Entry #48 Peak Hour Service

What seems the be the most brought up topic to my attention is peak hour service. Peak hour is also known as rush-hour service. Before I continue on, rush-hour service is defined as service that is provided Monday to Friday between 6:30am and 9:00am and 2:30pm and 7:00pm. There are certain routes that operate during the AM and PM peak periods, those routes are routes:
1 Queen-River (every 15 minutes during the school year)
3 Ottawa South (every 15 minutes for the school year)
5 Erb (instead of interlining with the 29 during the PM rush hour, there is an extra 5 operating until the end of service)
7 Mainline (extra trips on the 7B, 7D and 7E branches)
8 University-Fairview Park (extra trips on the 8 University branches)
9 Lakeshore (every 15 minutes during the AM and PM rush hours, there are midday trips between UW and Cedarbrea due to overcrowding)
11 Country Hills (every 15 minutes for the school year)
12 Conestoga Mall-Fairview Park (during the school year, route 12 during the AM rush hour ends at University and King as for the PM rush hour goes all the way to Conestoga Mall and in the AM the peak 12 starts at Conestoga Mall, once the Universities get out the 12 during the AM and PM rush hours, end at University at King)
13 Laurelwood (every 15 minutes during the AM and PM rush hours, there are midday trips between UW and Laurelwood and Blue Beech due to overcrowding)
14 Waterloo Industrial
20 Victoria-Frederick (every 15 minutes due to over crowding)
21 Elmira (because this is a township route, route 21 operates hourly during the midday and every 30 minutes during the AM and PM peak), route
33 Huron (operates from Forest Glen Plaza to the Huron Industrial Park and the Huron Village)
34 Bingemans (Operates from Charles St. Terminal to the Shirley-Bingemans Centre industrial Park and Bingemans Park)
57 Blair Road
67 Lovell Industrial
72 Cherry Blossom BusPlus
73 Northlake BusPlus (operates from Mccorminc community centre to Northlake Drive and Conservation Drive neighbourhood)
76 Doon South BusPlus (Operates from Conestoga College Doon to the Pioneer Plaza via Doon South Drive)
77 Wilmot BusPlus (Operates from The Boardwalk to New Hamburg via Highland Road, Snyder's Road, Huron Street, and Peel Street)
91 Late Night Loop (Operates from September to June only)
92 University Loop (operates during the fall and winter terms only)
110 Conestoga College/Fairview Park Express (operates from Fall to Winter terms only)
111 Ainslie/Conestoga College Express (operates from Ainslie Street to Conestoga Cambridge and Doon ever 40-45 minutes during the Fall and Winter terms only)
116 Forest Glen/Conestoga College Express (Operates during the Fall and Winter terms only)
201 Fischer-Hallman iXpress (operates every 15 minutes for the fall and winter terms. No service from May until September  30 minute midday and 15 minute rush-hour)
202 University iXpress  (operates every 15 minutes dfor the fall and winter terms. 30 minute midday and 15 minute rush-hour)
203 Mid-Region iXpress (During the AM and PM rush-hours the 203 operates between Cambridge Centre, the L.G. Lovell Industrial Park, Hespeler, Sportsworld and Conestoga College Doon and Cambridge Campuses for the fall and winter terms. No service from May until September)
204 Victoria-Highland iXpress (Summer and Christmas time, every 30 minutes 15 minute peak)

What bothers myself the most is when a new route gets implemented, it get's peak hour service only, that gives the folks that live in the area limited service and cannot get to doctors appointments, spend time with family and friends or catch a movie during the day. In my personal opinion, there should be no peak hour service. Everything should be operating, even just hourly service to the neighbourhoods would be better than having peak service. In other cities outside the Region, for example Brampton, everything operates, there is no peak hour service.

As a person that enjoys transit, I believe that there should be no peak hour service, everything should be operating because it's all about moving people and getting them around the Region quickly with reliable transportation.

