Transit people want feedback from the public about significant transit changes.

By Staff

April 5th, 2019

BURLINGTON, ON

The transit people aren’t going to give up on getting your attention.

Burlington Transit is looking for feedback from the public about significant transit changes proposed to take effect in September 2019. Transit riders and non-riders are invited to share their feedback at an upcoming open house session on April 8, 9 and 11, or online at www.getinvolvedburlington.ca until Friday, April 19.

Has anything changed? Funding has certainly improved.

At the drop-in sessions, attendees will have an opportunity to share feedback on proposed changes that will help Burlington Transit move toward a grid network that operates buses along the city’s most-travelled roads in an east-west and north-south direction.

Some of the proposed changes include:

• the relocation of all transit stops at the Burlington GO station to the south side, off Fairview Street

• the introduction and expansion of weekday 20-minute service on routes, including 1, 10 and 25

• the discontinuation of routes with low ridership, including 15, 40, 83, 300, 301 and 302, to improve frequency on grid network routes.

Open House Dates

• Monday, April 8 – 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Central Arena, 519 Drury Ln
• Tuesday, April 9 – 3 to 6 p.m., City Hall, 426 Brant St.
• Thursday, April 11 – 6 to 9 p.m., Tansley Woods, 1996 Itabashi Way

A series of drop in sessions in March held at three different locations didn’t get much in the way of a response from Gazette readers.

Two readers had these comments:

• I went to one session and felt it was the same old public meeting. Handed a number of dots to put on various maps. Little interaction. No vision or sense of urgency. No mention of a Master Transit Plan – due Sept. What was the point again?

  I echo the message –

Let’s see how this next drop in session  woks out.  They are being held at the same locations – which are accessible by transit,

There has been a significant change on the part of city council and the amount of money they are prepared to spend on transit to meet what they believe is going to be a much needed change in the way people move around the city.

Now it is up to the residents to look over the ideas and comment – dialogue runs in both directions.

Charles Stolte, Transit Operations Manager explains that: “Establishing a grid network to meet the mobility needs of the city’s population over the next 20 years is not something that will happen overnight, but there are improvements to our current transit service that we can make in the short term that will help lay the stepping stones of what is to come. In making these improvements, we need the thoughts and ideas of transit riders and non-riders to learn more about what’s important to them.”

Over the next 20 years, the City of Burlington will grow in its urban areas, with 193,000 people expected to live in the city by 2031. As the population grows, ensuring people can move around the city easily and conveniently, whether by foot, car, bicycle or Burlington Transit, is important.

In the last two years, the city’s budget has made investments to enhance public transit, including $1.9 million in the 2019 capital budget and $1.55 million in the 2018 operating budget.

The free transit service that will start in June and run from 9:30 to 2:30 Monday to Friday is part of a pilot program to see if people will use transit if there is no fare to pay.