Staff Report #6 – 2024 Service Plan – Conventional Transit

Staff Report #6

March 27, 2024

To All Commissioners

Re: 2024 Service Plan – Conventional Transit

Recommendation

That the Commission APPROVE the 2024 Conventional Transit Service Plan as set out below noting the recommended changes represent approximately 18,000 additional service hours:

  1. Route 5: Weekday- Increase frequency from 60 minutes to 30 minutes between 6pm and 12am
  2. Route 10
    1. Weekday – Increase early AM frequency from 30 minutes to 20 minutes between 6am and 7am
    2. Weekday – Increase peak period frequency from 20 minutes to 16 minutes between 7am and 9am and 2pm and 6pm
  3. Sunday – Increase frequency from 60 minutes to 30 minutes between 6pm and 11pm
  4. Route 17B: Weekday- Modify routing to operate along Riverbend to Oxford
  5. Route 19
    1. Weekday – Add an additional bus to increase the round trip time all day
    2. Saturday – Add an additional bus to increase the round trip time all day
  6. Route 20 – Extend service to Oakcrossing during all operating periods

Background

At the February 27, 2019 meeting, the Commission approved the second Five-Year Service Plan Framework document for service changes over the period of 2020-2024. The 2020-2024 Framework focuses on six strategic directions to continue the momentum of improvement that was established in the first Five-Year Plan (2015-2019) including;

  1. Enhance the Overall Levels of Service – There are three key factors that drive ridership growth; frequency, reliability and travel time. This strategic direction will promote the continued improvements to service levels as a method of making the service more attractive to London residents.
  1. Explore Alternative Service Delivery Models in New Communities – This direction in the plan is to begin to explore the use of Alternative Service Delivery Models (ASDs) in areas of the City that are currently unserved due to low ridership potential.
  1. Improve Direct Connections – Continue to expand on the grid network, identifying opportunities to provide more direct routes, connected to key destinations.
  1. Build on the Express Route Network – Continue to identify opportunities to expand the express route network and build ridership through improved service levels and enhanced connectivity to other routes.
  1. Eliminate 60 Minute Headways – Continue to improve the frequency of routes that operate every 60 minutes (during certain periods), targeting 30-minute headways or better, or the implementation of an ASD where the demand does not warrant a service increase.
  1. Minimize Impacts on Existing Passengers – Minimize the impacts on existing customers when modifications occur.

While 2024 should represent the final year of the second five-year service plan, due to ongoing impacts of the pandemic as well a changing ridership patterns, a number of proposals set out earlier in the five-year framework have yet to be implemented. The 2024 Service Plan shifts the focus to addressing schedule adherence issues, improving frequency and increasing capacity to reduce crowding in response to the changes in ridership patterns and demand experienced post-pandemic. As part of the 2024-2027 Business Plan development, a new five year service plan is being prepared that will cover the period of 2025-2029, noting part of the service plan exercise will be to reassess the strategic directions to ensure they are relevant in the current operating environment and consistent with budgetary allocations. Table I sets out the recommended service changes for 2024.

Table I – Recommended 2024 Service Plan Changes

Route Description of Service Change Annual Service Hours Peak Buses Rationale Service Area Impacted
5 Weekday- Increase frequency from 60 minutes to 30 minutes between 6pm and 12 am 3,024 Elimination of 60 minute frequencies Minor Arterial Weekday Evening
10 Weekday- Increase Early AM frequency from 30 minutes to 20 minutes between 6am – 7am 756 Overcrowding

Increasing frequency in preparation for RT

 Base Arterial

Weekday Early AM
Weekday- Increase peak period frequency from 20 minutes to 16 minutes between 7am – 9am and 2pm – 6pm 4,536 3 Overcrowding

Increasing frequency in preparation for RT

 Base Arterial

Weekday Peak Periods
Sunday- Increase frequency from 60 minutes to 30 minutes between 6pm and 11pm 930 Elimination of 60 minute frequencies Base Arterial Sunday Evening
17B Weekday- Modify route to operate along Riverbend to Oxford 0 Service Coverage Base Arterial

Weekdays
19 Weekday- Add an additional bus to increase the round trip time all day 5,040 1 Schedule Adherence Minor Arterial Weekday
Saturday- Add an additional bus to increase the round trip time all day 780 Schedule Adherence Minor Arterial Saturday Peak and Late Evening
20 Extend service to Oakcrossing during all operating periods 3,050 Service Coverage Minor Arterial Weekday Evening and Weekend All Day
Total 18,116 4

The 2024 draft plan, as presented to the Commission at its November 29, 2023 meeting, prioritized 30,270 annual service hours for consideration; however, the final approved operating budget only provides for the addition of 18,000 hours in 2024. As such, further refinement of the draft plan was required which resulted in some draft recommendations being deferred for review as part of future service plan assessments. Table II below sets out the draft proposals that are recommended for deferral and consideration in future service plan assessments.

