along route 23 would make it more attractive to passengers. 

27 Chicopee: Since this route got its frequency increased during the evening and weekends, I can see ridership picking up. In 2014, route 27 lost its summer service due to low ridership, but since the evening and weekend has been increased, I can see that lost ridership being gained. 

34 Bingemans: This route needed to happen. Bingemans has a bus route that can get families to their park as well as the employment area along the Bingemans Centre and Shirley Ave. corridors. There is one problem, this route is peak hour only (6:30-9:10am, 2:30-6:00pm). This route I can see getting service all day (like the 203 Maple Grove iXpress) to get people to Bingemans, with the possibility to get the route to service the Bingemans Park property. I can also see that this route can get busy. 

This is my review of the new Grand River Transit service improvements. 

Entry #35 Future Bus Stops, 2016-2017 Possible Service Changes

With respect to expansions within cities for transit purposes, when a route gets modified to service a new area and the bus stops are removed, instead of completely removing to bus stop and have no idea what will service that stop or corridor. Instead of completely removing the bus stop, replace it with a sign that says "Future Bus Stop" that way it can give passengers and future passengers an idea that a bus stop will be servicing their neighbourhood as well as the corridor the route is service. As the possible 2016 service changes could include the routes 3 Ottawa South, 9 Lakeshore, 10 Conestoga College/Fairview Park, 11 Country Hills, 12 Fairview Park/Conestoga Mall, 14 Waterloo Industrial, 16 Conestoga College/Forest Glen, 22 Laurentian West, 23 Idlewood, 27 Chicopee, 33 Huron, 72 Cherry Blossom busPLUS73 Northlank busPLUS, 76 Doon South busPlus201 Fischer-Hallman iXpress to Fairview Park, and 203 Maple Grove iXpress to Fairview Park via Conestoga College. These would be the main changes done for the "north" (Kitchener-Waterloo) side of GRT. The final year of changes for GRT, 2017 include routes 51 Hespeler Rd., 52 Fairview Park/Ainslie St. Terminal, 53 Franklin, 54 Lisbon Pines, 55 St. Andrews, 56 Dunbar, 57 Blair Road, 58 Elmwood, 59 Christopher. 60 Northview Acres, 61 Conestoga College-Cambridge Ctr., 62 Woodside, 63 Champlain, 64 Langs, 67 Lovell Industrial and the last 3 Cambridge iXpress routes. These changes are to make crosstown routes, connecting cities faster rather than taking 3-5 buses to get to your destination.

Entry #34 Canada's 42 Federal Election

Another one of my hobbies beside transit is politics. There is a good reason why I do not being up politics at all, but this is an exception. Everyone has their own distinctive political party that they can relate to. For a while now, I've been keeping a close eye on the Canadian political parties as they get ready for the upcoming election on October 19. This election means a lot to Canadians as we head into this, because our current Prime Minister has been in the eye in the media for his current scandal regarding Mike Duffy. I have mentioned in a previous blog that the Duffy Scandal evolves around the Prime Minster's Office, his former chief of Staff and Mike Duffy. Since Duffy read the rules that were given to him, he followed them, then the PM (Prime Minister) changed them and Duffy got caught. His trial has been going these past weeks and more and more information has been coming out. PM Harper has been changing his story regarding this issue, and his former chief of Staff has answered what he did correctly. So the Canadian people have been seeing this and are looking at other parties. During the first Federal debate, the leader of the NDP (New Democrat Party) said that the PM denies that Canada is in a recession, Harper came out and said "I am not denying Canada is in a recession." This clearly shows how much the Consecrative Party cares about the local economy as well as getting people to work. Harper has been flopping back and forth on topics so much, I believe that fish are offended by him doing this. On October 19 2015, go out to your local polling station and vote.

Entry #33 Transit Stations/Terminals

When looking at transit routes they can service an area and service more than one transit station. For people that do not use transit, a transit station is where routes servicing that area connect and passengers can transfer to another route. In the Region of Waterloo, there are many transit stations/terminals for passengers to make connections with other routes. Below I will start with Waterloo and end with Cambridge terminals and the connecting routes as well. 

