Transportation Advisory Committee

0:02Let us take time to reflect on our privileges to live and work in wealth.

0:06A city built over rich indigenous histories, we are guests here, and we should reflect

0:11upon the responsibility to care for this land.

0:14The people who live here today and the generations to come.

0:18If our actions today can move us towards reconciliation, we should take pause and make those decisions

0:23with intent and gratitude.

0:25The place we call Guelph has served as a traditional land and refuge place for many people over

0:31time, but more specifically the Anurvandag and the Hadoavuagnochi.

0:37This land is held as a treaty lands in the territorial and sassagas of the first crevite

0:41nation.

0:42Wealth lies directly adjacent to the Hale-Mate tract and is part of a long established traditional

0:48hunting ground for the six nations of the Grand River.

0:52Many first nations in U.N. and Matiig will have come across Turtle Island while called

0:57Guelph home today.

1:02Second is any disclosure of pecuniary interests or general nature?

1:10Anyone?

1:11Okay.

1:12So we're going to move on.

1:18Would anyone like to move to approve the minutes?

1:28Okay.

1:29Anyone to vote?

1:36Anyone in favor?

1:45For those joining online, we can see.

1:51Anyone against?

1:52Next, we have the committee items.

2:09So my computer decided to update as soon as I got in this room.

2:23So it's blowing right now.

2:26So I'll give you a little bit of backstory of kind of some of our goals, why we're here

2:30today.

2:31Hopefully by then my presentation will be up and I'll be able to share it.

2:35Yeah.

2:36So with me today, I have Nathan.

2:40He is our co-op student for planning and scheduling and he's helping us do a lot of the research

2:45and the background data collection for our transit network design plan is what we're

2:50calling it.

2:51Karissa Mattson is running just a little behind.

2:53She's going to be joining us very shortly in person and she is the transit planning

2:59specialist on my team.

3:00Myself, I'm the manager of transit network design in the control center.

3:04So for today, I'll give you a little, I'll start a little bit about the transit network

3:10design plan.

3:11Right now we have a 10 year future ready action plan, which speaks directly to our conventional

3:18service.

3:19So we have three types of service.

3:21Conventional is the big bus 40 foot service.

3:24Mobility is our paratransit specialized service.

3:27And we also have on demand service that we offer.

3:30So when we had our previously years ago, we had in council directive to perform a group

3:40review.

3:41The review did not include mobility or at that point we didn't have on demand service.

3:47So when we look at our, our kind of our plan, it seems to miss one of the important parts

3:56of our services that we provide.

3:58Our future ready action plan does speak to on demand, but it is very silent for our mobility

4:04program.

4:05And so part of our goal for the transit network design plan is to identify, not only look at

4:13our existing, hey, how's it going?

4:18So it's not only to look at our existing kind of, how do we see Eldridge?

4:25Chris, I can join in an empty location.

4:30It's really about looking at our 10 year network plan right now, seeing we're five years into

4:36it.

4:37Does it still apply in what we've chosen?

4:40Have patterns changed?

4:42Are we looking at the same types of travel for people within the city already pre like

4:47pre COVID?

4:48We should have a very distinct AM and PM peak travel after COVID that really fluctuated.

4:55And now we see less AM, we see midday and PM peak as our highest days of points of travel

5:01in the day.

5:02And so we want to take a look at our 10 year plan to make sure we're still on track for

5:09it.

5:10The other piece is to look at our mobility service and to understand how we can improve

5:17that service.

5:19Because it's not identified in our 10 year network plan, it has kind of been left behind

5:24in terms of expansion, ability to meet current demand that we have, as well as intention to

5:31plan for the future for that service.

5:34So we know right now, based on age populations in wealth, we're looking anywhere between

5:39a two and a half, hi, a two and a half to 3.8% increase each year, depending on the age

5:47category from 55 and up.

5:50So for our service, we want to look and see based on just the growth in wealth and already

5:55the unique users that we have in our program, how much anticipated growth are we going to

5:59see as our population just naturally ages within the city.

6:04And we're also going to be looking at our on demand service.

6:07So today is really an introduction of engagement with you folks, TAC members, to talk about

6:14the transit network design more fully.

6:18I do have my stuff up and running, but if you could just switch to slide two, that would

6:22be great.

6:27And slide, oh sorry, slide three, apologies list.

6:30So in 2026, we will be developing a new transit network design plan that can be called later.

6:38Hey, Grisha, feel free to grab a seat wherever and we can take some notes.

6:43Oh, yeah, there's a chair here too.

6:46Beautiful.

6:47We're just getting into the background of everything.

6:49So don't worry too much.

6:52Our plan is to review and refine our existing 10 year transit network plan and review and

6:56add on demand and mobility services into a future plan.

7:00The name of that plan will eventually be named.

7:04As of right now, we are calling it just the general transit network design plan, which

7:09may be renamed in our future.

7:11So today, there's a couple of goals that we want to first kind of introduce and engage

7:17with you folks.

7:19We want to unpack to you as transportation advisory committee, what is efficient transit?

7:25And I feel like our member who came in, who their bus was late and their next bus was

7:31running behind.

7:33Those are some experiences that we'd like to inform our efficient transit discussion,

7:38maybe things that you bring from your lens of work, from personal experiences, from friends,

7:45family, and whatever that might look like to you.

7:48We're also going to be looking through what we should be prioritizing.

7:53There's different things that people feel we should be prioritizing in what we do.

7:57So we'd like to kind of get a feel on what that might look like to some of us here.

8:02We want to understand what's working currently, what could be improved, what are some of the

8:07barriers to taking our service.

8:10And then we're going to get into on demand.

8:12We have three different types of on demand service that we provide.

8:16So really, it might be that you've never heard of it before.

8:20It might be that you've tried to book into it and you've been frustrated or what that

8:24experience looks like.

8:25So we're going to talk about stat holiday on demand, Sunday service, as well as we're

8:31going to end in a discussion of mobility services for our paratransit.

8:36So to kick us off, if you could go to our next slide, Liz, it's a very big general question.

8:45And I think a part of what we'd like to do in our kind of design of this plan, we want

8:51to understand as a whole what TAC thinks, what AAC thinks, what we've researched, what

8:57makes efficient transit.

8:59We want to kind of evaluate ourselves to where we fit within those efficiencies and

9:04figure out what we can do to improve those pieces in our plan as we go ahead.

9:10So the floor is now open.

9:13What does efficient transit look like from your perspective?

9:17And we'll kind of take notes as we go.

9:20At the end, we're looking for a recommendation, I believe, to accept our presentation today.

9:26And you can add in, let's say there's other things you think we should consider.

9:30Those are some of your availability at the end to add those on for us as a recommendation.

9:36So the floor is open.

9:38What would you consider makes transit efficient?

9:41There could be measurable targets, putting on time performance, and ridership growth,

9:52and then cost curing.

9:53Okay, I like that.

9:54Very cool.

9:55Yeah, I like that.

9:56Thank you very much, Natalia.

9:59I think each of those, what we have right now is we're really ramping up and developing

10:05what our measurable key performance indicators look like.

10:09So I love that you brought that up because one that we hear a lot of is about our on-time

10:14performance, transfers and connections.

10:17And when you're not on time, you miss your transfer or your connection that you had planned,

10:22right?

10:23Anyone else?

10:24Kelsey?

10:25So for the folks in the room who might not know what I do, I work with the Gwalton-Willington

10:31Poverty Elimination Collaborative.

10:32And we have a table of about 45 folks who live in poverty across Gwalton-Willington County.

10:38I assist them with booking rides, either through mobility and through just taking the transit

10:44in general.

10:45And I think in their experiences, efficient transit is a transportation that is replacing

10:53a personal vehicle.

10:54For many of those folks, they don't have access to a personal vehicle and then it's a cost

10:59to either use Uber or a taxi.

11:02But if transit could operate the way that they need to get from where they need to be,

11:08whether that's bringing their kids to camp, going to work, or going to the doctor's,

11:13transit that gets them to the location in a similar fashion that a personal vehicle

11:18would.

11:19So not having to take three different transfers to get from one city point of the city to

11:23the other side of the city, the missing of transportation with the connection points

11:28at the university and downtown, but also just being able to move.

11:34Because on Sundays after seven o'clock, you're not able to go anywhere using transit.

11:45Anyone else?

11:46I'll turn to you.

11:47So I did a different answer here.

11:50I was late because my bus was also late.

11:53But what did help tremendously in getting me here five minutes late as opposed to half

11:57an hour late was that the bus driver ended up using some of the bike lanes to spy pass

12:01a bunch of traffic.

12:02I was sort of waiting for 20 minutes.

12:04We got here about six minutes late.

12:09That's technically not legal, but that is efficient.

12:13That is extremely efficient.

12:15Another thing that something that really pushes me to try to take the buses opposed to driving,

12:21I don't have to look up when the next bus will come.

12:24I live along the 99 route.

12:27There's a bus every seven, eight, 10, 12 minutes, whatever.

12:30It doesn't matter.

12:31All I need to know is I need to be here at 5.30.

12:34So I need to be at the bus stop at around 5.10.

12:37I have no idea when the bus does come or is supposed to come.

12:41But that's the kind of efficient.

12:43I know that's frequency.

12:44It's not technically efficiency.

12:46But those are the sort of targets that I think we really should aim for.

12:50Roots that are...

12:51You don't have to think about that.

12:53Yeah.

12:54And so what we find in our research, we've had conversations with Grand River Transit.

12:59They found the same thing.

13:00People are willing to walk up to 800 meters to get more frequent service.

13:06They're willing to walk further if it means that they can get a bus faster.

13:11And I think frequency is a big one.

13:14Like for us, we kind of look at not only do you need coverage to get the city moving itself,

13:21but the more frequency you bring, you need to make yourself more competitive to the car,

13:27a personal vehicle, right?

13:28People want to either save in money or they want to save in time.

13:32And how do you do that?

13:33And when we look at our transportation master plan,

13:36I don't know if I've shared this before with you,

13:37but in there, it talks about how it takes 2.5 to 2.7 times longer on transit

13:43than it does in your own personal car to get to work or job access or school

13:48or whatever that looks like depending on where you're going.

13:51And so one of our big goals as we have our 10-year network plan

13:56and we're now looking at our big picture is how we can get people moving throughout the city,

14:02but also not just providing coverage, providing higher frequencies

14:06and creating more of a grid like where we're not everybody into the hub,

14:11coming into downtown and everybody leaving at the same time.

14:15It's now customizing your ride.

14:17So right now, great example.

14:20If you live in the West End, let's say West End Rec Center,

14:23and you want to get to Delhi on the other side because you want to go shopping,

14:28let's say at Stevenson there or Stevenson and Speedvale,

14:32right now we do not have an availability for you to go fully cross-down.

14:36You have to come into Guelph Central Station and then you have to go back out

14:40or you have to come into Woodlawn Smart Center and you have to go back out.

14:43And so part of our existing Future Ready Action plan is creating more of that grid-like travel

14:48to get you east-west, north-south, and also enhance our frequency as we kind of go there.

14:54So some more food for thought as we kind of brainstorm.

14:58What makes efficient transit?

15:00One thing I would add is efficient transit requires effective communication

15:06and dissemination of communication.

15:08I know the city has done a lot to do posturing inside of the buses,

15:13but there are some folks who might not have taken the bus in a while

15:16and they're not aware of new routes or changes of routes.

15:20So whether that's using wider city broadcasting,

15:23whether it's putting out more stuff into the news,

15:26I feel like I'm thinking of a specific case where someone,

15:29an individual didn't know the 98, I believe it is, goes past their house now.