Table II – Recommended Deferrals from the Draft 2024 Service Plan

Route Description of Service Change Annual Service Hours Peak Buses Rationale Service Area Impacted
25 Extend service to Cedar Hollow and modify route to operate along Highbury between Oxford and Huron 6,098 1 Service Coverage Minor Arterial Weekdays and Weekends
30 Weekday- Introduce mid-day service between 11 am and 2:30 pm 882 Industrial Service Improvements Industrial Weekday Base
Weekday- Increase peak period frequency from 40 minutes to 20 minutes 2,268 1 Industrial Service Improvements Industrial

Weekday Peak Period
35 Sunday- Introduce service between 9 am and 12 pm on a 30 minute frequency 186 Service Span Local

Sunday
91 Extend Service from Fanshawe College to Argyle Mall 6,674 1 Expansion of Express Route Network Express Routes

Weekday and Weekends
Total 10 3

While the improvements identified in the table above are all warranted, the limited service hour growth required that focus be placed on the areas of service where the most significant issues are being faced (i.e. crowding, schedule adherence). This approach is based on the principle of maximizing investment in areas that will address the most significant issues facing existing riders in an effort to mitigate ridership loss due to unreliable service. While expanding to new areas of the city continues to be a strategic area of focus, it is counter-productive to expand services to unserved areas in an effort to attract new ridership when existing riders are being left behind due to inadequate service levels. As such, while the draft changes to extend Route 25 into the Cedar Hollow neighbourhood were highly supported by the public, this extension is recommended to be deferred at this time. Given the shift in the application of criteria for assessment growth funding which took effect in 2024, future service plans will identify service improvements that meet the criteria for assessment growth funding, and will be included as part of the annual budget discussion and approval process. The extension of Route 25 into the Cedar Hollow neighbourhood is an example of an improvement that would meet the criteria for assessment growth, and will be included in considerations for the 2025 service plan and associated assessment growth funding.

Public Consultation

To gather public feedback on the draft service improvements, information was posted on the London Transit website and customers were encouraged to complete the online service plan survey or call/email a customer service representative with any questions or feedback on the proposed changes. Information regarding public engagement for the draft service plan was also posted on the corporate Twitter and Facebook accounts. Additionally, anyone wishing to discuss the proposed changes in more detail were invited to schedule a phone meeting with a member of the Planning Department.

In addition, an in-person public participation meeting was held in the Cedar Hollow neighbourhood to gather feedback on the proposed extension of service into the area. While there was very positive feedback for the proposed changes to Route 25 through the online survey, there were no attendees at the in-person public information session held at Cedar Hollow Public School.

Overall the feedback for the proposed changes was very positive with 411 online surveys completed. As mentioned above, the proposed changes for Route 25 were very strongly supported and will be assessed for inclusion in future Assessment Growth business cases. In addition to the support for the Route 25 changes, there was also strong support for the frequency improvements on Route 10 as well as the increase to the round trip time on Route 19.

The lowest support was for the proposed changes on Route 30 to increase the frequency and add weekday base period service to the Wilton Grove Industrial area. Additionally, construction is scheduled to resume along Pond Mills Road which will require a detour of Route 30 until the end of December. This upcoming construction would negate the proposed frequency improvements due to the additional time required for the detour. Service improvements for the Wilton Grove Industrial area and Route 30 will be reconsidered through the service planning process once construction is complete.

Cherryhill Community Bus

The Community Bus service is specially designed to serve the needs of seniors and persons with mobility challenges. Service is provided, where possible, to the doors of specified seniors residences, medical facilities and shopping centres. The Cherryhill Community Bus service has been operating for many years and has continued to grow in popularity resulting in the need to add an additional bus five days a week and a third bus on Wednesdays for the growing ridership demand.

Prior to September 2022, the Community Bus was delivered with 30 foot Eldorado buses. The smaller buses allowed for the route to access the front door of some apartment buildings. In September 2022 the Eldorado buses were retired due to being at the end of their useful life and a full review of the Community Bus routing was completed at that time to determine the impacts of moving away from the 30-foot buses and instead operating the route with standard 40-foot buses. It was determined that the impacts would be minimal with only five buildings on the route requiring a modification to the stop locations.

Since the change to utilizing the 40-foot buses, some concerns have been raised by residents in the Forest Hills area that were impacted due to a change to the pick-up and drop-off locations. With the 40-foot buses, the bus can no longer access the front door of the apartment building along Proudfoot (575, 585, 595 and 605). Instead, the pick-up locations have been moved to the closest accessible locations within the apartment complex.

The area was recently reviewed again to determine if there are closer locations that the 40-foot buses can assess that are also accessible for pick-up and drop-offs. The review confirmed that the current stop locations are the best options based on the current conditions within the apartment complex. While other locations may be closer to the front doors, due to lack of accessibility (i.e. curb cuts and hard surfaced walkways/landing pads) they are not viable options at this time.

Next Steps

Subject to Commission approval of the 2024 Conventional Transit Service Plan, the next steps associated with the implementation of the service changes include:

  • preparation/production of new schedules, layovers/time points, public timetables and Operator sign-up;
  • updating the AVL system;
  • updating schedule information for Google Maps; and
  • undertaking a communication program including printed Ride Guide maps, on-board and stop level notices, website updates and social media, as well as internal information screen postings and Operator information sessions.

Enclosure

I – 2024 Recommended Conventional Transit Service Plan Changes

Recommended by:

Katie Burns, Director of Planning

Concurred in by:

Kelly S. Paleczny, General Manager