Waterloo Transit Stations

Conestoga Mall Station

Connecting Routes: 6 Bridge, 7 Mainline, 9 Lakeshore, 12 Fairview Park-Conestoga Mall, 14 Waterloo Industrial, 21 Elmira, 31 Columbia, 200 iXpress Ainslie Terminal, 201 Fischer-Hallman iXpress, 202 University iXpress

The Boardwalk Transit Station*

Connecting Route:s 1 Queen-River, 4 Glasgow, 5 Erb, 20 Victoria-Frederick, 29 Keats Way, 202 University iXpress, 204 Victoria-Highland iXpress

Uptown Waterloo

Connecting Routes: 5 Erb, 7 Mainline, 200 iXpress

Kitchener transit Stations

The Boardwalk Station*

Connecting Routes: 1 Queen-River, 4 Glasgow, 5 Erb, 20 Victoria-Frederick, 29 Keats Way, 202 University iXpress, 204 Victoria-Highland iXpress

Highland Hills Mall Station

Forest Glen Transit Station

Connecting Routes: 3 Ottawa South, 11 Country Hills, 12 Fairview Park-Conestoga Mall, 16 Conestoga College-Forest Glen, 22 Laurentian West, 33 Huron, 201 Fischer-Hallman iXpress

Fairview Park Transit Station

Connecting Routes: 1 Queen-River, 7 Mainline, 8 University-Fairview Park, 10 Conestoga College, 12 Fairview Park-Conestoga Mall, 23 Idlewood, 27 Chicopee, 52 Ainslie St. Terminal-Fairview Park, 200 iXpress Conestoga Mall-Ainslie Terminal

Stanley Park Mall Station

Connecting Routes: 1 Queen-River (Board on River Rd.), 20 Victoria-Frederick, 23 Idlewood

Charles St. Terminal

Connecting Routes: 1 Queen-River (Temporarily until LRT construction is completed), 2 Forest Heights, 3 Ottawa South, 4 Glasgow, 6 Bridge, 7 Mainline, 8 University-Fairview Park, 11 Country Hills, 22 Laurentian West, 34 Bingemans, 200 iXpress Ainslie Terminal-Conestoga Mall

Conestoga College*

Connecting Routes: 10 Conestoga College-Fairview Park, 16 Conestoga College-Forest Glen 61 Conestoga College-Cambridge Centre, 111 Conestoga College-Ainslie Street Express, 110 Fairview Park-Conestoga College Express, 116 Conestoga College-Forest Glen Express, 203 Mid-Region iXpress

Sportsworld Crossing Station*

Connecting Routes: 52 Fairview Park-Ainslie St. Terminal, 72 Cherry Blossom BusPlus, 200 iXpress Conestoga Mall-Ainslie Terminal, 203 Mid-Region iXpress

Cambridge Transit Station

Sportsworld Crossing Station*

Connecting Routes: 52 Fairview Park-Ainslie St. Terminal, 72 Cherry Blossom BusPlus, 200 iXpress Conestoga Mall-Ainslie Terminal, 203 Mid-Region iXpress

Hespeler Transit Station

Connecting Routes: 51 Hespeler Rd. 

Cambridge Centre Station

Connecting Routes: 51 Hespeler Rd., 53 Franklin, 56 Dunbar, 60 Northview Acres, 61 Conestoga College-Cambridge, 64 Langs, 67 Lovell Industrial, 200 iXpress Conestoga Mall-Ainslie Terminal, 203 Mid-Region iXpress

Ainslie Street Station 

Connecting Routes: 51 Hespeler Rd., 52 Fairview Park-Ainslie St. Terminal, 53 Franklin, 54 Lisbon Pines, 55 St. Andrews, 57 Blair Road, 58 Elmwood, 59 Christopher, 62 Woodside, 63 Champlain, 111 Conestoga College-Ainslie Express

The stations that were marked with a star (*) are in both cities so that passengers can make connections with intercity buses that can take them to Waterloo-Kitchener, Kitchener-Cambridge. 

Future Stations

With the implementation of the ION LRT there are transit stations that will be removed/reallocated to a new location. For example, Highland Hills station will be discontinued because everything is being moved towards the Boardwalk station. The only two routes servcing Highland Hills will be the 204 and 201 iXpress. Sunrise Centre will become a station to have route 22 Laurentian West and future 205 Ottawa Street iXpress will be servicing. There is the possibility of the route 2 and route 33 servicing it as well.  Forest Glen station will be moved to Block Line to provide connections with the LRT. 

The King-Victoria station will only have 2-3 routes starting there, everything else will be on-street parking. 

Entry #32 Possible 2016 Changes

Since I posted regarding the 2015 changes in less than three (3) weeks, I am starting to look at the possible 2016 changes at GRT. From what I was told, 2016 and 2017 are going to be huge years for the transit redesign in the Region of Waterloo. So let's start looking at the possible 2016 changes!
Possible routes to be changed/added service in 2016

Route 3 Ottawa South
I can see this route being modified and combined with either route 11 Country Hills or route 22 Laurentian West. With the combination of route 3 into another route, it could increase the ridership for more Sunday service. Looking at the combination of route 3 and route 22, modify it into a two-way loop linking the Strasburg, Ottawa Street, and Activa corridors. Service would be removed from Highland Hills and added onto Isiah Drive and the Sunrise Centre.

