Consulting group reveals bold
plan for Transit
Guelph’s Transit Growth Strategy and Plan was addressed in two sessions
last week at the Evergreen Seniors Centre and City Hall, respectively. After a
public meeting last December, over 1,100 completed written surveys, 6,000
online surveys and interviews with members of council and transit stakeholders,
the crew of Dillon Consulting unveiled their master plan, which was, to say the
least, ambitious.
I had the opportunity to be a proverbial
third wheel as Ward 3 Councillor June Hofland was taken through the proposed
changes by Richard Puccini, a transportation consultant with Dillon. The plan
was broken up into three areas: improvements to mobility service, changes to
conventional bus service and the assessment of Higher Order Transit for the
city (ie: light rail, use of Guelph Junction Rail lines and intercity transit).
The overall vision of the project, to summarize, is to make public transit the
preferred mode of transportation for everyone in the City of Guelph be they
resident, worker or visitor.
First up were improvements to the city’s
mobility service and according to the survey, ridership on Guelph’s mobility
buses hasn’t increased in the last few years. The thing is though, it will.
With an aging population, the city will need to expand past one mobility bus
running four hours a day. Instead Puccini and his fellow consultants recommend
getting a second bus and a north and south route. Further, the consultants
talked about targeting those routes to the amenities and locations that seniors
frequent. It’s hoped that within two years, ridership will expand by 25 per
cent and then expand to 60 per cent in five years.
Conventional service is where things really
get interesting. First, it was noted in the surveys that despite an overall
excellent record of service, Transit is still slipping so far as areas being
underserviced or dealing with the fact that sometimes bus demand is either
overwhelming or unable to meet demand. Puccini explained that a grid system was
out of the question because the nature of the layout of Guelph streets
makes it impractical. Instead, the Dillon team is recommending a complete
teardown of the current routes and make the straight shot of Gordon, Norfolk and
Woolwich the primary transit corridor of the city. They also suggest adjusting
route lengths to make runs 15 minutes during peak and 30 minutes off peak.
Overall though, Puccini said Guelph’s ahead of
many southern Ontario municipalities with 6.1 per cent of the city population taking the
bus as their primary form of transportation. Still 65 per cent are single
person auto-centric and the city will need to take steps to discourage that
while also encouraging a dynamic, multifaceted approach to transportation that
includes biking, walking and carpooling.
To get more information about the
Transportation strategy go to http://guelphpolitico.blogspot.com
5 Lost Days of Summer
Despite lengthy negotiations between the
City and the workers’ unions in an effort to co-ordinate the five unpaid days
for city workers approved in this year’s budget, it seems that Guelph services
will effectively be shutdown five days this summer. Facility closures and
service disruptions will be in effect Monday June 21; Friday July 9; Thursday
July 22; Wednesday August 11; and Tuesday August 24. However, this doesn’t
include transit, which will have to take its lumps in the month of August
during which time Sunday service will be cancelled. That’s right, I hope none
of you out there take the bus in order to get to church, work, or other points
of interest on a Sunday, because you’re going to be S.O.L. in August.
“While this has been a difficult decision
and will undoubtedly be unwelcome news for residents, the measures are
necessary to mitigate further property tax increases,” said Guelph’s Chief
Administrative Officer Hans Loewig in a press release. “We thank all of the
parties for their willingness to discuss ways to avoid service disruptions,
which demonstrates a collective commitment to public service.”
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