15:34Oh.

15:34And they had their transportation time in half because now they didn't need to transfer with the 11,

15:39but she hadn't taken the bus in a while so she wasn't aware of it.

15:43And if I had not shared that information with her,

15:45she wouldn't have seen it because she hadn't been on the bus

15:48or been downtown to see the posters.

15:50So I think efficient transportation needs effective communication.

15:57Yeah, that's great.

15:58And right now we try and kind of go from different angles,

16:02but one thing we are talking about a lot is transit app.

16:07Transit app is you can go on your phone, you can do it soon on the web,

16:12and you can trip plan inside of it.

16:14It has a very cool go feature where it essentially tells you like,

16:17you need to start walking now and, hey, you're bus stop, you're about to get off.

16:21And it comes through on your headphones.

16:23However, we also talk about access to data, access to cell phones,

16:27and how that can be a barrier for some people.

16:29If you don't have transit app or you don't even know about it,

16:32you may not be able to even understand what's available to you.

16:35And sometimes when we go and trip plan ourselves, it's a lot harder.

16:40You may take, I've worked with some client or customers before where

16:43they've taken a much more complicated route because they didn't understand

16:47you could take the 20 or the 17 or the, and all of these different options

16:51to get them there.

16:52And then we've worked through what that could look like.

16:54At this time of day, you may want to take the 20, but at this one,

16:57you may want to take this, to this, to that.

16:58And so it's those kind of nuances and how we can reach those groups, right?

17:04That's a bit of our challenge, right?

17:06I'm excited when we get to the barriers and the challenges section as well.

17:10We'll, we can go through and try this last point.

17:18Have you heard from your members, like what type of communication is

17:21effective for them, like they mentioned?

17:24Yeah.

17:24So for folks living in poverty, digital connection is getting a lot,

17:29I wouldn't say cheaper, but a lot more effective for folks who are actively

17:35living in poverty.

17:35But like you mentioned, once you're out of the home, there's no guarantee

17:38you'll have internet access when we're finding is when people are getting

17:41at home internet access.

17:44I think it has to be a twofold scenario.

17:47For example, if you know that people are on your, your lower income bus pass,

17:53perhaps sending out direct emails would be a good way to connect with them.

17:57For a lot of our folks, it's paper or direct communications.

18:01Those are the two most effective, right to their inbox, right to their cell

18:04phones in a way that doesn't utilize data.

18:08So whether it's a text message, whether it's a phone call, something like that,

18:12but that's more labor intensive on the city side.

18:15I understand that we are an org that we can manage those sorts of things.

18:20But I do think you have the pathways for direct communication.

18:23So whether it's sending like a newsletter to those folks on that list.

18:26Right.

18:27I think especially for mobility, I've had scenarios where I've attempted to help

18:32people book a week in advance and we didn't know it was all about that until we

18:36sat on for 20 minutes and got through to an operator.

18:39So there's a lack of information sharing with people who don't have data.

18:45I think they may be moving away from the data aspect of e-mails.

18:49But it's hard.

18:50It's one of those things where each person needs a different type of communication.

18:54An older individual might like a postcard, but can the city send out a postcard

18:58to everyone?

18:59That's really, yeah.

19:01What I would like to ask though is we are going to be having a meeting.

19:06Is there space for me to bring some of these conversations to the group directly so they

19:10can give direct feedback to the city as well?

19:14I think so.

19:15Right?

19:15Yeah.

19:16For sure.

19:16We'd love to hear that.

19:17And I don't know if it needs to come back through the TAC channel.

19:22You could probably connect offline and then see it because it would be like a

19:28different type of outreach and community engagement.

19:32But yeah, certainly that's good.

19:33We love that.

19:34Yeah.

19:35Because I think for us, as we're building this, we want to incorporate a bunch of different things.

19:42We want to understand where is car travel bringing people right now?

19:45How can we include that in some of the network planning that we do?

19:48But also, we want to take a look at equity and are we putting in areas where we have

19:55less access to cars or lower income?

19:57Do we have frequency that supports those groups versus other areas where we have more

20:03affluence or whatever that looks like?

20:05So I would love to hear, especially from your member group, that's very interesting to have

20:09so many different ideas around those types of users in our system.

20:14Yes.

20:14And then I can steer away from the generalizations and you can hear more direct

20:18from folks about what works best for them.

20:21Because I think it varies depending on which family type and location in the city.

20:26They would be able to give a better perspective on their specific lived experience.

20:31I really agree with the data point, having used transit systems for years without data

20:37of my own, like any changes can be day altering.

20:39So 100%.

20:41I think too, in terms of equity, having that mobility is an item of dignity.

20:46So again, high frequency and peripheral areas and trying to minimize that drop off in the

20:51service quality between neighborhoods.

20:54So I think naturally when it comes to hubs like Wolf Central, that will always have a

20:58bit of a, you know, but I'm thinking back to when I was living in the West End and getting

21:03groceries in the wintertime and having beyond the one the ends of like those loops and

21:07not having spoke system and having to either decide to do a huge detour all the way back

21:13to back down and all the way back to the end of the road or walk uphill in the slush with

21:19groceries in both hands.

21:20So yeah, frequency is one dimension of that.

21:24I feel pretty strongly about two because waiting 30 minutes in the winter is not great or even

21:30in the dead of summer right now shelter.

21:32So, see.

21:34And I think for us, one thing we want to examine as we kind of go forward as well are like

21:40transfer window times.

21:42Like how long, if you're getting off one route and you're connecting into another, how long

21:46are you waiting?

21:47Some people have a very short amount of time to run from one end into another.

21:51Some people have 15 minutes of waiting.

21:54And so we're going to kind of look at that as we go forward as well when we look at new

21:57designs and we can kind of see, okay, if we did this transferring from these routes would

22:03be pretty short and a shorter way.

22:06And the higher frequency, it's even better when you have two high frequencies, let's

22:09say connecting to one another because you're off one and within the next, you know, five

22:12to 10 year on another one.

22:15So I think one of our kind of ideas initially of efficient transit is like saving time.

22:24Limiting transfers or having transfers actually makes sense, right?

22:28Not transferring into downtown to come back out, but you may still do one to two transfers,

22:34but it's, it makes more sense in your way that you're traveling rather than coming in

22:38and leaving because that might even save you more time even though it does come with more

22:42transfer, right?

22:44So that's one piece for sure.

22:47Anybody on our online that has any feedback?

22:54That's okay if you don't.

22:56Okay, so, oh, go ahead, Natalia.

23:00When I did internal sports at the university on Sundays, I had to drive and then I had to

23:05drive all my friends home on my team.

23:07Yes, I didn't know at first, I'll take the bus there, like you won't get home, like

23:11what do you mean?

23:12It stops running.

23:13Oh, I didn't know that.

23:14Yeah.

23:15I had a car, but none of my friends had a car, so I would drive everybody home.

23:19So like expanding service.

23:21And that's one thing that we heard in our 10-year network plan when we were doing engagement,

23:27especially on Sunday.

23:28So Monday to Saturday, for everybody in case you don't know, is 5.45 a.m. until 12.45 a.m.

23:34the following day.

23:35But Sunday, historically had been 9.15 a.m. to 6.45 p.m., being the last trip.

23:41Since then, we've added on-demand service in the beginning part of the day, so from

23:467.15 to around 9.15.

23:48Then we switch into the regular service that was historic.

23:51And then at 7.15 when that service finishes, from 7.15 to 10.15, we have on-demand available.

23:58And so already kind of on our radar is looking at if we can't add more fixed service, like

24:04conventional actual service, the 99 and all of our future 90 route series, the 98, 96,

24:1297, all of those are called core routes.

24:15They actually come in when you run on-demand.

24:18So as we expand the 98 to full hours, that means on a staff holiday, you'll have both

24:2398 and 99 plus on-demand.

24:26And so we're looking on our Sunday based on cost.

24:30Is it worth adding more on-demand hours from to mirror, if we can, based on that, what

24:38Monday to Saturday looks like.

24:40At least you'll have access to an on-demand service plus 99 or 98 from 5.45 until potentially

24:4712.45 the next morning.

24:49So that is also one thing we've heard quite a bit.

24:53Sunday and also like our on-demand only has so much capacity.

24:58So we're also looking at like, how much demand are we missing?

25:02We want to understand how many people have tried to book rides and literally had a failed

25:06search, we call it, because they didn't have anything available back to them.

25:10And that really links itself also into our mobility service, which we'll get into a little

25:15bit later on as well.

25:17So I want to mention like, how many are in 5.45 to start?

25:21But I'd have like friends that commute to Toronto for work.

25:25And like they have to be on the go at like 6.15, 6.30.

25:28The bus isn't feasible.

25:29So they still have to drive.

25:30Right.

25:31Yeah.

25:32And so one thing, so it's funny, everyone keeps saying two-way all day go.

25:37It seems every year we hear that again and again.

25:39I've heard, hopefully, 2027, we're looking at two-way all day go.

25:44I feel like as that really starts to ramp up, we want to think of ways like maybe we

25:49provide on-demand service to get you to the train.

25:52So a little bit of history I've been here for over 10 years now.

25:56When I first started, there were two routes that operated in the city around five o'clock

26:02in the morning, and they would do a loop of the north and one a loop of the south, and

26:05they were to get you to the go train.

26:07And we only had about five people that used it.

26:10So when we look at it now, we didn't have on-demand then.

26:14It didn't make sense.

26:15Well, maybe that's an opportunity that we can go and do.

26:18Need to get the go train, book an on-demand trip, and get your trip that you need.

26:23So that one is also for the go.

26:25We have that as one of our kind of action items to explore.

26:28Like what are their schedules look like, and what more could we be doing to support the

26:33early morning for those folks as an offering to get them to actually get to the train?

26:37I have a question.

26:38How many stops have bus shelters?

26:42So right now we have 600 in change, unique bus stops.

26:46That does include our terminals.

26:47So let's say 580, 175.

26:49Maybe more.

26:50I think you're about right.

26:52It's like 180 now, I think.

26:55Okay.

26:56Including terminals then yes.

26:58Okay.

26:59Yeah.

27:00Around 180, I'll call that.

27:02So we have part of our tenure network plan.

27:06We had service standards that were developed within it that helped promote when we enhanced

27:10service and how we put amenities on bus stops.

27:14So each year we get infrastructure Canada, I said, I said is what it's called infrastructure

27:21Canada grant money, which allows us to put in shelters, pads.

27:25Last year, I'm thinking 25 is now.

27:29Last year we put in a pole prototype at three select stops.

27:34That's a pole with a bench attached to it.

27:36It's like a little landing that you can sit and have a seat even if we can't accommodate

27:41the space for a bench or a shelter.

27:43But shelters are definitely on our list.

27:46It's one of the number one, especially in the wintertime, we hear so often like, I wish

27:49my shelter, I might stop had a shelter.

27:53It comes down to in our ranking like ridership.

27:57The more people that are waiting at a bus stop, we want to shelter them and kind of do

28:00it in priority.

28:02Sometimes we have special circumstances like if it's around a seniors facility or like

28:06a vulnerable group will add on earlier depending.

28:10But typically we go through a similar kind of order so that way we're consistent in how

28:15we apply it.

28:18And we're also kind of looking as well, you know, there's a lot of concentration in the

28:22south.

28:23We don't want to saturate the south with all of these amenities and the north end doesn't

28:27get them.

28:28So we do do some balancing of that as well.

28:30One of the issues we do run into, especially in older areas of the city is we don't have

28:33the space in the right angle to put in a shelter.

28:36So I mean, we have to balance it that way too.