Route 9 Lakeshore 
Increase evening service from 60 minutes to 30 minutes and Sunday service from 45 minutes to 30 minutes and removed the Kumpf Drive extension.

Route 10 Conestoga College
Route 10 needs to be modified. It is a very busy run, so what can be done to modify the 10? Send the 10 into the Doon South Neighbourhood. Removed Bechtel Extension New service along Autumn Ridge trail, Thomas Slee, Robert Ferrie, Doon Village, Manitou and Fairway Road. Increase service from 30 minutes to 15 minutes.

Route 11 Country Hills
I can see only three routes actually turning around at the new King-Victoria Transit hub. Those routes are Route 2 Forest Heights, Route 11 Country Hills, and route 34 Bingemans. Route 11 would be modified to service Queen Street and Highland Road and Hoffman Street corridors. New Service along Ottawa Street to Kingswood Drive to the Block Line Station. 15 minute peak service and 30 minute midday, evening and weekend service.

Route 12 Conestoga Mall-Fairview Park
To reduce time on the route 12, I can see it staying on Westmount Road to Northfields Drive (as Westmount becomes Northfield) this would provide a direct link from Fairview Park, Block Line Station and Conestoga Mall. 15 minute service Monday to Sunday.

Route 14 Waterloo Industrial
Modfiy route 14 as a one-way loop connecting Conestoga Mall, the neighbourhood of Northlake and the Waterloo Industrial Park. 30 minute service Monday to Sunday.

Route 16 Forest Glen-Conestoga College
Modify route 16 to service the Pinnacle-Pioneer Corridors. New service along Country Hill and Old Country Drive. Removed Behin Drive extension, 30 minute service Monday to Sunday

Route 20 Victoria-Frederick
Extended route beyond the Stanley Park Mall terminal to Fairview Park via Oldfield Drive and Zeller Drive (20A) and Lackner Boulevard and Sims Estate Drive (20B) to Fairview Park. 20A and 20B 30 minute service Monday to Sunday.

Route 22 Laurentian West
Modified and combined route 3 Ottawa South and route 22 Laurentian West into one route. 15 Minute peak service 30 minute midday, evening and weekend service.

Route 27 Chicopee
New two-way service along Morgan Avenue with new service into the Sims Estate neighbourhood.

Route 29 Keats Way
Extended service beyond University/King turn around to Conestoga Mall station via University Avenue, Weber Street, Lincoln Street, Bridge Street, Dunvegan, and Davenport. 15 minute peak and 30 minute midday, evening, and weekend service.

Route 31 Columbia 
New 30 minute weekend service until 10:30 pm.

Route 51 Hespeler Road
Added new service along Jamison Pkwy (51B Melran) to provide a direct connection for the community of Melran and the Hespeler terminal. 51A and 51B 30 minute evening and Sunday service.

Route 52 Fairview Park-Ainslie Street Terminal
New 30 minute evening and weekend service for the Cherry Blossom Corridor.

Route 53 Franklin
New 60 minute evening and weekend service.

Route 61 Conestoga College-Cambridge Centre
New service along Shantz Hill and Preston Pkwy corridor, 30 minute evening and weekend service introduced.

Route 67 Lovell Industrial 
Modify and combined routes 56 Dunbar, 64 Langs and 67 Lovell Industrial to provide a two-way loop connecting the Lovell Industrial Park and the Eagle Street, Dunbar and Langs corridors. New 30 minute midday, evening and weekend service introduced.

Route 75 Saginaw
Modify and combine route 60 Northview Acres and route 75 Saginaw into one route. New two-way service along Elgin Street, Saginaw Parkway corridors. 30 minute evening and weekend service

203 Mid-Region iXpress
Extend service from Sportsworld Crossing to Conestoga College Doon and Cambridge campuses. 30 minute midday, evening and weekend service.

New Cambridge iXpress
It could be the Coronation iXpress or the South East/South West Cambridge iXpress. I am not sure

This is what I think 2016 might look like, I might have some right others may not happen in 2016 but are planned for the future.

Entry #31 My Alternative 2015 Changes

With the new service changes for September just three (3) weeks away, I have looked at where more
service could be added and where it would be revised.

Here is my "alternative" changes for September 2015. 

204 Victoria-Highland iXpress

15 minute service Monday to Sunday with 30 minute evening and late night service.

205 Ottawa Street iXpress

The introduction of the Ottawa Street iXpress would provide a direct link from Ottawa and Lackner to the Sunrise Centre along Ottawa Street. This route would operate every 15 minutes Monday to Sunday and 30 minute evening and late night service.

