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.