28:38A lot of the newer communities unfortunately have larger right in ways that we can easily

28:42put in a shelter.

28:43So a lot of times it does come down to space.

28:47Which I will say, what's exciting, last year, year before, we created the complete streets

28:53design guide, the city, the transportation team led that and we got to participate in

28:58it.

28:59And essentially, each time a road needs to be redone based on the width of that road

29:03and what the environmental assessment looks like, we're able to see a new design that

29:08creates the right of ways that we want to see in our future.

29:10So even though our north end doesn't have that because it's more mature compared to

29:14our south end, I am excited as we kind of keep rejuvenating our north end because we're

29:19going to see a lot of different kind of configurations and designs that are more conducive to getting

29:24more amenities out there.

29:27So efficient transit is also sheltering and having space to be warm.

29:33Some right now this year, we're working on a digital signs project.

29:38We're now at three of our hubs and if you're at the University of Guelph or Conestoga, you'll

29:43be able to see next stop or arrival times and departure times.

29:49So as we kind of move forward, we're looking at like maybe that can come at the bus stop

29:53level to help people in making transit more efficient.

29:57You show up, you're not questioning where your bus is, you have real time information on

30:01a digital display and that you're able to kind of go, huh, okay, I only have like two,

30:05three minutes.

30:06So that's another kind of piece that we've been exploring a little more as well.

30:12Okay, based on time, I just want to be mindful.

30:16I think we can add more later, but I want to make sure we kind of get through all of

30:22our pieces.

30:24So our next piece, if we can go to the next slide, is prioritizing changes.

30:31So what should transit, our transit network prioritize?

30:36It's hard in conversations.

30:37People have different reasons like you were saying Chelsea.

30:40So is it coverage?

30:41Is it frequency?

30:42Is it your speed of travel?

30:44Reliability?

30:45Equity?

30:46Or is it something else?

30:48And I think another part of this, if you can hit one more, sorry, I didn't realize I transitioned

30:56it, thinking about also, should we be focusing on improving and building stronger all day

31:03service or peak hour or highest demand service windows?

31:08So this is where like the cookie can kind of crumble, right?

31:12There's so many ways, you know, to look at this.

31:15And I think it's hard to just pick one.

31:18I think maybe if we can't, I don't really assume we're going to come to one.

31:23But I think understanding maybe from your perspective, what are some of these that should be prioritized?

31:29Maybe from the people you work with or your own experiences?

31:34I'm going to speak personally and then I'll speak about the best that I work with.

31:38Personally, my whole family lives in Toronto.

31:42I don't have anyone in Guelph.

31:44I don't have anyone in Northern Guelph either.

31:47So I'm frequently going to the go, whether it's the bus or the train.

31:52One thing I would say when we're thinking of like all day service or improving the service

31:58to connecting to Guelph or communities with the new Sunday expansion, I have seen like

32:05the traffic disaster that is created with the drop off and pick up at the go trace station.

32:13I think there needs to be a conversation about who is taking priority, especially with that turn.

32:20Because I have seen Uber drivers and taxi drivers block the transit for the bus users.

32:27So buses can't get out on time and they can't get into the station on time.

32:32And it becomes this like massive traffic conundrum, especially now that there's a huge construction there.

32:41I came back last week and it was a gridlock and it was only because the train was dropped off.

32:47You've got like a hundred people coming out of the train.

32:50They're all getting into cars because the buses have stopped running and the last bus can't come into the station.

32:57So there's a delay of people who are trying to go home on regular transportation.

33:02And it also poses the issue for people who are attempting to catch public transportation after connecting with the go.

33:09It becomes a disaster.

33:11So I'm not sure if there's any way to fix that, but I do think that's a priority if we're thinking of how people are utilizing transit.

33:18Because it creates this friction that kind of hits people against each other.

33:23Like, all right, do you take more priority because you're getting into a car and I'm getting onto the bus?

33:27Right.

33:28So that's just one thing I'll say personally from an experience I literally just had this weekend.

33:33I was like, this is this is not necessary, right?

33:36These are your drivers.

33:37Either there needs to be a different pickup zone or people who are getting off of the train or a traffic police officer there or the transit needs to bypass it.

33:47It's just it's becoming a disaster for pedestrians as well.

33:52On the work side of things, I attempted to help a community member of youth book mobility.

33:59And I would say from mobility connection and information sharing is the priority.

34:06A lot of folks don't know the availability of their mobility services until they call if they don't have access to the digital platform.

34:15And then if they're not booking far enough in advance, they can't get a ride.

34:19So they can't go to meetings that they want to participate in.

34:22They can't go to doctors appointments because there's not enough service availability for mobility users.

34:28Right.

34:29So it limits them.

34:29It traps people in their house.

34:31It makes them feel defeated because they don't have access to your personal vehicle.

34:35They might not have people they can rely on to help and transportation is their only mobile service.

34:42So whether that it means adding in additional buses for mobility service or if there's a peak time and it's completely booked out,

34:51looking at building in more servicing around those peak times for mobility.

34:55But I do think the mobility service has such a tight restriction for availability.

35:00It ultimately ends up failing a lot of people.

35:04Yeah. And you know what? Thank you for that.

35:05I think definitely something that we flagged.

35:09So one of the challenges also that we're facing, which later I was going to discuss, but I'll say now, like in our mobility service,

35:18we have right now over 35% cancellation rate last minute.

35:23That means we're missing availability for folks who could be booking.

35:27So cancellations are one of the things right now that we have on our radar, as well as where are we missing demand outside of those cancellations that are last minute?

35:37Like, where are we seeing that we need to give more?

35:39So thank you for that feedback.

35:41And I think I can speak to some of the cancellations because I've also dealt with this in terms of like folks canceling last minute.

35:49One of the things I've heard from our mobility users is they'll book multiple times to prep for whatever they're booking with their doctor or wherever where they're going,

35:59because they're not sure the exact time they need will be available.

36:03So I have seen that where because of scarcity, people will grab up whatever they can and then it creates this extra burden on the system.

36:13They're canceling last minute because the exact time they wanted they did get at a different date when they called it.

36:19Yeah.

36:19And we are finding that exact trend in our data.

36:23So someone may be going to an event and they don't know when they want to leave that event.

36:28And so they book 815 and 845 and 915 and 945 and later they go, don't need, don't need, keep this, don't need.

36:36And we've missed out opportunities for people to book in.

36:39So for her.

36:41Joel, I see your hand and then Eldridge.

36:46Yeah, I just had a question.

36:47When you say building up capacity and either peak hours or all day service, do we have metrics on like our buses frequently full in peak hours?

37:01Are we missing people at bus stops because they can't get on?

37:05Like what sort of what sort of understanding of that is there?

37:13Yes, we do have ridership data throughout the day.

37:17So we have certain routes that are stronger in off peak service, let's say they're just, you know, might be, for example, the route 20 is very strong from 545 until 7 in the morning because it's getting everybody out to the Northwest industrial area for their start of

37:35shift.

37:36Whereas other routes pretty much run empty in that time or very like I wouldn't say empty, but I would say lower ridership in those times.

37:45Peak hour, we definitely do have routes right now that are overloaded and have too many.

37:52Gordon Street is a good example.

37:53The 99 is very popular.

37:55Our south end has very concentrated times of the day where a lot of people are trying to get to the university center or get home from the university center.

38:04And so we do find not just those routes.

38:07We have the 11, the 20.

38:09There are different times throughout our peak hour service where we are seeing incredibly high demand for certain services for sure.

38:18And how often does the transit department try and optimize their routing?

38:23Is that something that happens yearly, quarterly?

38:27So we have an internal program is called the review and planning program.

38:31Once a month, we pick one of our routes that are struggling and we analyze on time performance, ridership.

38:38We bring a little QR code of information onto select highest performing bus stops on that route to gather feedback from customers.

38:48We ride the bus and we have seven different languages that the report or the quiz or quiz the survey can be filled out in.

38:56And we also incorporate kind of feedback from our operators who are driving it.

39:01What is their experience on time performance wise, ridership wise?

39:05So we do do that monthly.

39:07We have key performance indicators that we're tracking in terms of on time performance or passenger loads on vehicles.

39:14Right now we have added services onto the 20 and the 11 to support them with on time performance and passenger loads.

39:23So we do have some active kind of programs that we keep an eye on our most troublesome routes and see what we can do to support them.

39:33Just my final follow up.

39:34How difficult or how much additional staff time would be required to expand that program to more routes?

39:45Like, is it a fairly labor intensive process to go through each one?

39:49It can be.

39:50I would say like the data collection part is probably the easiest.

39:55It's the analysis that comes after and how we can adjust or what those methods are to actually adjust it.

40:02So it would require right now.

40:05We actually did a continuous improvement exercise to shave the time of performing the audit from a month and a half into under a month.

40:13So we have already kind of optimized it, but we would require a little more employee power to do full analysis on multiple in a month.

40:29OK, thank you very much.

40:31I'll be brief.

40:35That first question, I think that priority should be frequency.

40:38And I will say this is very similar to the problem that the electricity sector has with electric vehicle charging.

40:46I do that for work.

40:47So it's a familiar problem.

40:49A frequent bus is a reliable bus and it does tend to solve both problems at the same time.

40:55And to answer the second question, again, same source.

40:59The answer points to strong all day service.

41:03But if you have sufficient frequency and frequency that may be dwindled at times, but is always available, you essentially solve the problem of reliability as well and to some extent coverage, not in space, but in time.

41:21Thank you, Elder.

41:22Yeah, I was going to ask if like a 15 minute all day service, well, if that's feasible, ever?

41:28Revolve?

41:30I think that's the goal.

41:31Like as we move forward, it's to get as many more frequent roots in our network.

41:38I think truly a budget is a big impact, right?

41:42Each year we go into our budget cycle and we have to analyze.

41:46We have everything in this year, let's say it's the 98 and the 12 and the 13 and the 18 and all these changes.

41:54And sometimes we have to go back and we have to scale about some of what we can do.

41:58And so that does become a challenge part of as we go forward in our plan, we kind of want to be mindful of what we're creating.

42:06We don't want to create a very big, you know, like insane kind of thing that is unaffordable to wealth.

42:14I think though there's opportunity for us as we look, if we alter the way that we think, we may be able to enhance frequencies and supplement services that might have lost it with on demand service or other types of service.

42:28To get you into our network.

42:30So it would be very nice to be 15 minute, but I don't know if it would be a possibility throughout the whole city, maybe in certain quarters.

42:39Yeah.

42:41My husband was born and raised in 12.

42:42First time we took the bus is when we went to the store game.

42:45Oh, I love it.

42:46Right for free.

42:47Yeah.

42:49He's never used the bus because it never because he lived in the West End.

42:52Right.

42:52They weren't there.

42:53He's like, I just walked or I just drove.

42:56I grew up in Toronto.

42:57So like I would just go out onto my regular route and I know the bus would be here in two to five minutes.

43:02Right.

43:03I never have to look at the time.

43:04If I went somewhere I didn't know, I just know they run this way and this way.

43:07For the most part.

43:08So I would just like wing it.

43:09Yeah.

43:10So I think part of having our frequency and when we compare it with good coverage is the ability to walk out and you already kind of know where things are going.

43:21This is I think the hard part is when you look at like Hamilton, certain parts of Hamilton is like East West North South.

43:28It is like a perfect grid.

43:30And when you look at wealth, we're very diagonal.

43:33We have weird streets that dead end like Silver Creek where it continues in a certain part.

43:38So I think that adds a little bit of a layer of challenge as we kind of look and like we want to create as you know, as much of like a sensible system.