Entry #47: Route 77 Wilmot and the Possible Expansion to other Townships

Starting next Monday (April 25) GRT's new BusPlus pilot project, route 77 Wilmot will begin servicing The Boardwalk in Kitchener-Waterloo and the Wilmot Township communities of Petersburg, Baden and New Hamburg. When reading more information about this new pilot project, the Regional planners are calling for 80-90 people a day (10-11 customers per hour). When the Regional planners put that in the report for the project, this will probably become a full conventional bus (40 foot bus). A new feature for this project is the flex routing. Flex routing is when a customer has to phone into GRT and they will be sent to a dispatch agent and the agent will determine if the route can do the flex routing. Personally, I am not a fan of the flex routing (just because of it takes the route out of it's way, and if successful, the flex routing would not work for a full 40 foot bus.) 

After hearing about the project, and knowing this route will do very well, the main question that came into my head was, what about the other townships? Taking a cab from North Dumbries (Ary), Woolwhich (Breslau, Maryhill, Conestoga, Elmira, and St. Jacobs) and Wellesley (Wellesley, St. Clements, Heidlburg, Linwood) can get very very expensive.  With this being the second township bus route, the first being route 21 Elmira, and shown that the 21 is very successful, why not give the 21 30 minute service during the week and Saturdays, even introduce hourly or maybe 40 minute Sunday service to see what ridership is like. I know this is all being very thoughtful and giving bus service to the townships would provide a direct link to spending time with family and friends, getting to part-time and full time jobs, see a movie, do errands in the city, going to the Airport and making connections to other GRT routes so people can move around the Region easily and quickly. 

Personally, I believe that route 77 will be a very successful route and will turn out to be a second route 21, busy and people can make other connections with other GRT routes and move freely throughout the Region. 

Entry #46 Route 77 New Hamburg-The Boardwalk

Some exciting news for the folks that live in the communities of Petersburg, Baden and New Hamburg, GRT has finalized the routing for the busPlus route New Hamburg and the Boardwalk. The route will be named route 77 and will travel from the Boardwalk, to the Medical Centre then continue along Ira Needles to Highland Road, out Highland Road/Snyders Road East, Waterloo Street, Huron Street and Peel Road. This route will operate every 1 hour and 15 minutes Monday to Friday. This is on for a 1-year trial basis to see if the BusPlus would be a success. If proven a success, more service would probably be added to the route, and start to put a 40 foot bus on the route (something similar to the route 21 Elmira). To bring a positive look on this pilot project, I believe that this trial run of route 77 will be a success as I believe in reaching out to the townships and provide transit service so that the people will have a safe and reliable way to come in and out of the city.

Here is the the schedule for route 77 departing the Boardwalk:
7:00am, 8:15am, 9:30am, 3:00pm, 4:15pm, 5:30pm and 6:45pm

Here is the schedule leaving New Hamburg back to the Boardwalk:
7:45am, 9:00am, 10:15am, 2:35pm, 3:45pm, 5:00pm, and 6:45pm

I am very excited to take route 77 out for a ride out and back to New Hamburg from the Boardwalk!

Entry #45 2016 Service Changes and Northfield Garage

The 2016 service changes at GRT (Grand River Transit) won't be as major as mentioned in previous blog entries. This is because the college declined the U-Pass, so there will be no expansion for routes 10, 16, 61, 110, 111, 116. There will be changes to the BusPlus routes and vehicles.

BusPlus Changes
- New low floor 19 seat buses, with a front destination sign, INIT system, and new fair boxes (if not postponed again)

- New Hamburg BusPlus - routing and schedule unknown at this time

- Hayward Industrial BusPlus - this new route will operate out of Forest Glen terminal and service Family and Childrens Services and the Hayward Industrial Park. This route will operate every 15-30 minutes.

