Council to hear about need for central transit terminal

A new centralized bus terminal is at the heart of a transit master plan being presented to city council on Monday night.

The five-year plan also includes longer evening waits for buses, route alterations to reflect the new terminal, improved accessibility and changes to the fare structure.

According to Thunder Bay Transit manager Brad Loroff, said the city has yet to determine where a new terminal should be located, other than the Intercity area.

“That will be part of the groundwork tasks. Basically we’ve confirmed that the travel patterns of the community have changed. The focus is in the Intercity area,” said Loroff, adding the current route system doesn’t necessarily meet those changing needs.
“Now we need to look at where and what it looks like.”

The new plan would not necessarily mean the end of the Water Street and City Hall terminals now in use.

“It’s a blend of it all. The proposed route network actually has the main terminal focus in the Intercity area, but we still will rely on the city hall area to a degree, the Water Street terminal, to a degree, as well  as a couple of the other major transfer points that we have in the system, Confederation College, Lakehead University and the hospital,” Loroff said.

He said the city has taken into consideration the Water Street terminal may no longer be in existence, at least in its present form, should a proposed events centre be located in the downtown north core. It’s one of three proposed sites, the others being land adjacent to the airport and Innova Park.

“Transit has always recognized that it’s a key location for the city and the Water Street terminal fits in well with waterfront development plan, be it an events centre or something else,” Loroff said. “The transit master plan has taken all that into consideration and there are alternative options in place in the plan to still allow transit to function in the north core.

“If it ever does turn into something like an events centre, we’d be looking at integrating transit into a part of that development.”
Construction of the new terminal, under the proposed plan, would occur in 2013.

The proposed route changes, he said, are long-term in nature.

They rely on the new terminal and are based on changing ridership, based on what Transit officials see today.

Loroff said ridership has increased by 600,000 since 2006.

“They’re designed so that we can eliminate the need to transfer as often as maybe you would have to now in our system.
“We’ve also reconfigured the routes so there is more direct service to different areas of the city so that travel times for passengers are reduced,” he said.

The route changes would take effect in Phase 3 to 5, likely no earlier than 2014.

Extending off-peak wait times is being considered for several reasons.

“Doing this will allow us to address some of the current challenges that we’ve got with regards to service reliability in the evening. It will also help us to improve things like vehicle maintenance and fuel economy,” Loroff said.

The five-year plan also includes new staffing allocations and mid-term fare recommendations with different levels of passes and pricing for seniors, employees and high school students.

Loroff would not put a price tag on the cost of the recommendations, saying it will come forward Monday night at council. Administration is recommending council adopt the plan, which is being presented as a first report.