#W2TTH What’s Happening in Transit on the Westside of Waterloo

Thanks to Karen Scian for her twitter town hall. I’ve answered what I found in the feed to do with the Region. If I missed your tweet, just comment here and I will answer.

Staff answered the question, “Why not a route from Huron Heights to Sir John A MacDonald” but it was too long for 140 characters. So here is the answer:

There are currently no plans for a direct route connecting Huron Heights Secondary School with Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary School along Ira Needles Boulevard. Other planned routes should improve travel times between these two areas over time as described below.

The current Route 201 iXpress connects the Forest Glen Plaza terminal with the university area via Fischer-Hallman Road. Local routes connect Huron Heights SS and Sir John A. Macdonald SS to the Route 201 service at Forest Glen Plaza, and at the intersection of Columbia Street and Fischer-Hallman Road.

The GRT 2011 – 2014 Business Plan includes a proposed network of express routes to connect residential areas and commercial destinations outside of the Central Transit Corridor with the coming aBRT and LRT services. These routes would also reduce travel time to destinations along Ira Needles Boulevard and to the two secondary schools. With the next planned iXpress service in 2013 connecting to The Boardwalk, a redesign of local routes are planned to provide direct connections along Ira Needles between Sir John A Macdonald and The Boardwalk. An additional iXpress Route is proposed for 2015 that would include service along Ira Needles Boulevard between Highland Road and The Boardwalk. Implementation of this route would also require redesign of southwest Kitchener local service, that would include service from Highland Hills Mall along Ira Needles Boulevard and can reduce travel times to the Huron Heights area.

The present 201 Iexpress going down Fischer-Hallman and the Laurelwood 13 will have extended weekend hours shortly. The bus will head up Columbia past Erbsville Road once the city finishes the Columbia St. extension to Erb St just below Wideman Rd.