Bus service to increase for back to school and ION could too, region says

Back to school is around the cornerand with it comes changes to transit around the region.

Peter Zinck is Waterloo region's director of transit services. He says changes are coming across the board.

"What we typically do is we increase service levels on a large number of our services," Zinck said.

Ten routes will run with increased frequencyafter Sept. 2. That means some services that were running every 15 or 30 minutes during peak times, would run every 10 minutes.

GRT will also be adding extra vehicles and operators to 10 routes, many of those being express routes, while additional service hours willbe added to other routes.

Zinck also says Cambridge is getting anew iXpress service that will operate from West Galt to the Ainslie StreetTerminal and then from Ainslie StreetTerminal to Fairway Station in Kitchener. That will run every 15 minutes.

ION will stay on its current schedule, but the region is open to that changing, Zinck said.

"We'll look out for an opportunity to add an additional train during peak times as needed," Zinck said.

Fare loading machine issues to be addressed

Zinck says the region is also looking at making fixes to ongoing issues at fare loading machines.

Many people have taken their frustrations online about how difficult it is for them to load their fare cards or pay their fares

Zinck says the region is looking to adopt a card holder that would read your card during your entire transaction at the machine to avoid the transaction being cancelled before it was completed.

Zinck says he hopes the issues will be addressed in time for back to school.

Extra staff to guide students

"We'll also be putting staff out at some of the busier stations just to help people that are coming back to school who aren't familiar with ION," Zinck said.

He says fare inspectors and information staff will also be out for back to school.

For parents hoping to send their kids on the ION when back to school rolls around, Zinck says it would be a good idea for parents to taketheir kids on a trial run.

Zinck says schedules have changed drastically since June, with most routes being revised to connect with the ION.

He says students coming back from summer vacation should get familiar with the new changes and expansions across the routes.