43:47But sometimes our streets don't allow it to kind of look like that.

43:50So that's in our consideration as well is like creating maybe different types of groups that are more consistent.

43:57So you can kind of understand, you know, if it looks like this, then I'll be able to connect to that.

44:02Or if it's numbered like this, I'll be able to connect to that kind of thing.

44:08So time wise, I think if anybody else has any last minute things about prioritizing changes.

44:15But keep it quick for me.

44:16It's equity.

44:17I see this as a wraparound, but primarily coverage and frequency at the forefront.

44:20That's why I'm so enthusiastic with expansion of core routes, especially along like arterial roads like Edinburgh and Victoria, etc.

44:26So there's north, south, east, west connections.

44:28And I also feel a part of that frequency and coverage dimension is all day service.

44:34I think fewer people are working like nine to five, sometimes a core ridership, people without cars, people that work jobs at irregular hours in the lake.

44:43And so it's another like dignity related.

44:45Yeah.

44:46Thank you.

44:47Yeah.

44:47And I think as we look at it right now, I would say we have all day service.

44:52However, from five, 45 until seven, we run 30 minute service across the board on every route minus maybe the 99.

45:01That would be the only one.

45:03And so when we look at it, yes, we have all day service, but we don't treat it equally in certain parts of the day.

45:09Or maybe prioritizing some of those would make more sense.

45:13We also, you know, when we look at what we need to prioritize, we're competing.

45:21We have different priorities that we're also trying to align with.

45:24We have goals within the city we're trying to hit.

45:27So we want to support traffic calming measures.

45:29We want to support our Vision Zero program.

45:32In order to do that, though, that means we also need to adjust a 30 minute route where we could have done it before.

45:37Maybe that has to change and it has to be enhanced to 20 minute, but it has longer drive time.

45:43So that we can support not only, you know, getting around the city, but also our other programs to keep people around the city safe.

45:49Right.

45:50So thank you for that.

45:51I appreciate it.

45:53I meant to add to that earlier slide, but for me, if we spoke about this, like taking your wagon for your children, you can't do that.

46:00Yes.

46:01So we actually, based on your conversation, I brought it back and you are allowed to bring it.

46:05Well, that's okay.

46:05So yes, it's not a website is been updated.

46:08And all of our rules and regs have been updated.

46:11You are allowed to bring a wagon.

46:13All it has to have is a functionality of locking securely.

46:16And you are okay to bring your children to an event like Santa Claus parade and actually have your wagon there in order to bring them around and have them sit in that.

46:26And so that was one that I actually took back off of conversation together.

46:30And we've actually been able to make that happen now.

46:32Because I was saying with like maybe your community, like your members probably have wagons to bring food or other items.

46:38They're right.

46:38Straw.

46:39Yeah.

46:39Some strollers.

46:40And that was the other part as well.

46:42When we were looking at the equity piece, we had a really great conversation.

46:45My general manager, Glenn and myself with the food bank.

46:49And the food bank is a very unique one because we don't have a route that directly services it.

46:55You have to walk about 600 meters from either the nine up or the 10 down to it.

47:01And once you get your things, if you brought a wagon at that point, you weren't allowed to come on our bus with it.

47:06So it didn't make sense equity wise and accessibility for this group.

47:10So really, that was part of what we had looked at as well.

47:13It kind of worked out when we talked to you, we followed up with the food bank and we were like, this just, it makes sense.

47:18It makes sense to give more access to people and be able to, you know, be able to go and pick up your food and also come back with it and not have to now taxi because you have too much and you can't bring it with you.

47:30Do they know that?

47:31Like, does the food bank tell their patrons?

47:35I'm guessing yes.

47:36We don't directly, like, determine how they communicate.

47:39We've shared this change with them.

47:41So we're hoping that they kind of take that and do share it with their people that come and join.

47:46I live, like, off the night.

47:47So I see people coming down with their wagons.

47:49So I don't know where that's like something.

47:52Gotcha.

47:52Yeah, I think, I know that we reached out to them.

47:55I'm not sure what they've done with that info though.

47:57Yeah.

47:58Okay.

48:00Our next, um, this one is what could be, oh, sorry.

48:07What's working currently?

48:08What are some of the strengths that you find in our current network from your perspective?

48:14Maybe ease or certain experiences that seem to always work out for you each time you go?

48:21Um, I will say for the parents in our group, a lot of them really do appreciate the frequency

48:28of learning in the high schools.

48:29Um, that allows their kids to have a little bit more independence and can get from school.

48:34Ease.

48:35Some do live in the communities where their kids are going to high schools.

48:38There's walking ability.

48:40Um, but they know there's a bus route available to them.

48:43Uh, and then they know the frequency apps.

48:46So like the GCN frequency apps, I think, gosh, I always forget the name of the Catholic

48:53high school.

48:54I want to say yes.

48:55They do.

48:56Um, and then I do also see a lot of our folks appreciating, um, the hubs, how they can

49:03connect to further routes at the hubs rather than getting off at a random stop and waiting

49:08for a connection there.

49:10Uh, and some of the feedback that I've gotten from mobility is they really like the people

49:14that work there.

49:15Um,

49:16they really like the folks.

49:18And if you think that that would be better that much, but for folks who are low income,

49:22really good conversation can make good.

49:25The whole experience, even if it's not getting to book something, I feel a lot better.

49:29Um, and there's definitely been mobility transportation folks who I've spoken with who

49:33have been super helpful with booking, calling me back if times become available.

49:38So I say that has worked really well for us.

49:40That's awesome to hear.

49:41Uh, I do love our mobility.

49:43Like it's, it's a very much smaller than our conventional side.

49:47And so it's a lot more personable.

49:50Um, I, I like hearing that we in the app itself, when you book with us, if you use the app,

49:55you can give us a rating afterwards.

49:57And our operators typically get 4.8 out of five.

50:01Like they have such a good experience and they really love what they do.

50:05And I think that like it takes a, you know, a certain person that's passionate about it.

50:10And those are usually the ones that gravitate into driving that service.

50:13So I'm really happy to hear that.

50:14Yes.

50:15And I think also the biggest one that we've seen as an impact is the, uh, free rides

50:20for kids that has helped a lot of parents with knowing that they can go to

50:25camps or have some more mobility without wearing you that the cost for the entire

50:29family.

50:29Yeah, that's awesome.

50:31Thank you.

50:31As soon as they like the corn and store games and like free service on like new

50:35years, those are like, that's what I've been using recently.

50:39But when I was a student, I used to like the hub, same thing when I went to

50:42university and if I got to like downtown, a bunch of options were going to school

50:46with PC.

50:47Right.

50:47Once I did it with the wrong one, went the opposite way.

50:50But I learned, but there are so many options of once for years going next.

50:56Frequency of the 99.

50:57I know a lot of people that will forgo their local routes and walk a longer

51:02distance, like you were saying earlier to meet that and including on holidays.

51:06I'll know a lot of riders without vehicles that don't use on-demand service.

51:10So even if they're walking 15, 20 minutes, the 99 is like the only option or

51:15they'll stay at home or try to find a peer with access to a personal vehicle.

51:19So yeah, it was a quarter of a surrely.

51:22Yeah.

51:23Yeah.

51:23And that's one of the exciting pieces as we kind of go forward that even more kind

51:27of where those core options are going to be available as we keep introducing it.

51:30Right.

51:34Anything else?

51:36I'm just going to add to the mobility service that I live across from like a

51:40religious institution and I see the mobility come like every day, same kind,

51:44pick up, drop off that person.

51:46And it's there never like in the way of anybody or anything, it's efficient.

51:50So I think that works for like, because it's older members that go there.

51:53Yeah.

51:54It works for them really well and they seem to be getting the time they need.

51:57Yeah.

51:57And you know what?

51:57What I love about our program is that it's door to door service.

52:01So we really are, you know, taking it that extra step to make sure that they get

52:05in safely.

52:06We also have some folks cognitively that can't be left alone where they have to

52:11meet someone at the door.

52:13And so the service really helps for some folks where we can make sure that they

52:17get there safely to their destination.

52:20I'll just share a personal one.

52:21I really enjoy the connect to go, the new service where you can top and get your

52:28bear back.

52:29It saves me a lot of money.

52:31I know that there's the Ontario one bear system in the GTA.

52:35So I'm used to just tapping my presto across the GTA, but it's really nice to

52:40know that I'm not incurring an extra cost when I come back to well.

52:43Yeah, that's awesome.

52:44And I feel like it's kind of a hidden program.

52:47Not everybody knows about it.

52:48I even had a meeting with some go folks last year and some of them didn't even

52:52know we had connect to go.

52:53So it's, it's a really good program that I think when we start thinking about our

52:58future on demand and meeting early go trains, that's a great opportunity to talk

53:04about co-fare at the same time as book a ride, get your money back and connect to

53:09a go train.

53:10Right.

53:10And right now it's only for trains.

53:12It doesn't include bus connections.

53:14But I'm thinking in the future as Metro Leeds keeps expanding, most likely they'll

53:19look at their bus as well.

53:21Yeah.

53:24Any last thoughts on what's working?

53:29Can we go to our next slide?

53:32What could be improved?

53:34What are the biggest areas for improvement in our current network from your

53:38perspective?

53:39And it may link a little bit to the efficient transit discussion that we were

53:43talking about.

53:43So that's how you want to start a saw.

53:45Frequency.

53:46Frequency.

53:46Yeah.

53:50But with shelters.

53:52Okay.

53:53Because I work up the industrial area and there's no shelters to be had.

53:56Yeah.

53:57There's been so many people that refuse to take the bus because they're not on

54:00time and there's no shelters at all.

54:03They were a frequent.

54:04He would spend less time outside.

54:05Well, if you had shelters then you could wait that instead of in a 25 minus 25

54:10degree weather.

54:10Yeah.

54:11And so the one thing and this not a lot of people know it's difficult for us to

54:16place a shelter on a gravel shoulder when it comes to snow plowing itself.

54:20That's partly why we see very few.

54:23If you see one in the North end, a business has chosen to purchase that so

54:29their staff can stand in it.

54:30But typically we that's like a deal we have to make with the operations team

54:35saying like, Hey, I know it's harder to plow, but we're kind of doing this

54:40handshake with the organization.

54:42And so some locations have them.

54:45But I think that is a bit of our struggle.

54:47So out of 100% of our bus stops, 85% of our bus stops right now we consider

54:52AODA compliant, meaning it has a hard surface and it connects to a sidewalk.

54:5615% of them because we're almost at 100% out of that 85.

55:00I think we're like 98 out of 100 out of that 85%.

55:05The leftover 15 are places that don't have sidewalk like gravel folder in the

55:10North, Northwest industrial.

55:11So it makes it harder to place certain amenities.

55:14Carissa and talked about not only right away, that's another piece about our North end.

55:18When we look at Southgate, when we look at Massey Road and Imperial and those

55:23areas, they don't come with sidewalks already.

55:27And so placing an amenity in that area is a lot more difficult.

55:30So that's a little bit of the reasoning behind it, but I can understand also why

55:35that would deter people from wanting to get out there and actually have to stand

55:40and wait.

55:40And especially in the wintertime, it can feel scary being on a gravel shoulder

55:45with it being plowed and like walking and just like navigating in the cold can be difficult.

55:50Yeah, can be dangerous.

55:51Yeah, exactly.

55:53Yeah.

55:54Thank you for that.

55:57Can you look for like lightings for like, I know waiters grab the shoulders, but I go

56:02down Southgate to drive my daughter up a dance and they're waiting at bus stops.

56:06And sometimes when we come home, we can't even see them.