Route 1 Queen-River (Blue) 

I have left route 1 Queen-River as it is, but I added a new branch along the Franklin Street corridor to Wilson Avenue. During the rush-hour periods, route 1 would operate every 7.5 minutes (15 via River and 15 via Franklin) during the midday, evening and weekend each branch would operate every 30 minutes. The entire route would run every 15 minutes.

Route 2 Forest Heights (Maroon) 

This route would remain as is, the only thing that would be added would be Sunday service as a 6 month trial period. Route 2 would start off every Sundays every 60 minutes, and if ridership demand is there, it would be increased to 30 minutes and permanent.

Route 7 King-Weber (Red) 

Condensed route 7 into the King Street and Weber Street corridors. Route 7 would operate every 7.5 minutes Monday to Saturday with 15 minute Sunday service. A modified route 1 Queen-River and route 8 would be servicing Wilson Ave and Connaught Street.

Route 8 via Weber/Connaught (Green)

Streamlined route 8 into Weber Street to provide a direct link from Fairview Park to King and University via Weber Street. Sunday service would be increased from 45 minutes to 30 minutes.

Route 20 The Boardwalk-Fairview Park (Purple)

This route was interesting to look at. Since my hobby is scheduling and planning, I looked at various models to see what could be done. Approved for September 2015, route 20 would be connecting Stanley Park mall and The Boardwalk along the Victoria Street and Frederick Street corridors and the Heritage Park neighbourhood. The model that I looked at for my version of route 20 was a combination of route 52 Fairview Park-Ainslie Street Terminal and route 51 Hespeler Road.

In 2014, routes 51 Hespeler Road, 65 Fisher Mills, 66 Wintson and 71 Melran were combined because of budgeting issues. When I looked at that, that provide a Cambridge crosstown route that connected Downtown Galt, Preston and the Hespeler Village with 3 branches 51A Fisher Mills via Queen (Weekday) 51B Melran and 51C Fisher Mills via Franklin (to be discontinued September 2015 due to 203 iXpress weekend service). These branches except the 51C are busy. The 52 has two branches, 52 Fairview Park-Ainslie St. via Preston Pkwy., and 52 Fairview Park-Ainslie St. via Cherry Blossom. 

When I looked at the finalized route 20, it combined routes 15 Frederick St., 19 Victoria South, and 20 Victoria Hills, my version of the 20 combined routes 15 Frederick St., 19 Victoria South, 20 Victoria Hills and 23 Idlewood. Providing bus service along the Lackner Boulevard and Fairway Road corridors and extending it through the Idlewood, Zeller Drive, Oldfield Drive and Sims Estate Drive neighbourhoods, this would provide a crosstown route connecting Fairview Park, Stanley Par Mall and The Boardwalk via Downtown Kitchener. Route 20 would have 2 branches, 20A Fairview Park-The Boardwalk via Zeller Dr. and 20B Fairview Park-The Boardwalk via Lackner Blvd. 30 minutes each branch Monday to Sunday

Route 34 Bingemans (Dark Purple) 

This route would remain the same, the only difference would be the Centennial-Forewell section would be rush-hour only and during the midday, evening and weekends, route 34 would go into Bingemans Park to provide front door service (IF Bingemans allows buses on the property) every 30 minutes. 

That is my "alternative" changes for September 2015. Please provide comments and other ideas for this map. Comments and ideas are always welcomed. 

Have a great day

David Sej

Entry #30 Late Night Bus service

Since the Region of Waterloo (Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo) is developing and growing at a rapid rate, more and more people are looking at moving into the Region as well as looking alternative ways of getting around because of the increasing price of gas. The best solution to that would be looking at adding service to the iXpress routes (200 iXpress Ainslie-Conestoga, 201 Fischer-Hallman iXpress , 202 University iXpress, 203 Maple Grove iXpress, 204 Victoria-Highland iXpress, and future iXpress routes) the route 7 Mainline, route 8 University-Fairview Park, 1 Queen-River, 20 Victoria-Frederick, 23 Idlewood, 10 Conestoga College, 16 Forest Glen, 12 Conestoga Mall-Fairview Park Mall, 31 Columbia, 9 Lakeshore, 13 Laurelwood, 5 Erb, 29 Keats Way 51A/B Hespeler Road, 52 fairview Park-Ainslie St. terminal via Preston Pkwy/Cherry Blossom, 53 Franklin, 54 Lisbon Pines, 55 St. Andrews, 56 Dunbar 57 Blair Road, 58 Elmwood, 59 Christopher, 60 Northview Acres, 64 Langs and 75 Saginaw. This would provide late night people enjoying themselves to stay out longer as well as increasing ridership in the Region. Currently, ridership for GRT has already surpassed the 2016 target, and continues to go, I personally believe that with the introduction of 24 hour bus service on certain routes this would provide people more alternatives to get around, and in the case of an emergency or someone wants to go for a late night out, late night bus service would definitely increase ridership.
The proposed idea of late night runs would leave the main routes, like the 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 7  8, 1, 12 would remain the same, but other runs would be combined, like the 20 and the 23, 5 and 29. This would provide direct service along certain corridors getting people from their nice night out to a relaxing ride home. These late night runs would be numbered in the 80's because they are not being used so it would make sense.

