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.