THUNDER BAY — Management at Thunder Bay Transit is promising improved safety and greater convenience both for passengers and bus drivers when route changes are implemented later this summer.
"I think the public, especially students, are going to like the changes, and I believe the drivers will, too. Giving them that time to actually complete the run, I think, will take a lot of stress off them when doing that Crosstown route," Matt Furioso, supervisor of operations and standards, told Newswatch.
Key changes to be launched on Aug. 24 include alterations to the Crosstown and Junot routes and the introduction of a new Beverly route.
These and other adjustments are aimed at enhancing safety, on-time performance and route reliability.
"Essentially, with the Crosstown route, we didn't have enough time to complete that run because of how busy it is, especially the left-hand turn out of the hospital onto Golf Links Road," Furioso said Wednesday.
"Traffic at certain times of the day is so unpredictable that you could be waiting at that light anywhere from one to five minutes, which isn't accounted for in the run. So we had to make changes out of a necessity for safety and (because of) hospital construction work. It's interfering with connection times where now we're running late."
Instead of going into the Academy Heights area to pick up students and other passengers in that area, the Crosstown will now proceed straight down Oliver Road and will service the medical centre near the hospital, something Loroff said customers have been asking for.
"Then we're only servicing the hospital between Confederation College and the waterfront terminal, so it's all right-hand turns into the hospital, then the left out of the hospital at a controlled intersection (on Oliver Road)."
With Academy Heights no longer on the Crosstown route, Thunder Bay Transit is implementing the Beverly route to service that area and connect passengers directly with Intercity Shopping Centre and the Thunder Centre.
That's an improvement, Loroff said, because passengers currently travelling from Academy Heights to the intercity area have to ride to the waterfront terminal and transfer to another bus.
Other changes coming next month include a single route for the Junot bus which currently follows different routes depending on the time of day, and additional trips into the evening on several routes, where 30-minute service will be extended by about one hour before switching to 45-minute service after 7 p.m.
"I'm excited for the changes," Furioso said. "And any feedback we get, positive or negative, is great because if we hear the bad that's one thing, but if we are doing something good, it's nice to hear...Any feedback the public wants to give, they can do it on our Facebook page or email to [email protected] to let us know how we're doing."
Thunder Bay Transit had four million total boardings by passengers last year, including transfers.