With the help of late night runs, the number of ridership would defiantly grow within the Region.

I hope everyone enjoyed this blog regarding late night runs.
Have a great day everyone
David Sej.

Entry #29 New September Routes & Detours

After my last blog with respect to being on hiatus, I decided to come back after looking at what the Region of Waterloo looks like with respect to the LRT construction and other construction projects occurring within the Region.

To begin lets look at the new routes for September.
I do like how our system is becoming more grid like with the creation of new transfer points. For example, to head to Charles St. Terminal downtown kitchener, passengers would have to get off at the Kitchener rail station and make connections with either routes 4 Glasgow, 6 Bridge, 34 Bingemans or the 204 (204 temporally servicing Charles St. for a year) since the route 20 Victoria-Frederick will not be servicing Charles St. terminal. Another benefit, the crosstown routes are coming back. When the "preferred" changes for September  were released, I looked at the older GRT schedules from the year 2000, I did see some similarities like the route 1 replacing route 25, but the difference is route 1 will be servicing The Boardwalk and Fairview Park mall. Route 2 will become longer again (but not combined with route 22 Laurentian West in the year 2000) and will service the Forest Heights community. With the crosstown routes making a comeback, and new subdivisions being developed, current routes are being "straitened" out to make it less "curvy." For example, Route 23 will be servicing the Fairway Road corridor and being extended into the Zeller Drive and Oldfield Drive neighbourhoods connecting Fairview Park and Stanley Park Mall. Route 34 Bingemans will be serving the Bingemans Centre corridor and Shirley Avenue employment area. This route will get extremely busy during the afternoon peak periods due to the families using the 34 to get from Bingemans Park to get home. The 204 Victoria-Highland iXpress will be heavily used. This will connect the Boardwalk and the Stanley Park Community at the intersection of Ottawa and Lackner running every 15 minutes and 30 minutes evening and Weekends. Route 27 Chicopee will have increased service from 60 minutes during the evening and weekends to 30 minutes. This needed to happen due to Freeport Health Centre. There is a lot of people that use that stop, and with more frequency for the 27, it would make it more appealing to riders. Route 7 would become straighter along Weber Street, route 1 would cover Kinzie and Thaler, route 8 would have the same routing along Weber Street.

The downside to September:

Route 1 Queen-River - The evening for Sunday service will remain the same, which is 60 minutes. I can argue that the 1 needs 30 minute service along Krug Street, River Road, Kinzie Avenue, Thaler Avenue and Fairway Road. Since the 23, which services the majority of Fairway Road, does not get Sunday service, at least some of it would be covered by the route 1, and would be popular to riders with 30 minute frequency at nights on a Sunday

Route 2 Forest Heights - I do take my hat off to the planners and schedulers that extended the 2's evening service and gave the Saturday service back, but what would make the 2 busier would be the introduction of at least a 60 minute Sunday service trial period for 6 months to see if ridership would increased then increase the frequency from 60 minutes to 30 minutes and make the Sunday service permanent.

Route 7 Mainline - Riding route 7, it needs to lose the 7D University, 7E Columbia, and 7F branches and have 3 branches 7A via Wilson, 7B via Weber and 7C Conestoga Mall and have the 92 University Loop replace 7D and 7E, but modify it to become an express to Charles St. terminal. This would have made a huge impact on route 7, but that would occur in the year 2017.

Route 8 via Franklin - Route 8 should be servicing Connaught Street from day 1 when it came out. The 8 should be traveling down Franklin Street to Connaught Street to and from Fairview Park. This would help the current schedule and the connections route 8 would make.

Route 20 Victoria-Frederick - Keewatin Avene and the Heritage Park shopping plaza are losing bus service. What I believe the 20 should be servicing is Lorraine Avenue, Lackner Boulevard, Keewatin Avenue, Holborn Drive, Old Chicopee Drive and Ottawa Street. This would provide 7 day a week service, plus 15 minute rush-hour service so people can make connections at Stanley Park Mall.

Route 22 Laurentian West - Providing Sunday service between Highland Hills and Forest Glen is a good idea, I do know what the planners are planning to do. Once they see the numbers for September, 2016 or 2017 is when route 11 loses it's Strasburg Extension and the 22 would get full routing on Sunday. I am not sure how the 11 would be modified to operate on a Sunday.