These are just minor changes to some of the lower dense neighbourhoods that GRT provides service to. There will come a time where each of the BusPluses will end up like the Cambridge route 75 Saginaw, which started off as a BusPlus and is now a 40 foot conventional bus route that operates Monday to Friday from 5:45am to 9:30pm.

Northfield Garage
With GRT (Grand River Transit) expanding rapidly with new routes and current routes being modified, there is no more room at the Strasburg garage (Central Division)  or the Conestoga Boulevard garage (South Division). Grand River Transit is has been looking at building a garage up on Northfield Drive (which would be come the North Division) so GRT operators that live out in the townships close to Conestoga Mall would have a garage to start and end at. The idea of having a route or routes service the garage like the route 3 servicing Strasburg and the 22 servicing Strasburg (walk to Strasburg @ Ottawa) and the 53 Franklin, 61 Conestoga College-Cambridge Centre, 200 iXpress and the 67 Lovell Industrial service the Conestoga Boulevard garage. The routes that could service the Northfield garage could the the 6 Bridge, 31 Columbia and 202 iXpress. Having these routes service the garage would provide the bus drivers that work out of Conestoga Mall would have more than one option to grab a bus back to the garage.

Entry #44 Conestoga College Referendum Vote Results

In this past week, the Region of Waterloo and Grand River Transit have proposed a Universal Bus Pass to the students of Conestoga College, if the U-Pass was passed, the price would be $245/year, which would be approximately $81.00 for 4 months verses the $227.00 (going up to $238.00) for 4 months. With this this would also bring a massive service frequency increase to the college:
Routes 10, 16, 61, 110, 116 would operate every 15 minutes during the AM and PM rush hours.
Route 111 would operate every 20 minutes
Routes 16, 61 would have extended service until approximately 10:30pm.
Route 61 would have 60 minute Saturday service from 10am to 6pm.
Route 10 would have 30 minute weekend service

The results of that referendum were the college was not in favour of the U-Pass. That means, three (3) years from now, the U-Pass would be proposed again and another referendum would be looked at. With the college rejecting the U-Pass, the proposed expansion and changes to routes 10, 16, 61, 110, 111, and 116 will not happen, I believe it is time to focus bus service expansion along Ottawa Street (205 Ottawa Street iXpress), the Waterloo Regional Airport (Routes 20 Victoria-Frederick, 23 Idlewood, 34 Bingemans), or even start some of the South West Kitchener changes for 2017. Next week council will decide what to do with the money they have to play with. I do hope council looks at the Ottawa Street express and bus service to the Airport. As Ottawa Street and the Airport are heavily under serviced, bus service wise, and I believe it is a good idea to start looking at it now to begin preparation for expansion service in those areas.

Entry #43: 2017 Service Changes

With the new bus service expansion at Conestoga College starting September 2016, this is because Waterloo Regional Council has approved the Conestoga College U-PASS. With the approval of the U-Pass comes major transit changes at the College:

Route 10
- Increase Frequency of AM and PM Peak service to 15 minutes
- Saturday and Sunday Service 30 minutes

Route 16
- Increase Frequency of AM and PM Peak service to 15 minutes
- Evening Service until Approximately 10:30pm

Route 61
- Increase Frequency of AM and PM Peak service to 15 minutes
- Evening Service until Approximately 10:30pm
- Saturday Service from Approximately 10am to 6pm

Route 110-116
- Increase Frequency of AM and PM Peak service to 15 minutes

Route 111
- Increase AM and PM peak period service from 40-45 minutes to 20 minutes.

