What's in store for Grand River Transit?

What’s in store for GRT? As we prepare for the arrival of ION, the region’s Transit Services has given us a glimpse into the next few years of Grand River Transit. Here  at TriTAG, there’s nothing we like more than a thick PDF full of juicy planning details. We dive into the Interim Report on GRT’s 2017-2021 business plan so you don’t have to!

Obviously, ION’s launch in early 2018 represents a major change for our region. With ION light rail providing a fast, reliable backbone for transit trips across a single fare, integrated transit network, the bus system needs some changes to take advantage of this. In addition, plans are afoot to continue growing the iXpress bus network:

• **New 205 Ottawa iXpress (Sept 2017)**
• 10 minute peak frequency on 201 and 202 (Sept 2017)
• Extension of 201 to Block Line ION (early 2018) and then on to Conestoga College (late 2018)

You should expect to see some major changes to other bus routes in the wake of ION, as well:

• Launch of the UW Transit Plaza (Sept 2017) for routes 9, 13, 31 and 201. (But not 202?)
• A streamlined Route 7 on King and Connaught. (early 2018) An idea whose time has finally come?
• A startling shakeup & breakup of Route 8 (early 2018) that we’re still digesting.
• Changes to 9, 29, 92 and others.

Also look for service frequency improvements a number of routes, as well as possible expansion to serve new suburbs and some townships.

Some of the changes proposed by GRT for 2017.

Underlying all of this is a strong growth target being set. After over a decade of skyrocketing ridership, 2014 and 2015 saw a decrease in the number of riders. Planners blame this on a loss of school board funded high school trips, the disruption of ION construction, and also on years of unrelenting fare increases that GRT has been directed to undertake.

However, region staff expect ridership growth to bounce back and then some. Serving just under 20 million rides a year right now, the plan is to reach 28 million in just 5 years!

This will take some doing. For one, ION will need to live up to its expectations. But the real question is whether our regional council is ready to make the investment in transit that this requires. This means committing to funding the expanded service hours (29% over 5 years) and to stop driving away riders– in particular, the new riders GRT seeks– with continuous fare hikes well above inflation.

Regional government must commit to supporting ridership growth to hit these projections.

There’s more in this report that catches our eye, but only so much we can go into in one post. Do the proposed route restructures make sense? Is GRT being too cautious and incremental in its redesign to meet lofty ridership goals? And is there an overemphasis on peak service frequency at the expense of all day flexibility?

We’d like to delve deeper into these questions. Watch this space.

Upcoming consultations on the GRT business plan:

Thursday, September 22, 2016  Drop in anytime between 5 – 8 p.m. Lions Arena 20 Rittenhouse Road, Kitchener GRT Routes 3, 12, 22 and 201 iXpress

Thursday, September 29, 2016 Drop in anytime between 5 – 8 p.m. Waterloo Memorial Recreation Centre, 2nd Floor, Hauser Haus 101 Father David Bauer Drive, Waterloo GRT Routes 5, 8, 12 and 200 iXpress