Transit picks up steam among Rider fans in Regina

Taking the bus to the new Mosaic Stadium seems to be catching on in Regina.

For the third event at the location, a pre-season game between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Winnipeg Blue Bombers, about 8,000 fanshopped on buses to attend.

Kim Onrait, executive director of city services for Regina, said he was very pleased with that number, considering only about 1,500 people normally take the bus to games.

Onrait said transit users have given mostly positive feedback but someconcerns have once again been raised. He said the City of Regina will be looking at making some minor changes prior to thegame at Mosaic on July 1.

Upped the fleet

At the second stadium test event, when Bryan Adams took the stage, people who took transit from Victoria Square Shopping Centre reported long wait times. Onrait said this time, they upped their fleet by 13 units, making turnaround much quicker.

"We didn't see the lineups having to wait as long as they did in the previous two events," he said.

In total, they had 36 buses in service before the game and 48 after the game.

While buses started taking fans two hours and 15 minutes prior to the game, Onrait said most got on the bus about an hour leading up to kick off.

"We are anticipating that that capacity will be stretched out as people will want to go to the pre-game a little bit earlier, take in some of the events at Confederation Park," he added.

Along with transit users who opted out of driving downtown, Onrait said about 70 fans chose to take their bikes to the stadiums.

"That's more than what we expected but that's a good trend that we're seeing in change of habit and not just relying on vehicles, or automobiles, to go to a game," he said.