Another committee is getting back to business as usual after a summer break, and today we bring you the agenda for the first fall meeting of the Transit Advisory Committee. There have been a couple of different transit changes lately, new fares and schedule changes that went into effect at the beginning of the month. So there’s all that to talk about, and there’s also the matter of what comes next for transit as we approach the new year.
NOTE #1: This meeting takes place at 5:30 pm in Committee Meeting Room B at City Hall.
TAC Member Announcement – There are two new members of the committee to introduce, Chelsey Edwards who’s the new representative from the Guelph & Wellington Task Force for Poverty Elimination, and Samar Tariq who’s the new VP of External Affairs with the Central Student Association.
General Roles, Responsibilities and Procedural Training for ACOC’s – Staff members from the clerks office will give the committee a refresh about how a committee meeting works and what the goals and responsibilities of the committee are.
Shelter Replacement Project Update – At meetings earlier this year it was announced that upgrades to the bus shelters at Guelph Central Station were to begin in June, but if you’ve been downtown lately you might have noticed that nothing’s changed. No formal report is attached to this item, so Abby Spielmacher, Project Manager of Customer Experience, will speak to this item.
Connect-to-GO Co-fare Program – Guelph Transit launched a new co-fare program with GO Transit for people transferring to and from the out of town service last month. The committee will be updated about how that roll out went.
Fare Strategy Update – The first phase of Guelph Transit’s new fare strategy went into effect at the beginning of the month with new fares and the fare-capping strategy for passes and tickets. No formal report was provided for this item, but Courtney McDonald, Manager of Transit Business Services, will provide for a verbal update.
Guelph Transit Future Ready Action Plan Year 2 Update – Although Guelph Transit saw a decline in ridership of 80 per cent during the pandemic, they’re now at 92 per cent of pre-pandemic ridership, which is outpacing the Canada-wide return to pre-pandemic ridership, which is at 80 per cent. As for this year specifically, Transit had just over 3.6 million boardings between January and the end July, so we could be on track to get to the goal of just over 7 million boardings for 2023 by the end of the year. Transit staff will go over these and other figures, plus the recent roll out of changes to transit routes and what’s to come in 2024 according to the Future Action Plan.
TAC Rider Feedback – Topics include air circulation and filters on Guelph Transit buses, and how the schedules for the #16 and #19 bus intersect with the #99 Mainline.
General Transit Update, including Electric Buses – Management staff will be on-hand to offer updates on any pressing transit business that’s not been covered in any of the above topics and categories, and that includes the ongoing roll out of the new electric buses.
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