Grand River Transit

[SF22]

The first community Q&A for the 2025-2030 business plan happened last night. Some general notes from the meeting (by no means extensive):

• Each of the townships will be having virtual engagement sessions to review service options for the specific township. Wilmot on July 9, Wellesley on July 10, Woolwich on July 17 and North Dumfries on July 16.
  
• They ran three polls for the people who were participating in the meeting: where do you live, how do you typically get around Waterloo Region (bus, car, biking, etc), and how important do you rate a number of priorities (eg: speed of service, lower waiting times, lower fares, new service routes, improved stop amenities, etc).
  
• Articulated buses have been put on the back burner for the moment. They are still deciding whether to go with hybrid or all-electric bendy buses, and will also need to retrofit a number of bus stops to accommodate these 60' vehicles. Will probably be another couple of years before we see these.
  
• They are hoping to get more funds to direct towards improving stop amenities (benches, shelters, etc) so that the work can be done faster. They do some every year, but they recognize it's moving too slowly.
  
• Not looking at switching to PRESTO at this time.
  
• They will not seriously begin studying for a Phase 3 ION route until Phase 2 is fully approved and under construction. That said, when presented with the 3 potential routes that have been floating around (Victoria/Highland, Ottawa, or King/University), the GRT rep specifically named Ottawa as a potential Phase 3 route.
  
• They are continuing their needs-based fare discounts (income-based instead of a traditional 'Students and Seniors' model), but are looking at potentially adjusting children's fares (it sounded like this might be a discount as opposed to fully free).
  
• They are looking into some kind of modification for the ION validators on the platform, as they can be hard to read. This might be something retrofitted to provide protection from the glare of the sun.
  
• Someone asked about 'hyper-express' buses that jump straight from Conestoga to Central Station to Fairview to cut travel times. It sounds like they're looking at something similar, but no indication if this is something they think is feasible.
  
• They are also looking at all-door boarding to help speed up loading times and keep buses punctual. This is particularly connected to the articulated buses, as they would likely need to have rear-door boarding.
  

There will be another round of public consultation in September once GRT and the Region pull together a draft plan.