Bradford is gearing up to roll out some super-charged changes to its transit service.
Dozens of residents turned out to learn about and comment on the town’s transit master plan to 2031, which aims to expand coverage of BWG Transit buses, during a public meeting at the BWG Leisure Centre on Tuesday, April 9.
Along with consultants Left Turn Right Turn, staff explained the plan as detailed on poster boards and answered questions from residents.
That plan includes potential new services such as specialized transit available throughout all of Bradford West Gwillimbury for those with mobility issues, as well as on-demand transit for either the whole town or focused on the urban area, the Highway 400 employment lands and Bond Head.
There could also be a shuttle service between the GO Transit station and the employment lands which would loop through Reagens Industrial Parkway.
That on-demand system is expected to operate as a typical dial-a-ride service with a standard fare.
The plan also proposes replacing the town’s current network of two fixed routes with one of three new network options with four to six fixed routes in various different configurations, expected to be capable of handling between 360,000 and 420,000 riders annually.
Despite seeing service and ridership decline during COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, BWG Transit saw the ridership for all its services increase to 54,000 in 2023, compared to 47,000 in the most recent pre-pandemic year of 2019, said town transportation technologist Paul Dubniak.
As the town grows and changes, transportation manager Joe Coleman understands the degree and type of transit need will vary.
“Transit will integrate however people feel the need,” he said. “Not everybody is going to take it. There will always be people that are against it, but there’s a need there — people need to get around. That’s why we have to supply transit.”
Residents share their opinions
Reactions from residents in attendance were mixed.
Carolyn Khan, executive director of the Helping Hand Food Bank, said she’s “very excited” about the potential for an improved transit strategy and hopes it will provide better service to the town’s social services and community hub at 177 Church St.
“Currently, the bus stop isn’t that close, but what really excites me is the on-demand transit service,” she said. “If we can figure out how to make that work for our clients, we can have more accessibility for people to come using public transport.”
Also concerned for the well-being of seniors, Khan noted that unlike in the current network, in two of the new options residents from 100 Miller Park Ave. would need to transfer in order to get to popular locations like Walmart or the leisure centre. But on the whole, she praised the proposed strategy.
“This is a fabulous step forward,” she said. “We’re growing and we need this transit to grow along with us.”
That desire for future improvement was shared by Lesley Carpenter, a mother of two young children who she hopes will be able to use transit to get around town.
“As we grow and we get different services coming into the town, I hope that transit will also adapt to that and have routes specifically to direct people to those locations, especially people who don’t drive,” she said.
Also keeping young people in mind, Kemar Fagan said he would like to see the frequency of service increased to better align the transit times with the start and dismissal times of both Bradford high schools, because the current timing sees students using BWG Transit arriving very early, or getting there late.
Regularly commuting to work in the city, Zabdi Zelaya said he and many of the people he knows drive to the Highway 400 carpool lot on County Road 88. He would prefer to use transit to get there, if only the lot were included in one of the routes and the service started at 6 a.m. instead of 7 a.m.
“That would actually be great,” he said. “I’m always up earlier, so the times don’t really match for me.”
Jenny Mai finds herself in a similar situation, wanting to use BWG Transit to get to the GO station in the morning, rather than driving, but by the time the service starts at 7 a.m. she’s already on the train.
She’d also like to see the town try to match the local transit times with the GO train schedule to reduce waits, which are usually about 15 minutes in her experience and not so bad in the warm half of the year, but when a storm rolls in or temperatures drop below freezing, “nobody would like to wait — even five minutes is a lot.”
To help with this Mai suggested shifting the route schedules based on time of day to help make the service useful to both commuters during morning and evening rush hours while also helping students get to and from school.
“I hope we can increase the frequency, and we can provide better service, because then maybe more people would like to take transit,” she said. “It’s too bad I can’t use it ... but it doesn’t work for me.”
Mai is hopeful that could change as the plan proposes expanding the service schedule to cover 5:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. most days from the current schedule which runs from about 7 a.m. to about 7 p.m. most days.
While not currently a regular transit user, Mike Young was pleased with the plan.
“It’s well thought out and it’s keeping an eye on what’s needed now as well as what’s needed for the future,” he said.
Young praised how easy it is to get around Bradford, noting that for him, most things are already within walking distance. But one thing that would encourage him to use local transit more would be for Metrolinx to complete ongoing work to increase the frequency of the GO train.
“If the GO train was more readily available in terms of going downtown, I would take (BWG Transit) to the train more to go to a Leafs game or a Jays game or something,” he said.
The cost of better transit
All the proposed new additions to local transit come at a cost though, and while those costs may vary depending on the options selected, the plan estimates the following annual operating costs:
- Fixed-route service: $2 million
- Specialized and on-demand service: $1.9 million
- Employment shuttle: $75,000
During the first seven years of expansion, the plan is also expected to require about $800,000 in capital costs per year for new buses, stops and shelters.
While some of these costs could be offset by provincial gas tax funding, fare revenue and grants, the plan also estimates that the increases in service could generate $5.5 million annually in economic development and save residents a combined $11.5 million annually in transportation costs for those who no longer need to own a car or take taxis.
If approved by council, Coleman explained the plan would be rolled out incrementally.
“It won’t be a rush to implement anything, because we have to build the funding to get that point,” he said. “We can always see what the needs are in certain areas, so we flex towards that end goal.”
To complete the plan survey, which remains online until Sunday, April 21, visit forms.office.com/r/L75yD7W63J.
Based on survey results, staff anticipate presenting a draft of the plan for council’s consideration in June.