56:09OK, so like I know, like I said, it's hard to put an actual shelter, but with lighting

56:13at least enhance their safety.

56:15Right.

56:15OK.

56:16Yeah, we can definitely add that.

56:18I know based on we have like certain like a level of light that's supposed

56:26to be at like terminals and other things that are determined through the city, but

56:30certain bus stops.

56:30I'll keep that in mind as we kind of look because some stops are probably unique

56:34where they're spaced because typically we're looking at 400 meter spacing to make

56:39it easier to walk, but that also doesn't always mean it ends up under a light pool.

56:42Right.

56:43So good point.

56:47Like I get point to the easy one.

56:49The the transfer to the go train is it's a brilliant program.

56:55And I like the fact that you saved me on that.

56:58However, it is a pain to use when it's not used to the bus.

57:03Let's say you want to travel to the station.

57:05If I said to pay for blood transit, then the go bus of the go train, then another bus

57:10there at that point to the cost of all of these three services, it's just cheaper to

57:14try.

57:15Right.

57:16So if if it were at least possible to use 12 transit cards on the on the go bus or

57:22the other way around.

57:23Right.

57:24Now, just reducing that friction would get a lot more people onto the buses and trains.

57:29For sure.

57:30For sure.

57:30And I think that's the hard part, right?

57:32It's like you're going on an on your way card to a presto card to I don't know what

57:37they call the G or T card, but you're literally using three types of cards to travel

57:43instead of one, like you said, like universal presto where you can do this in

57:47different areas and some cities have presto available.

57:50So it's a little easier presto on the bus, presto on the next bus, etc.

57:54But yeah, great point, Elvridge.

57:57I think for folks who are living at low income, it's access to information while

58:03they're at stops.

58:05We do know that you can call in, but that calling service ends when city hall closes.

58:11So if you're calling at eight o'clock at night, you're not able to get someone to

58:14answer questions about where your bus is, when the bus is coming.

58:19And if you're in a scenario where you don't have data, you're not able to access

58:23the Twitter or the apps or anything like that.

58:27So whether it's ensuring that there is some form of a way, whether that's digital

58:32signage at the major stations, as for folks to know if there's major delays with buses

58:38or if a bus has faced some sort of cancellation and some sort of under coming.

58:42Yeah.

58:42We've heard from folks who live in the stone road area that when the buses

58:49for students go away and also impacts them because they don't have a replacement

58:54for certain groups that they're used to taking.

58:56Yeah.

58:57But Wilson, for example, the 50 does not.

59:00It's the only route that services Wilson view.

59:02And now we have to walk to Janefield or Edinburgh.

59:05So I think perhaps if there's some communication with folks to let them know

59:09the service is ending on the specific date, I think what's happening is not that

59:13folks don't know the service is ending.

59:15It's that they're blindsided by the date that service ceases.

59:18Right.

59:19And then they're not sure when it's coming back.

59:20They just know once I see a student in the neighborhood, most likely back up and running.

59:25Right.

59:26In terms of stations and stops, a lot of what we've heard is the lack of pads at

59:33some of the when you're getting off, you're getting onto a gravel shoulder.

59:37So I think the location that Children's Foundation is in right now is in the

59:42industrial area, which means you're getting off with the road.

59:46Yes.

59:47And that can be quite difficult.

59:49Also, where the Habitat for Humanity location is as well, there is no sidewalk,

59:53which is not full of transit's fault.

59:55Right.

59:56It impacts the folks who are attempting to use either immigrant services or Habitat

1:00:01for Humanity because there's no pad.

1:00:03Right.

1:00:04Or if there's a pad, there's no shelter.

1:00:06Yeah.

1:00:07So these applications specifically, I know that there's a pad, but there's no

1:00:11connection to sidewalk.

1:00:12And so really it's like in good weather, you have a pad and you

1:00:16can see where you're supposed to go down, but there's no like clearance down to

1:00:20Habitat or immigration services there.

1:00:22Yeah.

1:00:22Exactly.

1:00:23Yeah.

1:00:23So a lot of those folks, they choose to either not go in or they have to

1:00:29they're incurring a cost to gain access.

1:00:31Right.

1:00:32So I think whether that's communicating to folks, I know in Toronto, and I'll

1:00:38say this, I'm from Toronto, I grew up in Toronto.

1:00:41I think for folks from Toronto migrating to Guelph, you get a little bit of

1:00:45nostalgia for the TTC, but the TTC is not the perfect system.

1:00:50It actually I was home this weekend and I was like, I don't know why I love this.

1:00:55This is actually poor system.

1:00:57So I'm not using the TTC as like a gold standard by any means, but there are

1:01:02notifications if services ceasing or notifications if a station is not accessible.

1:01:09If there's a way to, if we're listing out routes, you put a little like a sign

1:01:14that lets people know that it's not an accessible stop.

1:01:17Right.

1:01:17Folks when they're taking transit are aware that they're heading to a location

1:01:21where there's no sidewalks or no pad and are not blindsided by taking the bus.

1:01:27Yeah.

1:01:27I know at least in transit app, we've been able to add an accessibility at

1:01:32each of the stops.

1:01:33So when you're tripling, you know if it's going to be accessible for you or not.

1:01:36But that doesn't help you outside of that.

1:01:39The maps on that line and on the info post, they do have a colored circle.

1:01:43That's one.

1:01:44I forget.

1:01:44I think it's blue shows it's accessible and purple is inaccessible.

1:01:48So there is that too.

1:01:50But yeah.

1:01:51Yeah.

1:01:52Yeah.

1:01:52There's like, I think we have some definite takeaways, I think from today on

1:01:58just communication.

1:01:59I don't know if communication itself will be a big focus within our plan, but

1:02:04it's really good for us to fly for our marketing team.

1:02:07We're about to be developing either this year or next year, the travel training

1:02:11program.

1:02:12And so you can sign up.

1:02:14You can learn about our service.

1:02:15It might mean learning about the apps.

1:02:17It might mean you get to travel.

1:02:19We used to have a program travel training where there would be volunteers and you

1:02:23would pick one origin destination trip and you'd practice that three different

1:02:28days with your volunteer and they'd come and pick you up.

1:02:30They'd walk you to the stop.

1:02:32They'd take you to the location.

1:02:33You'd wait and then you'd come back and they'd help you do that.

1:02:36And so it kind of gains some more.

1:02:39But then COVID, we stopped the program.

1:02:41And now I think that there's a lot of opportunity communication in our

1:02:45mobility assessment we did last year for mobility specifically.

1:02:49It came back that like we could do a lot more on outreach and education in like

1:02:55right now 30% of people in mobility use the app.

1:02:5970% call us.

1:03:01Well, maybe that would be higher if people understood how to use it.

1:03:04I think technology scares a lot of people.

1:03:06And so I think there's definitely some takeaways that we can bring back to our

1:03:10team to kind of go, hey, big picture as we're looking at where we're going in the

1:03:14future, how can we do better outreach, do better education, make it more like

1:03:19accessible for all different kinds of groups within the city.

1:03:22So thank you for that.

1:03:23I'll now reiterate what I mentioned beforehand with mobility.

1:03:27It just needs more opportunities for folks to book, whether it's you are only

1:03:32able to book two rides at a time to prevent folks from overbooking and curbing

1:03:37that kind of like resource crowding that a lot of folks do, or it's an addition

1:03:44of additional buses and additional services that are available for folks.

1:03:47We have definitely seen people struggle to book to go to places they need because

1:03:51of lack of availability.

1:03:56Any last items on improvements?

1:04:01Okay.

1:04:04So this is going to be a bit of a bigger one, I think.

1:04:08Also because, and I also transitioned the slide.

1:04:11I don't know how I did this, but so what barriers prevent people from using our

1:04:16service today?

1:04:18And are there currently underserved areas within our network?

1:04:22So Food Bank is an example we've heard from folks from KidsAbility where they

1:04:27have to walk and at that point there was no sidewalk connection.

1:04:30So you're walking on a gravel shoulder with children to get up.

1:04:34We've had people request the well Lake Conservation Area, which is outside of

1:04:39well, but a lot of people in the summertime like to go and walk through the

1:04:43conservation area.

1:04:44And so that's been on our radar of like maybe we book a chartered experience

1:04:49where like on this day you could come and get to the lake and have a nice, you

1:04:53know, sunny day out and come back.

1:04:56But yeah, so we want to understand, I think we kind of have hit a few of them.

1:05:01Technology is a barrier, data and access.

1:05:05We've talked about access like barriers to actually getting out, whether

1:05:12that's shelters or access at a stop where it's not accessible for you to get on

1:05:16and off.

1:05:17Maybe some other things outside of that, if anybody has anything they want to

1:05:22add on barriers.

1:05:24I'll add language as a barrier that we have noticed.

1:05:27We work in a shelter quite frequently and I have encountered families who are

1:05:34coming from regions where public transportation is a, you know, you flag

1:05:37the best down on the side of the road kind of thing, not necessarily that you're

1:05:42getting out of regular schedule.

1:05:45And so they're not able to read the materials provided because it's very

1:05:51complex language and it's a system they've never encountered before.

1:05:56So whether that's translations like plain language translations or clear

1:06:00language translations, I do think some of the translations would impact some

1:06:04of our new companies.

1:06:05Yeah.

1:06:05So when we started our RAP program, we had noticed that like when we went out

1:06:10numerous times we'd go like, want to do our survey and they'd be like, like, I

1:06:15have no clue what you're even saying.

1:06:16No, I'm good.

1:06:17And so we went to, oh, I think her name is, and she helped us.

1:06:25What are the top languages for all the different folks in WALF?

1:06:28And she gave us our top seven or eight languages and our survey we translated

1:06:33into these.

1:06:34And so we have a little sheet now, which is exciting when we go, it's like, is

1:06:39this your language in their language?

1:06:41And they can point at it and it's numbered.

1:06:42And then we take the number survey and we give it to them.

1:06:45And they actually get to fill it out in a meaningful way to them that helps us.

1:06:49And it's a lot of check boxes.

1:06:50So it's easier for us to translate what check means what.

1:06:54But as we kind of go forward, we have a lot of materials that we put out.

1:06:59And the translational part or even just the plain language part, we kind of

1:07:03learned a little bit of that in fair strategy.

1:07:06We, you can ride 33 rides, I think now 33.

1:07:10It started in 32.

1:07:11It's transitioned to 33.

1:07:13It's going to go to 34.

1:07:1433 rides you can do in a month.

1:07:17And after that, you no longer pay for your rides.

1:07:19You've tapped and you're done.

1:07:21But explaining fair capping is a very technical term.

1:07:25It's a very technical thing.

1:07:27And sometimes corporate communications does really great work and they called it

1:07:31pay as you go and up to you pay up to 33 times and changing the way we were

1:07:36describing it really helped a lot of people because we tried to take fair

1:07:40capping and make it less technical, but still technical enough by calling it

1:07:44that. And eventually we were like, let's just stop calling it fair capping.

1:07:47Why don't we just call it something else?

1:07:49We'll all refer to it as fair capping, but like let's make it simpler.

1:07:53And so I can appreciate that as we go forward.

1:07:56I think really being able to explain a big network change needs to come simply.

1:08:02Like what are our big goals?

1:08:04Is this ties to that big goal and like painting that picture for folks?

1:08:08Because I think coming out with a plan, a lot of people look at and they're like,

1:08:12oh my God, what?

1:08:13And there's how many years and the phasing and it's overwhelming.

1:08:17And so I think coming to that as we kind of go forward, picking out simple ways

1:08:22to show people like we're going to save you time or we're going to save you,

1:08:26you know, transfer things or we're going to create new amenities or whatever that

1:08:29looks like and simplifying it a little bit.

