A new centralized bus terminal would cost the city up to $7 million.
City council heard a draft report on its transit master plan in which recommendations were made for a centralized terminal in an unnamed intercity location complete with indoor facilities including concessions.
“That would make the intercity the focus of the routes in terms of the overall transfer point,” said Genviar Inc director of transit solutions Dennis Fletcher.
The Water Street terminal would be used as a less significant transfer location as well as a South side location, Confederation College and Lakehead University.
Recommendations also call for more hours of service and route changes that would make the transit system more reliable but also increase transit’s $9 million per year operating cost by around $3 million.
“We’ve introduced more route length and that increases the number of hours in the system,” Fletcher said.
The report also recommends that HAGI Transit be incorporated into city transit to lower costs for Thunder Bay having to comply with regulations under the Access for Ontarians with Disabilities Act.
Along with fare and service parity, the Act legislates changes to municipal transit systems over multiple years that would ensure things like announcements on busses for the visually impaired.
“You cannot have a service in place that routinely denies passengers a ride (under the AODA),” Fletcher said.
The report was not made public. It will be presented in its final form to council in June.