Route 23 Idlewood - No service on Lackner Boulevard. That is a huge problem for those houses on Lackner. the 23 should have 2 branches, a Sims Estate Drive-Lackner Boulevard Branch and a Fairway Road-Zeller Drive branch, each brach would operate every 30 minutes Monday to Saturday, 60 minutes Sunday. Sunday service for each branch would start out like previously mentioned for the route 2, 6 month 60 minute trial period for each branch, if ridership increases, then increase each branch to 30 minute Sunday service.

Route 27 Chicopee - Route 27 should also be servicing Sims Estate Drive with 2 way service on Morgan Avenue, and Summer midday service would be reinstated for the passengers to get to Freeport Health Centre.

Route 34 Bingemans - This is a peak only bus service. From what I heard, Bingemans has been fighting for YEARS to get bus service, and they get service, but peak only. That to me is an insult, I can see Bingemans continue fighting to have 7 day a week bus service. I can see plans being changed for the 34. The 34 Centennial-Forewell section would be peak only, and have the 34 turn around within Bingemans Park - Front Door Service!

204 Victoria-Highland iXpress - No service to Stanley Park mall on Sundays. This would be a very good connection maker of the 204 went to Stanley Park Mall temporally. It would provide 7 day a week service along Ottawa Street, and a reliever for the 23 when it gets busy.

205 Ottawa Street iXpress - No Ottawa Street iXpress until 2017. This is a huge shocker. When I chatted with the planners, they were in full favour of implementing the 205, but because of LRT construction and budget the 205 would be deferred until 2017. I personally believe, implementing the 205 would help with the 204 because the 204 turn around is Oldfield and Shaftsbury. If you got goosebumps, yes that turn around, in my personal opinion is not the safest of turn arounds. Temporally, the 204 should have been extended to Stanley Park Mall to provide connections with routes 1, 20, and 23. Plus Ottawa Street would get Sunday service.

That is my look for September, now for the detours.

The Detours in the Region are getting worse and worse by the day. The main roads are under construction AND the side roads are under construction. It is like we are getting boxed in like rats, and the only way to get around construction is to walk or bus. I understand that many people do not like that idea, but if you can't get anywhere you have to re-evaluate you options and take a chance. Yes, I do understand there will be delays, but people may enjoy taking their minds off the construction and just relaxing.

I do hope everyone has enjoyed this blog post, have a great evening everyone!

David Sej.

Entry #28: Job Hunting & Hiatus of Blog

It has occurred to me, I have been looking for a full-time position since April (since I have finished my program of Public Service at Conestoga College). I have been looking for a good job since then, but all that was left were not so good jobs. So I did some looking around, and came across a place that employers go to advertise their jobs and look at the applications they get in, as well as conduct interviews there as well. Since I have a background in factory work (working all three shifts morning, afternoons and nights) I have decided to reopen looking into factory work. The position I looked at specifically was for a packager in Waterloo. I applied to that and now I wait to see what happens. The shift I would more than likely take would be the nightshift and then work my way back up into afternoons and mornings. I do understand a lot of my new friends might be upset finding out I might be working nights at factory, but it is only temporary until I can look at pursuing a new career.

Since I announced that I applied to that position, and hopefully I can get a call back for an interview, I will be putting the blog on hiatus until further notice.

I would like to thank everyone who has read the blog for these past years, I do hope to start it up again in the future, but I am unsure when.

Have a great evening/day folks

David Sej

Entry #27: New routes for September 2015

Good day everyone,
most recently, I was watching the Region of Waterloo council meeting for the approved transit improvements, although they were approved in February Regional council all they wanted was to give it the "stamp of approval". The changes for September include:

200 iXpress: new stop at Parkside Dr. and Northfield
ION aBRT: Connects Fairview Park and Ainslie St. terminal via highway 401 and Hespeler road. 10 minute peak hour service, 30 midday, evening and weekend service.
201 F-H iXpress: New stop at Fischer-Hallman / Queens to make connections with routes 1 & 2
NEW 204 Victoria-Highland iXpress: New express route that connects Ottawa/Lackner and the Boardwalk via Victoria Street, King Street, Duke Street, Frederick/Benton Street, Queen Street, Highland Road and Ira Needles Blvd to the Boardwalk. 15 minute weekday service, 30 minute evening and weekend service.
Route 1 Queen-River: a crosstown route that connects Fairview Park mall and The Boardwalk via Fairway Rd., River Rd., Krug St., Queen St., and Ira Needles. 30 minute evening and weekend service and 15 minute peak-period (Rush-hour) service.
Route 2 Forest Heights: connects downtown Kitchener and the Forest Height and Forest Hill neighbourhoods with two way service along Highland Rd., Stirling Ave. S., Greenbrook Dr., Westheights Dr., with service to Highland Hills mall via Queen Street. 30 minute service Monday to Saturday.
Route 7B via Weber: removed service from Kinzie Ave. and Thaler Dr., streamlined service to Weber St. E.
Route 8 via Franklin: Removed East Ave. extension and added service along Weber St. between Bordon Ave. and Frederick St. at all times.
Route 20 Victoria-Frederick: New service from the Boardwalk to Stanley Park Mall via Victoria St., Weber St., and Frederick St. to Stanley Park mall via the Heritage Park neighbourhood (Natchez Dr., Halifax Dr., Confederation Dr., Lorraine Ave., River Rd.). 15 Minute during peak periods, 30 minutes  Midday, evening and weekends.
Route 22 Laurentian West: 60 minute Sunday service between Highland Hills Mall and Forest Glen Plaza.
Route 23 Idlewood: New service along the Fairway Rd., Zeller Drive, Oldfield Dr., Ottawa St., and Holborn Dr. neighbourhoods connecting Fairview Park and Stanley Park Mall 30 minutes Monday to Saturday.
Route 27 Chicopee: New two way service along Morgan Ave. and 30 minute evening and weekend service.
NEW Route 34 Bingemans: New route that connects downtown Kitchener and the Wellington St., Shirley Ave., Bingemans Ctr. Dr., and Centennial Rd. employment area. 30 minute peak-hour service ONLY.

I like seeing improvements within the GRT system, but there are a few things that are bothering me about September, and they are routes 22, 23, 27, 34 and the aBRT. Why did I single out these routes and not the others? Let me explain, route 22 Laurentian West is one of the busiest routes at GRT. It connects Downtown Kitchener, Forest Glen Plaza and Highland Hills via the Laurentian West and Activa neighbourhoods. Why is the new Sunday service for route 22 bothering me? It is because only half of the 22 would get Sunday service, the other half would not. The half that is getting Sunday service which is between Highland Hills and Forest Glen plaza. The other half (Forest Glen and downtown Kitchener) would not get Sunday service. In my own personal view as well as my experience riding route 22, the full routing of route 22 should get Sunday service. If only half of the route gets Sunday service, don't run the route.
Route 23 has no Sunday service. As a person that frequently uses route 23, and more than likely will become a regular on the 23 and 20, there needs to be Sunday service on the 23. Adding 6 day a week service is good, but Sunday service would be nice. I did how ever, read the report, and the planners did mention that there was no budget money for additional Sunday service, but it did sound like the 23 might get Sunday service in the future (2016-2017).
Route 27, what can I say about route 27, besides that ridership is slowly slipping on it, I honestly believe that route 52 would replace it,  but the planners want to have a more of a grid system for KW and Cambridge (i.e. Toronto). So by taking the 27 off of King Street (between Fairway and River) and adding service on Morgan might help save the 27 from being on the chopping block.
Route 34, as I have road on the 15 Frederick Centennial extension (I swear I will never ride that extension again because it's busy) it will get very busy, and it is also servicing Bingemans' Park, who have been fighting for bus service for years, and finally get one, but it's peak hour only. That will make people decided walk to Victoria St. to catch the 204 iXpress, which is a very bad idea. Victoria Street is busy. My proposal is to have the Centennial section of the 34 be peak only and during the midday, evening and weekend, have it turn around within Bingemans so that people can get dropped off and come home.
The ION aBRT is going to replace the Cambridge portion of the 200 iXpress. Beginning September 2015, the 200 iXpress will only go between Conestoga Mall and Fairview Park mall and the ION aBRT would be covering the Cambridge portion. This will force people that ether transfer to the aBRT, or route 52, or take the 10 to Conestoga College and wait for route 61 at the college. This can make people have second thoughts about the ION LRT as well as seeing the bus passengers transfer rather than just stay on the one route that covers all of Kitchener, Cambridge and Waterloo.

There is some sad news, when I was walking along King Street downtown Kitchener, between Andrew Street and Victoria Street, all of the business are gone. They closed up due to LRT work, no one could get to them so what was the point, I have a feeling skyscrapers will replace the old businesses along King street so that people can live in the downtown core.

So there is what is in store for September, I do hope everyone has a great day and I will see you all again in the near future!

David Sej

Entry # 26: Recent Newspaper article & Future design of other routes.

Back in April, I contacted the Waterloo Region record with respect to an opinion piece that I wrote with respect to the current GRT redesign as well as the LRT being constructed in Kitchener and Waterloo. I have included the original article that was sent in as well as the revised version.