1:08:32So thank you for that, Chelsea.

1:08:33I appreciate that.

1:08:37Anyone else?

1:08:38Areas, underserved areas?

1:08:40One thing, one of the biggest problems using transit is utility.

1:08:43And what I mean by that is if you think about some traveling, say from

1:08:4712 to Kitchener, you have to deal with three transit systems, but the 12 buses

1:08:53stop at the boundaries of 12.

1:08:55So if you want to travel, see even to 12 Lake, like you said, that's technically

1:09:00outside 12.

1:09:02The buses don't go there.

1:09:03That's an administrative issue.

1:09:05I agree.

1:09:06But that is a really huge barrier to utility, which then pushes people away

1:09:11from transit and back into their cars.

1:09:13Right.

1:09:14So this could be a joyride in some fair.

1:09:17It could also be someone traveling, say true from here to Brampton.

1:09:21There should be a bus that doesn't take the highways, but there is not.

1:09:25Because you have to deal with 12 transit, then a bunch of systems in between, then

1:09:30the GTA transit systems and so on.

1:09:32It's that utility issue that pushes a lot of people away from transit and back

1:09:38into cars.

1:09:38Right.

1:09:39Yeah, the inter-regional transit was definitely something that we flagged on

1:09:43our tenure network plan.

1:09:44And then priorities we keep kind of weighing budget and going, do we put money

1:09:49into connect outside of us or do we keep trying to fix what we have here?

1:09:53And it's a unique balance.

1:09:56Fergus, Elora, Wellington County is looking to expand what their services

1:10:01look like, which is exciting and potentially build fixed route

1:10:05conventional services that can connect our areas together, which will hopefully

1:10:09create a little more of that.

1:10:10But yeah, thank you for that.

1:10:13Very, very good note that we can look at as well.

1:10:16I just follow up.

1:10:17So it's certainly a budget issue.

1:10:19It's not like crossing boundaries.

1:10:21No, you would need most likely a handshake agreement with whatever that company is.

1:10:27Like you typically don't operate a service in another person's agency's area.

1:10:32So for example, Mississauga, Oakville, Burlington, Hamilton, they're all very

1:10:39connected because you can come into Burlington to drop people off at the

1:10:42go, but you may be a Hamilton bus or Oakville coming into Burlington.

1:10:46Same thing.

1:10:47They've all made an agreement between those agencies that they're allowed to

1:10:50kind of cross travel and cross support one another.

1:10:53And you're not like taking away service.

1:10:55So in the future, let's say GRT would be a connection.

1:10:59We would have to work with GRT and say, hey, what if we created a hub connector

1:11:04Victoria and what is it down there?

1:11:08Like the, you know, like the East end, your Brezla or maybe we connect in Brezla

1:11:12and we go as far as Brezla and you come out to Brezla and this is the

1:11:15connection and we align our times.

1:11:17But we would need to work with other areas.

1:11:20Goes a little easier because they're very set.

1:11:22You kind of just work with go.

1:11:23Go to not really working with you because they're provincial.

1:11:26So it would be us connecting into out of oil or us connecting into areas that

1:11:30they are servicing with buses that we'd be able to kind of tap into there.

1:11:35But yeah, budget does come into it when you share, let's say a service,

1:11:40you could share the cost as well.

1:11:41You're not taking all of that.

1:11:42So grant money as well.

1:11:44We would want to explore in those so they can kind of help us either with

1:11:47funding vehicles or funding, you know, connections.

1:11:51And I'll just echo that for low income individuals out in the county,

1:11:55coming into Guelph is on the table for many of them.

1:11:59If they do have a car, it may not be a car that can travel that distance.

1:12:03We know our folks from Fergus can make it in, but we have folks from

1:12:08like, oh my gosh, Palmerston area who are utilizing Ridewell,

1:12:14but Ridewell is a personal ride.

1:12:15It's not the bus.

1:12:18So I would say if we're thinking of interregional transit,

1:12:21I would prioritize the county over any other region in terms of access

1:12:26because we're essentially cut off from the county.

1:12:29Right. Yeah. Good point.

1:12:31I was thinking about that as well.

1:12:34I know in terms of any inter-jurisdictional

1:12:38partnerships with whether it be lower tier municipalities or through

1:12:41Wellington County, there are federal funds, there is federal funding

1:12:46allocated for rural transit.

1:12:49And while there are many applicants to that pool, very few municipalities

1:12:53actually apply. So partnering with a rural lower tier municipality

1:12:57might open up opportunities to further subsidize those like inter-jurisdictional.

1:13:02Yeah, for sure.

1:13:04I think one of the biggest barriers to prevent people is you can't compete with a car.

1:13:09Well, transit is not set up to compete with a car.

1:13:12So most of your people are people that have to take the bus.

1:13:16You offer nothing and I'm not saying this in a negative way.

1:13:20You offer nothing to drive people from stop using their car to the bus.

1:13:25Yeah.

1:13:26You I mean, you can walk to a stop in 20 minutes with no shelter

1:13:30and minus 20 degree weather takes 2.7 times the length to get to

1:13:36where you have to go and you may or may not have a place to step off the bus.

1:13:41And then you're walking where you can take a vehicle.

1:13:44Yeah.

1:13:45There is nothing the biggest market you would have is people that are driving

1:13:49right now and right now, wealth transit offers nothing for them.

1:13:53Yeah, very true.

1:13:54And then I think that's why we're here today is we want to look at what we have

1:14:00because we want to build that competitiveness into what we're doing.

1:14:04And that might not look like five years or 10 years.

1:14:07That might be 15, 20 years.

1:14:09I think what I find exciting but also daunting

1:14:13is wealth transit is right now, I think, in a big transitional place.

1:14:18We're moving from this small kind of hub and spoke network

1:14:21that was 30 minutes every time and everyone met and we're transitioning

1:14:25into this kind of medium sized network.

1:14:28And it's a lot of those growing pains are what we're living in right now.

1:14:31Eventually I can see us in the next 10 to 15 years.

1:14:35If we get funding and we get support and we're kind of like rolling,

1:14:39I can see us actually having higher frequencies and better travel and better

1:14:43amenities and we're actually creating space for ourselves

1:14:47and how we design roads and all of those pieces.

1:14:50Right now we're kind of working within what we got.

1:14:53Right.

1:14:55But we're really, I think where I started 10 years ago,

1:14:58where the thought of having a network plan was like unheard of.

1:15:02Like I barely did any planning when I first started.

1:15:05It was a lot of scheduling, a lot of fixing what I had.

1:15:08And now it's like a totally different ballgame.

1:15:11It's council listening.

1:15:13We have advocacy groups that are coming and speaking on behalf of transit users.

1:15:17And it's really kind of like growing the voice of transit to council and to others.

1:15:21So I hear your point, though.

1:15:24That's ultimately our goal is to move people out of their car

1:15:28and into active transportation modes that connect into transit.

1:15:32We are our TMP goal.

1:15:34Transportation Master Plan is to increase our mode share

1:15:37along with cycling and pedestrian and lower the car.

1:15:40You can't do that if you are willing to fund each of those things

1:15:44and increase what people have access to.

1:15:47Right.

1:15:50OK, so time wise, I'm going to move on just because we have a couple more slides.

1:15:55I'm going to breeze through this one.

1:15:56We have three types of on demand.

1:15:58This is just to explain it in case you don't know.

1:16:00Monday to Saturday, we have on demand 830 to 430.

1:16:03It is only at select bus stops.

1:16:05So anything outside of our 400 meter walk distance, a stop exists.

1:16:10So maybe 20 of them exist throughout the network.

1:16:13You can book these and they bring you to the closest hub

1:16:18with on Spark Center, while Central Station, the UC or Gordon I player.

1:16:24Sundays, we see on demand only in two parts of the day,

1:16:277.15 a.m. until around 9 a.m. when fixed route service begins.

1:16:31And then at 7.15 when that finishes until around 10.15 p.m.

1:16:3510 p.m. statutory holidays.

1:16:38We have from 9.15 to 6.45 on demand service and our group 99.

1:16:43And in each of these that you see Monday to Saturday, you have regular

1:16:46conventional service Sunday from those two periods and a.m.

1:16:50and p.m. The 99 is still operating during those times and statutory holiday.

1:16:54The 99 is still operating.

1:16:55So we can go into the next slide list.

1:16:57Thank you.

1:16:59Monday to Saturday right now, we call it a first mile, last mile concept.

1:17:03It connects the select stops to the closest hub between 830 and 430.

1:17:08So our question is how should on demand service complement fixed route transit

1:17:12rather than compete with it?

1:17:14So right now it is to supplement you getting into a hub.

1:17:19Right now we also only have a select grouping.

1:17:23I had mentioned earlier if we want to, let's say, encourage higher frequencies

1:17:27on our materials, how could we use on demand service to help

1:17:32complement that service instead of competing with it and feeling like

1:17:36it's all type of service?

1:17:38I think we want to kind of marry the thought of like on demand gets you to

1:17:43conventional. We're connecting those two concepts together in a way.

1:17:48Feedback on first, first mile, last mile service.

1:17:53If there if you have any question.

1:18:02This is maybe because of my lack of knowledge, but what is the difference

1:18:06between on demand, first, my last mile with the previous flight, which is

1:18:11on different.

1:18:12So this one is everything outside of our 400 meter walk distance.

1:18:16Whereas the other ones you can do on demand from any bus stop to any bus stop

1:18:21on a Sunday in those periods or on stat holiday.

1:18:25So I could take from the closest stop to my house, Wadden-Audin, and I could take

1:18:29that to the West End Rec Center in on demand.

1:18:32However, if it's Monday to Saturday, I can only take it.

1:18:36But like Wadden-Audin doesn't exist because I can take 13.

1:18:40So I would have to walk like if I let's say on seven where there is in service,

1:18:45I would be able to book a trip and it would bring me to Well Central Station, for example.

1:18:50Yeah.

1:18:51So in this case, one of the things that we've kind of flagged is we are outside

1:18:57of our walk distance all hours of our service, but we only provide 830 to 430.

1:19:03So we're kind of right now based on funding.

1:19:07We're only providing availability to you to connect into a hub only at certain

1:19:13parts of the day. We're not giving access to folks at all parts of the day who have

1:19:17to walk further. So and we had talked about 800 meter walk distance.

1:19:22All of our existing stops are not 800 meters within a high frequency network.

1:19:26Group, which is like our 99.

1:19:28So Severin, for example, is a 30 minute frequency on the 17 or the 18.

1:19:33That's closest to it.

1:19:34Deer path is a 30 minute frequency on the nine and so on and so on.

1:19:39So

1:19:41really, I think for us, we kind of this one is more like a fusion into our service.

1:19:49If there's not any thoughts around this, that's also OK.

1:19:51We can move on on demand is a bit of a unique one.

1:19:54This is something that came out of our 10 year Future Ready Action Plan.

1:19:57It's evolving in every agency around us.

1:20:02I feel like the window is just small enough that it's like a little

1:20:07enraging, like if you do have the luxury of working a nine to five, it's like you

1:20:11have to hope that it is like less than 30 minutes to your workplace.

1:20:15And then the service ends before five even turns around.

1:20:19Whereas if you, you know, brought the back and like,

1:20:23you know, earlier 30 minutes earlier in the front end, like an hour later or an hour

1:20:29and a half, it would probably have a lot more utility, even though I'm not the

1:20:32biggest fan of commuter oriented like

1:20:36transit decisions.

1:20:37But yeah, just on the why we have different ways that operators do work for us.

