Bus route shakeup reflects a growing community

One question.

As winter reluctantly turns into spring, there’s one question on our minds. And that is: “When the (bleep) are those light rail trains going to start rolling?”

But the Ion trains are just the most interesting part of a massive shakeup that’s coming soon to public transit in Waterloo Region.

Once rail service starts (which, we’ve been told, is in the spring of this year) it will change the way bus service happens. New routes will be integrated with the light rail route.

The central Charles Street terminal will be phased out, to be replaced by a massive hub at King and Victoria streets, where light rail will meet GO trains and buses, VIA train service, Greyhound buses and car-sharing options. Construction for that is expected to begin in 2019.

Our spread-out cities will develop a grid pattern of transit. That’s far more appropriate than the centrally located downtown terminal we have now, from which routes have radiated like spokes in a wheel.

Study the plans, as I did Wednesday at a Grand River Transit public information session, and you can also see which parts of the city are becoming more important.

Conestoga College will be getting far more service (and let’s hope there’s a better deal for the students to get bus passes to match all that service).

Also getting more service are fast-growing outlying areas of the suburbs, such as southeast Cambridge near the South Cambridge shopping mall, which will be covered by the 200 express route extending beyond the Ainslie terminal in Cambridge.

Another change will be good news for the Huron Village area, where service to Seabrook Drive, Ludolph Street and other parts of southwest Kitchener will be dramatically expanded.

New express routes include the 205, running along Ottawa Street between the Sunrise Centre and Lackner Boulevard, with connections to light rail and other express route stops.

In 2019, we’ll see the 206 express route between Fairway and the part of south Cambridge near Southwood Drive and Cedar Street.

Here, by the numbers, are a few more changes we can expect.

• 140 more electronic signs in 2018. These signs at bus stops tell you when the next bus is coming, which gives the rider more of a sense of control. There are about 130 of these signs up now, and the number will more than double this year, said Blair Allen, supervisor of transit development.

• 11 routes will get more frequent bus service this year. They are routes 200, 1, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14 and 22.

• One path, not six, for Route 7. This route finally becomes less complicated. It will go from Fairview Mall to Conestoga Mall along King Street, the same way each time. Previously you had to watch out for which version of Route 7 you were on.

• Three new terminals to be built at Sunrise Centre, Conestoga College and University of Waterloo this year and next. Forest Glen and Highland Hills terminals will be phased out, as will Charles Street Terminal.

• One problem still not solved is how to get a bus to stop at the Waterloo Region Museum, which is a publicly-funded treasure of information that currently can’t be reached safely if you don’t have access to a car. That’s not right. There is express bus service planned on Homer Watson Boulevard, but no stop planned at the museum. The traffic speed and the curve in the road right by the entrance make it a difficult place to stop, I’m told.

• Three suggestions from the public for the transit hub on King and Victoria include: a connection to the Iron Horse Trail for walking and cycling; access for pedestrians from Waterloo Street; protecting the 1913 portion of the Rumpel Felt building.

More information is available at www.grt.ca/newdirections.