Media Release (September 26, 2019) In January 2019, Niagara Region assumed the financial responsibility of inter-municipal transit services in Fort Erie. Town Staff will be reallocating a portion of funds budgeted for inter-municipal transit services in 2019 to improving the existing conventional transit routes and services.

“After a thorough analysis of rider data, we’ve concluded that the East route is the highest performing route with the majority of riders using this route on a daily basis. The data also shows that the North route is noticeably underutilized in terms of overall ridership and ridership outside of core hours,” said Kelly Walsh, director of infrastructure services.

In addition to the rider data, a recent survey showed that the majority of transit riders favour the addition of a second bus to the East route; running in the opposite direction and staggered at 30 minutes to the current East bus. This addition will give riders the convenience of shorter rides to and from their destination, thereby reducing the amount of time it takes them to get to where they want to go.

In order to compensate for the additional East route, the bus that is currently serving the North route will be moved over to accommodate the new East route and will be replaced with a smaller bus. Data also shows that the North route is primarily being used between the hours of 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Therefore, the North route will see a reduction in service hours to reflect actual ridership and patterns.

Changes to Fort Erie Transit services are expected to be implemented early November. For more information, please contact Jennifer Pennell-Ajie, EA to director and division coordinator, at jpennellajie@forterie.ca or 905-871-1600, ext. 2401.

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