On Apr. 8, 2025, staff from Grand River Transit (GRT) presented its ten-year business plan to the Region of Waterloo’s Sustainability, Infrastructure and Development Committee. The plan outlines GRT’s priorities for expanding services and investing in new infrastructure to serve Waterloo Region’s rapidly growing population.
Kevan Marshall, Manager of Transit Development at Grand River Transit, said the business plan is a core part of the agency’s mission to make transit the first choice for residents across Waterloo Region.
“It’s the north star for where we want to take GRT for the next ten years and beyond,” Marshall said.
The business plan is based on input from more than 2,500 survey respondents and feedback from over 30 workshops and pop-up events held across the region over the past year. Marshall said the guiding principle for the project was understanding what regional residents needed to make transit their first choice.
That guiding principle shaped much of the early engagement around ideas on how to make transit easier to use, identifying areas where GRT could better serve the community, as well as where the transit network could prioritize frequency and speed to make it more seamless to use.
“There is a concept called transit freedom. It’s where you can go and what you can do in a one-hour transit trip. The goal is to have more time in your day to do the things you want to do, instead of rushing to get where you need to go. That’s how these questions all tie together, and it was the launch pad for our public engagement,” Marshall said.
The GRT Business Plan presented to council includes strategies for its conventional bus and train system, MobilityPLUS and Kiwanis Transit, township transit, and an updated fares strategy that includes a recommendation for free transit for children under 12 years of age.
While requests for new transit lines into communities were made during the consultations, Marshall said that more residents prioritized high-frequency transit than expected.
“Many residents want to see frequency similar to what we have on our ION bus and light rail line through the central transit corridor, so the network becomes a lot more intuitive and seamless,” he said.
Another priority area identified by residents was having more consistent transit options available outside traditional working hours. Marshall said Waterloo Region has moved away from being a conventional nine-to-five community, and consistent scheduling would be the best way to improve transportation equity.
“We heard from riders that the schedule is great for their midday commute. They can get to their shift without a problem, but their trip home at night takes significantly longer. Making sure that we build a network that makes transit as easy to use in the morning as it is to use midday or into the late evening is a key point,” Marshall said.
With regional townships seeing significant population growth, GRT’s township transit strategy included public consultations in Woolwich, Wellesley, Wilmot and North Dumfries. Marshall said there was a lot of interest and enthusiasm from township residents about having new or improved services.
He added that while township residents were supportive of new routes into the cities, the team was surprised by the interest of urban residents in having transit access into the townships.
“We’re not just providing connections from the townships into the urban center for employment or other services. There’s a great appetite for city residents to connect into our township destinations, whether that’s a seasonal event like the Elmira Maple Syrup Festival or day-to-day to explore farmers markets in one of our township communities,” he said.
Even though the GRT Business Plan has been presented to the Regional Council, that does not mean that Marshall and the Transit Development team are done with their work.
“GRT never stops connecting with the public, whether that’s our online feedback form or updating the public on our annual plans. I’m really excited that the contributor network we built out is something we can use to keep the conversations going for years to come,” Marshall said.
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