Entry #50 More GO Transit service for Waterloo Region

Last week, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynn made a huge announcement at the Kitchener Rail station, GO will be 2 more trains during the AM and PM rush-hours, another huge most for commuters is the GO express route 30 Kitchener-Bramalea GO. Route 30 is currently a peak only run (one trip from Kitchener train station to Bramalea in the morning and 3 trips from Bramalea to Kitchener in the afternoon). Starting September route 30 will become an all day route connecting Kitchener and Brampton. GO currently has one route that connects The Region and Mississauga, but many people may not want to go to Mississauga, so the 30 will be an alternative to travel outside the region. As for the 2 more trains in the AM and PM will also begin starting September.  Cambridge will be getting more GO bus service, which is a start to bring GO trains to Cambridge linking the entire Region to Toronto, Milton, Brampton and Mississauga. GO transit has been in negotiations with CN due to CN owning the majority of the GO Kitchener line, so the province is looking at building a new corridor just for CN freight, that would space up room to bring all-day GO train service to Kitchener. The extension of the Milton GO line into Cambridge is still being evaluated, but to help build up ridership between the Cambridge-Toronto corridor, more GO bus service will be added.

This is very good news for the GO Kitchener corridor and the GO Cambridge corridor, more service will bring more commuters and people who just want to avoid the highway and Toronto traffic, GO buses and GO trains will be looking at a large increase in ridership.

Entry #49 Construction

Since spring and summer time is the busiest time for the construction crews to work on many projects, which for the Region include widening roads, sewer grades and the LRT. Construction does have its impacts on the car and truck drivers, but it also messes up the bus travellers and schedules for the buses. With the majority of the Regions main artery roads (Franklin Boulevard, Ottawa Street, Courtland Avenue, Charles Street, King Street and so on) are closed due to construction. The best example for construction detours are Cambridge routes 53 Franklin and 203 Mid-Region iXpress. With the installation of roundabouts along Franklin Boulevard from Pinebush Road to Champlaing Boulevard, with the exception of Franklin and Glamis which would remain a traffic light, this has messed up the people using these two routes during the AM and PM rush hours along with the midday service. During the AM and PM rush hours, route 53 operates every 45 minutes, during the midday every 30 minutes, as for the 203 Monday to Saturday, it operates every 35 minutes, so being at the bus stop for these two are very important, because you literally have no idea when they are going to depart from Ainslie Street and Cambridge Centre (53) or Cambridge Centre and Sportsworld Crossing (203).
     I personally believe that during times of construction, people still need to be moved around the Region, with that being said, reducing the schedule for certain bus routes because of construction can really mess up travellers morning routines. I believe that during times of construction, there should be more buses on the road. For example, route 53 during the AM and PM rush hours, it comes ever 45 minutes, I believe that should be every 15 minutes during the rush hours and 30 during the midday, so people can remain on their morning routine. As for the 203 iXpress, that should be operating every 15 minutes Monday to Saturday and every 20 minutes on Sundays. This way people using the 203 can adjust their daily routines so that they can catch the 203 and get to work, school, and so on.

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.