Ion buses hit the road in Cambridge
Wi-Fi, headrests among new features to entice regular commuters
CAMBRIDGE — Nine fancy new express buses are ready to roll in Cambridge, carrying the Ion brand just like the electric trains soon to launch in Kitchener and Waterloo.
Politicians unveiled the buses Monday, hailing them as climate change fighters, symbols of smart government spending, and a promise of better transit to come.
Costing $5.4 million, the buses come with USB charging stations, free Wi-Fi after more testing concludes, headrests and tinted windows. They look a bit different, painted in Ion colours and with aluminum rims.
Otherwise they are regular Grand River Transit buses. When the trains launch, the new buses will follow the same route as current iExpress 200 buses, with the same fares and travel times, but possibly more trips, connecting the Ainslie Street transit terminal to the Fairview Park mall in Kitchener.
Until trains launch, the Ionbranded buses will ply various Cambridge routes.
At the unveiling, politicians touted rapid transit, which has cost more than $1 billion to build and finance. The launch date, delayed since 2017, remains uncertain due to late delivery of the Bombardier-built streetcars.
“We are truly building a better future for Waterloo Region,” said Cambridge MPP Kathryn McGarry, Minister of Transportation for the provincial Liberal government, which spent up to $325 million to launch rapid transit.
No one mentioned that the trains are launching after local ridership has plummeted.
The plunge after 2013 erased almost 40 per cent of ridership gains made while various governments planned and approved rail transit between 2006 and 2013.
That’s got Cambridge Mayor Doug Craig worried there are not enough passengers for trains.
“I’m concerned right now, yes I am,” he said.
Craig had pitched better buses rather than trains.
“We can’t predict what the world’s going to look like 10, 15, 20 years out. There could be a lot of changes we don’t know. Driverless cars, and things like that. We can’t predict the future as well we would like too,” he said.
Regional Chair Ken Seiling expects passengers will return to ride trains.
“I think we’ll see our ridership move up again,” he said, citing the draw of rail transit in other cities.
In building rail transit in Kitchener and Waterloo, angling to draw jobs and homes to central areas, governments chose not to extend street-level trains into Cambridge, arguing high costs aren’t justified by lower ridership.
That’s left Cambridge residents helping to pay for trains, but served by express buses, which are not rapid buses because they do not have dedicated lanes.
Planning is underway to extend rail transit into Cambridge. The route is not finalized and there’s no money to launch trains. Craig figures trains remain 10 to 20 years away if they ever arrive.
“We have to be realistic,” he said. “These buses will carry us to that point, if in fact there’s a transition to trains.”
Transit passengers praised the new Ion buses.
“I’m really liking the fact that I can plug in my phone to charge,” Chris Wiedemann said.
“It’s comfortable. It’s nicelooking. I think everybody’s going to enjoy it once it starts up and running,” Rob Hoffman said.
He anticipates using Wi-Fi to check his transit app to see when his next bus arrives.
If such a bus was running earlier, Kim Moore might have thought harder about trading transit for the minivan she now uses to shuttle her two young children.
“I used to be a very loyal transit rider,” Moore said. “I like the fact that it’s got Wi-Fi, it’s got chargers for your phone, it’s stepped up to the new millennium.”
Sheri Orth figures headrests will help her son, who often falls asleep riding the bus.
“It looks comfortable,” she said.
Melissa Webster figures she’ll now be able to use her phone more often, to drown out bus noise that disrupts her hearing aids.
Local residents ride transit at a below-average rate among the nine largest transit systems, taking 44 transit trips per person in 2016.
That’s down from a peak of 50 trips per person taken in 2013. Ridership in 2017 appears unchanged.
The ridership plunge after 2013 is by far the steepest among major Ontario systems, heading into the biggest transit expansion ever seen in this region.
Planners blame the plunge on factors such as lower gas prices, construction detours, a provincial transit downturn, changes in student housing, and changes to high school transportation. Ridership fell even as transit service expanded.
Local transit is volatile in part because it relies heavily on students who are the bulk of its passengers. The service attracts few stabilizing commuters, benchmarks indicate.