Public transit commuters have a new route to choose from in Chatham, as well as another time slot available when going to different areas of the municipality.
A new fifth bus route in Chatham will begin operations on September 3, following unanimous approval from council in July. In addition to the new route, an extra mid-day trip will be added to the Inter-Urban Service.
The new Chatham bus route will travel along Grand Avenue West to St. Clair College Thames Campus. However, it will also service Cascades Casino, the Holiday Inn, the Bradley Convention Centre complex, as well as Richmond Street to Queen Street.
Ann-Marie Millson, manager of the Linear Assets department, said Route 5 will run on a one-hour interval, starting at 6:30 a.m., six days a week. Being able to accommodate more businesses and services with the new route also addresses overcrowding issues for those travelling to or from the college.
"The bus when at capacity during peak hours mostly on Route 1, was having to notify riders that they had to wait until the next bus due to no space being available. Having Route 5 run 15 minutes later behind Route 1 will assist with picking up the overflow," said Millson in an emailed statement.
In an additional effort to improve ridership, the new route will have connecting points with the other bus routes so that riders can make and easy transfer rather than having to go to the bus terminal to make a transfer to another route. Minor adjustments will also be made to the four existing bus routes to make sure operations follow a consistent schedule.
"One of the top concerns with riders was the 30-minute schedule not being adhered to," said Millson. "Removing a select few stops from the original routes and moving them to Route 5 that is running on an hourly basis, allows Routes 1 to 4 to move back to the 30-minute schedule that they were originally designed for."
In the meantime, the addition of a mid-day service with Inter-Urban Transit will be in effect for routes A, C, and D, which service Wallaceburg - Dresden, Blenheim - Ridgetown, as well as Tilbury - South Kent. Route A will have a minor route change to service St. Clair College when returning to Chatham from Wallaceburg, and Route D will also stop at the college and service Jeanette's Creek when leaving Tilbury. The mid-day trip will not run on Saturday's or on statutory holidays.
The transit changes will be in place until June 30, 2020.
"CK Transit uses TransitFare to collect our boarding data for all bus stops and the terminal," said Millson. "We will be analyzing route data throughout this period and will be providing updates to council."
Those who use public transit in Chatham-Kent are encouraged to monitor the CK Transit website to keep an eye on potential changes.