203 Mid-Region iXpress 

- No change until 2017

These are some very crucial and important changes happening at the college. After this expansion comes the important expansion year, 2017, South West Kitchener and the beginning of the ION LRT. In 2017, South West Kitchener will look very different from what it looks like now. To get a better understanding, the following routes will be looked at

Route 3 Ottawa South, Route 7 Mainline, Route 8 University/Fairview Park, Route 10 Conestoga College, Route 11 Country Hills, Route 12 Fairview Park-Conestoga Mall, Route 16 Forest Glen-Conestoga College, Route 22 Laurentian West, Route 23 Idlewood, Route 27 Chicopee, Route 33 Huron, 201 iXpress , 203 iXpress and 205 iXpress. These routes will look very different and have a higher frequency service as well. The predictions I have for 2017 are:

Route 3 Ottawa South

- Increased frequency of service from 30 minutes to 15 minutes Monday to Friday

- Weekend service every 30 minutes

Route 7 Mainline

- Rationalized route 7 into 3 branches 7A via Wilson, 7B via Weber, 7C Conestoga Mall

- 7A/7B every 15 Minutes, 30 evening and Weekend

- 7C every 7.5 minutes Monday to Friday, 15 evening and weekend

Route 8 University-Fairview Park

- Removed route 8 from Franklin and introduced new service along Weber Street, Fourth Street and Connaught Street

- Increased evening and weekend service from 45 minutes to 30 minutes

Route 10 Conestoga College 

- Modified route 10 to service the Doon South neighbourhood.

- Route 10A will be via Pioneer, 10B via Doon South

- Increased route 10 to 15 minutes Monday to Friday, 30 minute evening and weekend

Route 11 Country Hills

- Modified route 11 to service Sunrise Centre from Forest Glen plaza. 

- Increased route 11 service to 15 minutes Monday to Friday, 30 minutes evening and weekends.

Route 12 Fairview Park-Conestoga Mall 

- Modified route 12 to service Fallowfield Drive neighbourhood and Block Line Road to Fairway.

- Increased route 12 frequency to 15 minutes Monday to Friday.

Route 16 Forest Glen-Conestoga College

- Modified route 16 to service Strasburg Road, Thomas Slee, New Dundee and Conestoga College Boulevard. 

- New weekend service to approximately 10:30pm. 

Route 22 Laurentian West

- Modified route 22 to service the Sunrise Centre and Fairview Park via Forest Glen Plaza

- Evening and Weekend service improved to 30 minutes

Route 23 Idlewood

- Modified route 23 into a two-way loop connecting Sims Estate, Lackner Boulevard, Franklin Street to Stanley Park Mall 

- New Sunday Service from 7:45am to approximately 11:00pm

- Evening to be extended to 11pm

Roue 27 Chicopee

- Modified route 27 to service Sims Estate and Fairway Road to the Waterloo Regional Airport. 

- 30 minute service Monday to Friday

- New midday summer service introduced. 

Route 33 Huron

- Modified route 33 to service The Boardwalk via the Huron Village, Fischer-Hallman, Huron Industrial Park, Fairview Park and Conestoga College. 

- Route 33 has new midday, evening and weekend service every 30 minutes. 

201 iXpress

- Extended route from Forest Glen plaza to Fairview Park via Block Line and Fairway Road

203 iXpress 

- Extended route from Sportsworld Crossing to Fairview Park via Conestoga College and the Huron Industrial Park

- Evening service increased from 30 minutes to 15 minutes.

- Saturday and Sunday Service increased from 60 minutes to 30 minutes. 

205 Ottawa Street iXpress

- New express route that connects Ottawa Street and Lackner Boulevard to the Sunrise Centre along the Ottawa Street corridor.

- 15 minute service Monday to Friday, 30 minute service on weekends. 

These are some of the predictions that would happen in 2017. I am not 100% sure which ones are true besides the 201-203 iXpress will be extended to Fairview. One option I would like to see is route 20 extended along Victoria Street to Lackner to Fairview Park via Franklin Street and Ottawa Street and route 23 gets combined with the 10. This is another option I would like to see. 

These are some of the options that might happen in 2017. I do not know all the changes, but the 201-203-205 iXpress are coming in 2017. The other routes, I do not know what is going to happen, these are just my ideas that might happen. We will see what the planners have for the fall of 2016. 

Until then, have a great evening and a great week everyone! 

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!