1:20:43There are five days a week, eight hour shifts or four days a week, 10 hour shifts.

1:20:47This operator, for example, who operates this is five days a week, eight hours a day.

1:20:52So that is why it looks as it looks.

1:20:54So ultimately in our budget and our plan, we would go back and we would say,

1:20:58we actually need three operators and we would want these hours and that does provide more.

1:21:04So that's a little of the background of why we see the silly kind of timing.

1:21:09And I love how you describe that because it is very true.

1:21:12I feel like this reminds me of my feelings around my kids school.

1:21:15Like, how am I supposed to get you there and also show up to work on time?

1:21:18But you finish at three, but I finish at five.

1:21:20Like what? So I can totally understand that.

1:21:26OK, let's move into our next one.

1:21:31It is our on demand for staff holiday.

1:21:36If you have a personal experience, if not, that's OK, we can also move into our next question.

1:21:40Is the current staff holiday service providing the best level of service to our ridership?

1:21:45I'm going to say no, I had this exact experience on Monday.

1:21:50I did not know it ended at 6.45 and the last train gets into Guelph at 8.00 something.

1:21:56That's it. I got here.

1:21:58There I watched the last bus drive away in the last city bus.

1:22:03And then I tried to book on demand.

1:22:05It was closed, so I had to take a Uber home and then I watched the massive chaos of

1:22:10boogers trying to get into Guelph Central Station.

1:22:12So I think now that Go has expanded their service, even on statutory holidays,

1:22:19we have the last train coming in for I think it's like 8.45.

1:22:24I do think that there is room to expand the statutory service to at least nine o'clock

1:22:30so that that last train, it brings a lot of people into the city now.

1:22:35It's the only train that comes up to Guelph on stat holidays or on Sundays.

1:22:40I think it would be beneficial.

1:22:43Thank you, Chelsea.

1:22:46Any more thoughts?

1:22:47We'll plug along to the next one on demand Sunday service.

1:22:52So these are the two parts of the day.

1:22:54Is our current Sunday service providing the best level of service to our ridership?

1:22:58Same question.

1:23:03And to speak personally on this, while I do think these hours are great,

1:23:07I wondered if there's a way to put more information about booking on demand back

1:23:12while Central Station.

1:23:15I find that because I know I end up being this like

1:23:20navigator for people who are there.

1:23:24I know we don't have access to the rail station, so there isn't a booth anymore

1:23:29for folks to go and ask questions to.

1:23:31Yeah. And there's no like you'd have to walk further down into where the buses

1:23:36are to speak to a wealth transit operator.

1:23:39Right. So whether there's signage on like it's Sunday, again, the last train

1:23:44comes up and ate something if people knew they could book on demand at Guelph Central.

1:23:48Right.

1:23:49Rather than knowing beforehand, I think that's great.

1:23:52Good info.

1:23:54I think for us for Sunday,

1:23:56we it's weird that Monday to Saturday we have such access for folks and Sunday is

1:24:03so much shorter. And so on our list to examine is what do our demand?

1:24:09What does our demand look like in the first little part of the 7 a.m.

1:24:13trips and the 10 p.m. trips?

1:24:15Are we seeing way more people want to ride with us that I think that will help us

1:24:20look at that data and start looking.

1:24:21Well, maybe we expand and we start at 545 similar to our Monday,

1:24:26but maybe we don't go all the way till 1245.

1:24:28Maybe we extend it just a little maybe till 11 or, you know,

1:24:32well, or whatever that looks like or create a phased plan for that.

1:24:36So I think for us, our goal is to eventually be able to say we have universal

1:24:41weak service rather than, hey, by the way, Sunday is a little weird.

1:24:44Let me explain it like and give all those other details.

1:24:48And I think as we really look forward in our future,

1:24:52funding wise, we're looking long term at like full conventional,

1:24:56whatever happens on Monday and Saturday happens on your Sunday.

1:24:59So right now our expansion may look like more 99 than on demand in order to help

1:25:04Sundays, right?

1:25:06OK.

1:25:08So last but not least, we are almost at the end, folks,

1:25:12and we timed it out pretty well.

1:25:14So mobility services, we've heard a lot from you, Chelsea, and thank you very much.

1:25:19It is our chair ride accessible, door to door service.

1:25:22So we did customer engagement in 2024 and 2025.

1:25:26Any engagement we've really done before, we haven't seen a massive uptick.

1:25:31This group we heard back from 23 percent of them, which is quite high when you go

1:25:36out and survey, especially based on our users.

1:25:39So we either email them or we send the letter directly to their house based on how

1:25:43they've applied to us and we communicate with them.

1:25:45And they came back and gave us a lot of engagement information.

1:25:48So within that, we don't want it to go to waste.

1:25:50We want to use that and help us inform all the good changes that we can do in the system.

1:25:55And we're going to look at our current demand.

1:25:59What are we missing?

1:26:00We want to understand our cancellation rate.

1:26:02How many times does our cancellation rate impact our demand?

1:26:06If our cancellation rate is 38 percent and let's say our demand is 30 percent

1:26:11and our cancellations are impacting 15 percent of our demand, then that means

1:26:16we're still missing 15 percent of what people want.

1:26:19So we want to kind of understand what's our current.

1:26:22How can we look at our age and growth and population

1:26:25statistics and help council understand we need to keep funding this program and

1:26:30expanding it because just based on our population growth and wealth, we're going to need it.

1:26:35Right now, we have about 530 unique users that are in our network.

1:26:41They account for about 35,000 trips a year.

1:26:43And that's the 520 and that's the rides we could service for them.

1:26:47So we could even do more with who we have.

1:26:51And eventually what we'd like to do is keep expanding opportunities in this program.

1:26:56So right now, for example, you can subscribe with us.

1:27:00So if you go to dialysis every week, if you have a medical appointment that happens

1:27:04every week, we allow you to subscribe into our system and you get that every week

1:27:10automatically, everyone books around your subscription, but it only is included right now for medical.

1:27:16So for us, we want to be able to look.

1:27:18We look at our comparator agencies around us.

1:27:20Comparators approved by the city or Berry, Burlington, Oakville, Sudbury and a lot of others.

1:27:27But when we look at them, they have universal subscriptions.

1:27:30Do you go to bingo every week?

1:27:32Do you go to bridge every week?

1:27:33Do you have a fun thing you do with your family every week?

1:27:37All of those should really be included for you to be able to book.

1:27:40So as we kind of look at mobility, we don't have a ton of feedback today because it's a little bit unique.

1:27:45You have to be one of our users or work with users.

1:27:48But ultimately, we're trying to make it even more accessible and to meet not only

1:27:53meet demand, meet demand of the future and allow for new opportunities for folks to do subscription bookings.

1:27:59So we'll look at cases like maybe someone is like a hidden subscriber every week,

1:28:04seven days in advance.

1:28:06They have to call us and say, hey, by the way, I'm going to bridge.

1:28:09Can you book me in for bridge?

1:28:10We're going to look at our data and see how many of those hidden subscriptions do we have and kind of go from there.

1:28:16So I think as we look for mobility, like I said, it's a service that's kind of been overlooked for a long time.

1:28:24And we really want to be able to incorporate it.

1:28:26And now for council to look at a plan and think, well, transit has three unique services and not just transit, the big bus, whatever really talks about.

1:28:36It's a very unique group and they're really, really awesome people.

1:28:41And so I think for us, we really are coming at similar to our strategic plan for the city, an equity lens into the work that we're doing.

1:28:50We really want to make sure we're kind of satisfying those pieces in our transit network design plan for conventionals.

1:28:56We're building it.

1:28:57Are we giving good access?

1:28:59You know, great example is Willow and Silver Creek and Shelldale that those areas right now have 30 minute frequency on the 20 and the 11.

1:29:06We know it needs more based on passenger rides, based on the safety in the neighborhood, all those pieces.

1:29:11So we really want to kind of layer all of these things in.

1:29:15And as we move forward, which really exciting, we're going to be working with transportation and traffic, seeing what kind of data they have that can help inform all those different pieces for us.

1:29:24So that way, you know, we're working together in our plans and we're not coming up with something really cool and creative and whoops, we're not going to be able to go forward with it because someone else had a really cool creative idea.

1:29:35We want to kind of align all those pieces together as we go forward as well.

1:29:39So that is our engagement for today.

1:29:42I hope it paints a little bit of a picture of some of our goals where we're heading what some of those pieces we're going to bring back and analyze.

1:29:51Efficient Transit is going to be kind of the main feature of what that means to people where we kind of land on all of those as we kind of get cracking.

1:30:00And now as we go forward and we actually start developing ideas, we're going to be coming back to you folks for engagement and going, hey, we want to understand the impacts of these ideas.

1:30:10We want to understand, you know, all these different layers.

1:30:14And that leads us to our final in terms of our motion.

1:30:21Any last comments from anybody?

1:30:25We were talking about a subscribed user.

1:30:27Is that like hidden patterns?

1:30:29Would you ever do a pilot project to include those like bingo bridge people?

1:30:34So I think for us, I want to see how many we have.

1:30:37Like right now, if I'm not meeting current demand for me to do a pilot like that would be unfair to the people I'm already non servicing.

1:30:44So I want to be able to look at it and go, if you want to do all of these, it has to come with more.

1:30:51Because I already am not hitting X, Y and Z.

1:30:54I don't want to add in ABC and go like, whoops.

1:30:57And now we're more kind of like worse off, if that makes sense.

1:31:00But I'm curious if you had those subscribed users with the drop in like cancellations happened.

1:31:06Very good point.

1:31:07I think when we look at our cancellations, that's one of the layers we're going to unpack and see.

1:31:12I want to kind of see this pattern of like, when did we miss trip demand?

1:31:16When did we have cancellations?

1:31:17When was it involving a subscription?

1:31:19And how many subscriptions are actually being used?

1:31:21There's some people, medical is a little different, but some people could driven to dialysis.

1:31:26And so out of their 10 times, one time they actually used us and they canceled nine of them.

1:31:31So maybe we reach out to them and we say in our future, I see that you're not really using it.

1:31:35I think this might be a case by case.

1:31:37We're going to transition you out based on your usage.

1:31:39You're welcome to come if that changes for you and we'll put you back in.

1:31:43And because right now we don't have a governing process around our subscriptions either.

1:31:48When you're in, you can cancel as many times as you want, which might not be best suited for that as well.

1:31:54I'll say that two things on the hidden subscription part.

1:31:57There are going to be some subscriptions that exist, but you won't have data on it through your system.

1:32:03I'll use us as an example.

1:32:05We have some folks who use mobility.

1:32:07Sometimes we call we're an hour late and all the slots are booked up.

1:32:12So I will book our folks a ride and therefore you won't have the data that they are coming to our

1:32:18meetings and they're supposed to be using mobility, but there was no availability.

1:32:23So there's, I think with the hidden subscriptions, there's going to be some of those folks who,

1:32:29whether they're connected to an agency that has the capacity to book them a ride or they can carpool.

1:32:35The cancellation doesn't exist or the data won't exist on your end, but it will exist on our end.

1:32:41So maybe some conversations with the larger agencies like a children's foundation,

1:32:46the food bank and some other service providers who do provide caps at certain

1:32:50points to help with access barriers might give you a little bit more of those hidden

1:32:55subscription points that you might not have that on.

1:32:58And then the second thing I'll say is I wonder if there's room for more partnership with the ghost

1:33:04in terms of interregional connections.

1:33:07I know the ghost comes into well central station, but a lot of folks are not aware that it comes here

1:33:13like it goes right into the city center.

