Thunder Bay Transits New Year’s wish is to have the mainline express a permanent service.
Transit introduced the additional bus route for the holiday season on Dec. 12. Since then, transit users have taken advantage of the quick bus route that ferries passengers from the two terminals and the Intercity Shopping Centre.
The express bus route, formerly the holiday express, has had success since transit first started the service last year.
Jon Hendel, marketing and planning analyst for the city’s transit department, said ridership has remained about the same as last year with about 20 passengers on average using the express bus every hour.
He added that the number of riders is what they wanted to see for a new service and felt confident ridership will increase over time.
Transit’s master plan includes the mainline express becoming a regular service for the city. Although, more data is required in order to make a stronger case for the service when transit appears before council in the New Year, he said.
“The transit master plan is going to council in March and then there would be a developmental stage for a year or year and a half until implementation,” Hendel said.
“We are looking at an express bus as a viable option for Thunder Bay. As with any additional service there is an additional cost but then what we would do is build a business case around it of what the return would be and what the appeal would be for ridership.
With full implementation still a year away, Hendel said they had time to work out all the details before bringing a final cost to council.
Hendel said they changed the name because passengers were confused about where the route took them so they simplified it as much as they could by calling it the mainline express.
“This is the second year that we’ve implemented this service,” he said. “We knew there would be a lot of congestion in the downtown area and we know intercity mall is a major destination point for a lot of our riders so we introduced this service as a quick way to get in and out of the intercity area.”
The express bus will run between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. weekdays until Dec. 30.
The special holiday express bus will also run between 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Saturdays, and from noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays.