The Original
"When looking at the future of Waterloo Region’s transportation system, the bus network is getting a revamp and a new look due to light rail being implemented in the Region. The Region believes that implementing a light rail system would increase ridership, but just for the light rail and not the bus system. Currently, the bus system has increasing ridership since 2010, but this is due to the current routes being modified into new subdivisions and not making very difficult turns. Some of these subdivisions that are looking at getting bus service in September have been growing rapidly, for example the Zeller Drive, Sims Estate Drive, Doon South, Ira Needles areas have grown rapidly. Recently, going out for a drive through the Zeller Drive neighbourhood, it has grown so rapidly houses are being built beside the Fairway Road bridge and beyond the bridge. There is a lot of potential bus service within these subdivisions, but since it has taken too long to get bus service, the majority of the people that live within these subdivisions have cars. From the view of a frequent Grand River Transit bus rider, I believe that the redesign of the transit routes should have happened before light rail.

            I also believe that light rail in the Region is still too early because of ridership numbers. In order to provide an excellent transportation service within the region, we should have started off with a rapid bus transit (aBRT) and modified it to mimic the future light rail train route as well as the iXpress routes within Waterloo, Kitchener and Cambridge to also help build up service for the future light rail. Once the aBRT route as well as the iXpress routes have been implemented and services the future light rail stops, that would help build ridership for the light rail.  Once the Grand River Transit redesign has been completed and the iXpress and aBRT route has been implemented, it could determine if Waterloo Region should have looked at aBRT or an LRT as well as the costs to operate and maintain either the aBRT or LRT."

The Revised version

When looking at the future of Waterloo Region's transportation system, the bus network is getting a revamp and a new look due to light rail being implemented in the region.

The region believes implementing a light rail system would increase ridership, but just for the light rail and not the bus system.

Currently, the bus system has increasing ridership since 2010, but this is due to the current routes being modified into new subdivisions and not making very difficult turns. Some of these subdivisions that are looking at getting bus service in September have been growing rapidly, for example the Zeller Drive, Sims Estate Drive, Doon South, and Ira Needles areas have grown rapidly.

Recently, going out for a drive through the Zeller Drive neighbourhood, it has grown so rapidly that houses are being built beside the Fairway Road bridge and beyond the bridge. There is a lot of potential bus service within these subdivisions, but since it has taken too long to get that service, the majority of the people that live within these subdivisions have cars.

From the viewpoint of a frequent Grand River Transit bus rider, I believe the redesign of the transit routes should have happened before light rail.

I also believe that light rail in the region is still too early because of ridership numbers. In order to provide an excellent transportation service within the region, we should have started off with bus rapid transit and modified it to mimic the future light rail train route as well as the iXpress routes within Waterloo, Kitchener and Cambridge to also help build up service for the future light rail.

Once the rapid bus route as well as the iXpress routes have been implemented and services the future light rail stops, that would help build ridership for light rail.

Once the Grand River Transit redesign has been completed and the iXpress and rapid bus route has been implemented, it could determine if Waterloo Region should have looked at rapid bus transit or an LRT as well as the costs to operate and maintain either bus rapid transit or LRT.

David Sej

Kitchener"

The amount of positive feedback from the community with respect to the article was phenomenal. Many people said it was well written, others agreed with me, and the most important question was asked "are you going to write another one?" The answer as of right now is yes, I have one underway but it probably will not get published until maybe the last week of June or later. 

Now for what I believe should be the main design for future GRT routes and I will include links for all of what has been discussed. 

Since many routes are looking at becoming cross-town routes like routes 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 12, 20 and 52, I believe that more runs should be modified into something like a combination of routes 5 Erb and 52 Fairview Park-Ainslie St. terminal. For example, route 23 Idlewood, have the midway point be Stanley Park mall, and then continue it to the Region of Waterloo airport then to the future Breslau GO station to provide a cross-town route. But, it does not have to be just one branch, it have have 2 branches like route 52, so have the first branch service the Sims Estate-Tremaine neighbourhood and the Lackner corridor and the second branch service the Zeller Drive, Oldfield Drive, Holborn Drive neighbourhoods along the Fairway Road corridor to Stanley Park Mall, then send it to the Airport and Bresleu GO station along the Heritage Park neighbourhood (Lorraine Ave., Confederation Drive, Halifax Drive, Natchez Drive then Victoria St, Fountain St. to the Airport, then continue it to the Breslau GO station. 

That is all for today, please let me know what your own thoughts are for this idea. 

Links

http://www.therecord.com/opinion-story/5607356-focus-on-buses/ 

http://www.grt.ca/en/routesSchedules/resources/Rt05S.pdf 

http://www.grt.ca/en/aboutus/resources/route_52_Detours.pdf - please note route 52 via Cherry Blossom is on Detour