1:33:16So I think there might be some way for amplifying the work that you already do and the partnerships

1:33:21who already have as way to let some of those periods.

1:33:26On ghost service, I was talking to someone today on Wolf Transit and they were talking about

1:33:31the level of service and being afraid of being trapped in the destination, you know, in case

1:33:36they can't catch the return trip.

1:33:37And then just on the under service community part, you know, reiterating, you know,

1:33:41honored willow and beyond with the be shelving all the way down to the immigration center,

1:33:45etc. Every time I go up there, there's people using mobility devices.

1:33:49There's older adults.

1:33:50There's newcomer families with children and the like.

1:33:53I know when it comes to the Ontario experience for newcomers, like transit is one of the

1:33:58largest barriers for newcomer women as well.

1:34:00And even when I was living around that area further down towards Imperial, like as an able

1:34:04body person, it was really sketchy.

1:34:0698 is a great addition, but I think continuing in that area of Guelph would be really valuable.

1:34:12That's a lot of people.

1:34:15And I'll echo that.

1:34:16That's the service area that we're seeing a lot of struggles with transportation.

1:34:21I'll also say in this, not the south end, but close to Stone Road on the, I don't know,

1:34:28my directions, but on the left side of Stone Road.

1:34:34It's there's seniors living buildings, but there's a very difficult time connecting even

1:34:39just into the university.

1:34:42So I had a scenario where I had to book someone a cab because getting even into the transit

1:34:47hub that's legitimately across the street from them, when you have a mobility device can be

1:34:52quite difficult.

1:34:53And the route that goes in there does not come frequently enough to connect to the services.

1:34:58If they're connected at that point, they have to connect to three different hubs.

1:35:03They're going to their hub within that spot, then they have to connect into the UC, then

1:35:08they have to connect into Well Central Station.

1:35:11And that just, it doesn't work.

1:35:13So you just book a cab.

1:35:14Yeah.

1:35:16Okay.

1:35:17Thank you.

1:35:20Okay.

1:35:20I see no more questions or comments.

1:35:24The motion I'm going to put forward is to accept Lauren's presentation.

1:35:30Yeah.

1:35:30So if I just may offer the committee some advice, Jordan here was able to capture quite a few of

1:35:38the conversation.

1:35:39And I'm sure all the transit staff in the room also, you know, they're there listening, they're

1:35:44taking note.

1:35:44The meeting is recorded.

1:35:46But our advice from the clerk's office is putting everything into motion is always

1:35:52recommended, right?

1:35:53This is what the committee agrees on.

1:35:56So when we went through all the various topics, we did take some notes.

1:36:01So we are happy to share those slides.

1:36:05We're happy to modify and change the language.

1:36:07If we didn't hear you correctly or if we didn't capture it correctly, we can, we can work on that.

1:36:13And we say that motions are always great because they're captured in the minutes and minutes go

1:36:18directly to council every, in the information items, which are released every Friday.

1:36:23So this would likely go next week or the week after.

1:36:27So if we can offer some advice, it would be always to capture things, emotions.

1:36:35But that everything that was discussed today was heard in this room.

1:36:40So the first motion that we would propose is just that you receive the presentation on the

1:36:46transit network design plan.

1:36:48And we can get a mover and a seconder, and then you can call for anybody opposed.

1:36:55If you wish, chair, can I have a mover?

1:36:57You've got your.

1:36:59So sorry, that was the number.

1:37:04Provella second by member Edwards.

1:37:08And then all in favor.

1:37:11And may the impose confirming that I'll him and June, those were votes for all in

1:37:20favor. Yes.

1:37:29OK, perfect.

1:37:30Thank you.

1:37:31Move up.

1:37:32Yeah, there is.

1:37:35Yeah.

1:37:35And then instead of doing separate motions for all of the following, we can read

1:37:41through it and then we can just.

1:37:44Hash, pass all of them at once so you can get a mover and seconder for all of them.

1:37:50Or we can do them individually and then you can call whatever works best for

1:37:56the committee if you wanted to just kind of we can go through the slides, make sure

1:37:59that we captured your comments correctly and we can work to modify them.

1:38:05And then maybe just a mover and a seconder and then all in favor of all of those comments.

1:38:14So if we heard correctly.

1:38:17Here we were talking about the efficient transit.

1:38:20And so this was the first conversation, big conversation.

1:38:23So what we've captured for those online that may not have access to the screen.

1:38:28Use of measurable key performance indicators such as transfer time percentage

1:38:33on time buses, ability to remove personal car, ability for buses to travel on

1:38:43impeded routes that are not available to regular traffic, frequent buses so that

1:38:49users do not need to pre-plan their route, effective communication through city

1:38:54wide city broadcasting, news bulletins, direct communications via paper, email

1:38:59newsletters, ability for information sharing that does not require data.

1:39:04And little drop off in quality between service areas, sheltered transit stops.

1:39:11If you need any clarification or if you want to modify anything.

1:39:15Just say I think that point about little drop off was that there is drop off between

1:39:22you know, like being a myseng drop off.

1:39:25Not that there is a little bit of drop off.

1:39:28And you mean am I saying sorry?

1:39:31Yeah.

1:39:38Do you want to add about like text, email?

1:39:41I think they did in direct communication.

1:39:43So I think that covers it quite well.

1:39:46And then for sheltered transit stops, can we just add lightning as well for them?

1:39:53And this may have been captured in other.

1:39:55Yeah.

1:39:55So.

1:39:57I would suggest just for ease that we go through all of them rather than

1:40:02them each time.

1:40:03Yeah.

1:40:03I think that I don't know what other committee members think.

1:40:07So once once people are OK with this slide, just let me know and we can again feel

1:40:12free if we may have like captured things, maybe incorrectly or anything.

1:40:18This is this is your emotion as a as a committee.

1:40:20So be sure that you're OK with what's inside.

1:40:32OK, so can I move her?

1:40:34Oh, oh, are we doing?

1:40:37Do it all.

1:40:38All right.

1:40:40So this was.

1:40:45Prioritizing the following factors.

1:40:47So frequency can lead to a reliable service, all day service, establishing

1:40:53priority access to transit hubs for buses and pedestrians so that private

1:40:57cars and rideshares do not cause delays for transit users when entering or exiting.

1:41:02Information sharing specifically for mobility services, improving capacity

1:41:08of mobility services so the need for advanced bookings can be reduced.

1:41:13Equity, all residents should be able to go from one end of the city to the other.

1:41:21And concerns, modifications, edits.

1:41:24Hey, perfect.

1:41:30Good work, Jordan.

1:41:34So this was our conversation with the factors that are currently working well.

1:41:40So we did mention that the frequency of buses for high school students, transit

1:41:44hubs, transit employees, free rides for kids, free service for stormgains

1:41:50and holidays, frequency of nine nine route and connect to go service.

1:41:56The only thing is I would love her to say in my mobility transit.

1:42:01OK.

1:42:05All the transit folks are lovely, but they are.

1:42:08Lovely request.

1:42:09That is fair.

1:42:11Any additional?

1:42:12Did we capture everything?

1:42:13Did we forget?

1:42:18We can move on to the next one.

1:42:24Biggest areas for improvement.

1:42:27So frequency shelters, lighting at stops to improve safety, transfer

1:42:33from wealth transit to go transit should be simplified.

1:42:36Accessed information at bus stops, current call and service ends at four PM.

1:42:41Communication on what dates students, soon plus revs start and transit

1:42:47stop, pads slash shelters, increase availability to book mobility services.

1:42:59Any edits, changes to capture?

1:43:01OK.

1:43:03And we're going through this quickly, but and I apologize, but, you know,

1:43:06stop me at any time to.

1:43:12We had a lot of good conversations.

1:43:15And then the largest barriers to transit, complex communication,

1:43:23utility issues, example connections at at city borders, making

1:43:29inter-regional transit challenging and not competitive with cars.

1:43:37I think I'm going to add one more.

1:43:38And some of the bus stops.

1:43:39So like if you go on Silver Creek, you know, the grocery store,

1:43:42you have to cross the street and there's no crosswalk or anything.

1:43:45You want to go back the other way.

1:43:47So I will darting across all the time with bags, groceries.

1:43:52I don't know what would be captured, but I think.

1:43:55Even though the national crossings or locations of stops to pedestrian

1:43:58crossings, because I know Dawson just put in a new pedestrian crossing,

1:44:03not too far.

1:44:04He did others.

1:44:04Yeah, they'll get to Shelldale.

1:44:06Yes.

1:44:06He's serious and actually by the convenience store as well.

1:44:11Yes.

1:44:11Yeah.

1:44:12And we also see that on the other side of the litter bar side,

1:44:16there's no way to cross over.

1:44:17Yeah.

1:44:18The bus stop.

1:44:19Oh, yeah.

1:44:20Okay.

1:44:22We'll wait for capturing.

1:44:24Stat holiday.

1:44:32There is there was no discussion around this item other than it does not

1:44:41provide the best level of service.

1:44:42So that's what is captured that the advisory committee

1:44:46advises that on demand, stat holiday service does not provide the best level of

1:44:50service.

1:44:51Yeah.

1:44:51And I think the specific times were dispatched and so if that's captured

1:44:56there and within our conversation.

1:44:58And then lastly, current on demand Sunday service can be improved by providing

1:45:05greater access to information such as signs noting final train and information

1:45:10about booking on demand traffic or transit.

1:45:12I think we would also want to add like service hours.

1:45:16I think it was identified for the Sunday.

1:45:18Like it just doesn't run long enough or start early enough for folks.

1:45:23Let me think everybody.

1:45:34Really good conversation.

1:45:35Yeah.

1:45:36Very good.

1:45:36And again, everything is captured.

1:45:38You know, staffers you all today, a meeting was recorded and hopefully we've

1:45:43captured all of your points of motions and to make it easier for everyone.

1:45:48We can move second all of these just in one, one formal vote.

1:45:59So you will need a mover for all of us.

1:46:05Yes.

1:46:05Slide two, three.

1:46:09I guess, I guess we're going finally.

1:46:12One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.

1:46:18And I wish I put this all in the screen, but it would be very long motion.

1:46:23But again, if anybody wants any changes or would prefer to vote it separately on

1:46:30each item separately, that is entirely up to the will of the committee.

1:46:33But ease.

1:46:35I don't think anyone has a sheet doing it all at once.

1:46:38Okay.

1:46:39Perfect.

1:46:39So we're going to move to include all the comments on the slide.

1:46:45I need a mover.

1:46:46Seconder.

1:46:48Oh, right.

1:46:50So can we consider Greg as the Greg will have you down as a seconder if that's okay?

1:47:01And then all in favor.

1:47:03Let's wait for members to put their hands up.

1:47:11Hey, hey, Joel's good.

1:47:13Hey, perfect.

1:47:18Okay.

1:47:19So that carries the curious.

1:47:23Yeah.

1:47:23Okay.

1:47:24Um, I think we're going to move to the next item.

1:47:28Um, I don't have any chair staff announcement.

1:47:31Announcements, I think.

1:47:33Um, no, uh, one formal announcement from the clerk's office.

1:47:38We did receive a resignation from, um, member shock.

1:47:42Um, so just informing the committee that, um, that that rest of that

1:47:46resignation, but that's it for me.

1:47:49Okay.

1:47:51And then the adjournment, um, that's the consideration that

1:47:55I was going to make the adjourned a mover.

1:47:58So, um, all in favor.

1:48:15Um, that carries.

1:48:17And then the next meeting is March 19th, 2026 at 530.

1:48:22Thank you.

1:48:24Thank you.

1:48:26Thank you.

1:48:28Thank you.