Long-awaited changes coming to Sudbury transit services

Major changes are coming to the City of Sudbury's transit services starting this summer.

In the 2019 municipal budget, council approved a new fare structure for transit which will see most fares decreasing. Adult and student monthly passes and day passes will all see a cost decrease, seniors monthly passes will remain the same price, and a six-ride pass will be offered at the price of five rides.

Along with the new fare structure, council also approved other programs. Anyone holding an adult pass can bring up to four children on for free.

"So effectively all children can travel for free on transit with an adult as long as they have a pass," said Michelle Ferrigan, the director of transit services.

Adult passes will no longer need an ID, anyone who has a pass can use it or transfer it to someone else, as long as only one person is using the pass at a time.

The third new program is the 90-minute free transfer, currently the transfer time is 45 minutes in one direction, the new transfer time can be used for up to 90 minutes in any direction.

The new fares will begin on July 1 and on August26, the full restructuring of the transit network will begin.

"It's much moreconvenientand will be easier to use and more attractive and so we have a chance to increase ridership, increase the number of people using transit and that really is exciting," said Ferrigan.

There havebeen no significant changes to transit since amalgamation in 2001, and Ferrigan said many of the changes are what the people have been asking for.

"We've just basically taken our existing network and we're looking at it in layers and by doing that... we can put more of the frequency where people are needing it the most," she said.

Over time, the plan is to continue to build on the restructuring that's happening this summer, adding service and frequency overtime when the ridership increases.

One new route will connect the south end to New Sudbury through downtown.

"There will a frequent route that runs from the south end all the way to New Sudbury, so one bus running along that whole corridor without needing a transfer," said Ferrigan.

This route will also be connected to transit hubs. Rather than having one transit terminal, three hubs will be located in the south end, downtown and New Sudbury, she says, each hub will then be connected to different communities to provide better service.

One addition to the changes that Ferrigan was not expecting yet - it was a recommendation to be phased in in the future -is the increase of Sunday service which will be the same as Saturday service and earlier transit start times to get people to the downtown by 7 a.m.

"With increasing Sunday and early morning, that's really going to help address the community priorities and the overall network restructuring is going to improve travel patterns so they're more direct and will get people there faster," Ferrigan says.

She says with all the changes to transit, they also need to change their information materials, which will be done through public survey.

"We want to hear from people on how they would like that information to be presented to them. What best tools do they need to be able tonavigatethe system also what do they think about colours and graphics and names and all those things so if they want to give us some feedback that would be great," she said.

The survey will begin on Tuesday and go until March 12.