The Death of the 40 Minute Wait
If you take Guelph Transit, then you’ve
noticed a change this week as the 40 minute schedule that has driven bus riders
bananas over the past year has finally been eliminated for the more commuter
friendly 20 minute schedule. This also means that bus stops will have posted
times again, saving the guessing game and cell phone calls to Next Bus. And
finally, the 54 Arkell route has been extended to leave from and arrive to St. George’s Square, instead of the University.
Starting Monday, the buses now leave
downtown beginning at 5:40
am and will continue to depart every 20
minutes until 6:20 pm. After that, the next buses will go on their regular 30 minute
rotation starting with the 6:45 pm until 12:15 am, Monday to Friday. Saturday and Sunday service will remain
unaffected, as will the Perimeter routes.
After $1.7 million budget increase form
this year’s council, Transit was able to buy the 10 buses it needed in order to
offer three-times an hour departures from the Square. The 40 minute, peak time
schedule was started last year as a cost saving measure to avoid any loss in
service and to help combat missed transfers because of the way some buses would
get behind schedule with traffic.
This will not come without some cost to the
rider however. The cash fair is now up to $2.25 per ride, which is still a
steal as compared to Grand River Transit in K-W ($2.50) and the TTC in Toronto ($2.75).
For adults, 10 ride tickets will now cost you $19.50 and a monthly pass is $63.
But even with this improvement, Transit
remains a work in progress for Guelph, which only last year began offering a holiday schedule. There are
still calls out for the city to increase Sunday service past its 6:15 pm end time, as well as expanded routes. Guelph companies
are also hopeful to negotiate special rates to get bus passes for their
employees, especially now considering the new normal for gas prices.
Guelph-Eramosa Transit?
Last month, an article in The Wellington
Advertiser, the Mayor of Guelph-Eramosa floated the possibility that Guelph
Transit routes should be extended outside the city limits. Mayor Chris White
said that if the objective is getting more people out of their cars, than it’s
an obvious alternative to explore. “It’s to Guelph’s advantage
to keep our people off their roads,” he said. The plan White discussed with Randall
French, Guelph’s manager of transit services, involved extending bus service
along Highway 7 to Rockwood, along County Road 124 west to Cambridge, and from
Guelph to the Cross Creek/Blue Forest and St. Ignatius area. Mayor White went
on to say though that this extended service won’t be a freebee. “The idea is
for each municipality to pay for its own usage,” White added.
Get on GO More Often this Weekend
As part of an overall expansion of service,
GO Transit has began to offer increased frequency and new schedules for
Saturday, Sunday and Holiday services. The GO route from the Royal City to Georgetown and Brampton now offers
eight trips, up from five, on the weekend and has been adjusted so that the bus
now departs from the University Centre loop at the U of G campus, before
stopping at the Greyhound terminal on Macdonell. The new schedules began on
June 28.
Layton in Town for
a Twofer
Federal NDP leader Jack Layton made two
stops in the Royal City this week; his fourth and fifth respectively since Tom King was
announced as the local NDP candidate in the upcoming by-election. On Canada Day,
Layton witnessed a citizenship ceremony in Riverside Park before
throwing out the first pitch at the Guelph Royals game against the Barrie
Bobcats. Then, on Saturday, Layton and King hosted a community barbecue in Royal City Park, that was
free and open to the public.
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