Niagara Region Transit (NRT) is one of the new kids on the block, having commenced operations on September 21, 2011 with eight buses running on five routes. Oriented as an express service connecting the otherwise disconnected municipalities in eastern Niagara Region, the new service has a high cash fare but accepts transfers and passes from the municipal systems it connects with. I wish it great success going forward, but I wonder if a new transit provider was really the solution to the inter-municipal transit problem in Niagara. Before we can answer that question, we need to establish some context:

Public transit in Niagara is provided in St. Catharines, Welland, Niagara Falls, Fort Erie, and since April 2nd, Niagara-on-the-Lake. In addition, Welland Transit provides service in Port Colborne under contract, as does St. Catharines Transit in Thorold. NRT complements these systems with downtown-to-downtown links:

Source: Niagara Region Transit

Looking at the transit maps of the municipal systems, it would appears as if the region’s initiative provides new links between otherwise disconnected communities. But are the municipalities really as disconnected as they appear to be? To answer that, we need to map all of the routes operated by the transit agencies on the peninsula:

Locally-operated transit in red, Niagara Region Transit in blue

NRT’s three routes, (Welland – Niagara Falls; St. Catharines – Welland; St. Catharines – Thorold – Niagara Falls) are shown above in blue, while the services operated by the municipal transit providers are shown in red. The Port Colborne Link and the Fort Erie Link, operated by Welland Transit and Niagara Falls Transit, respectively, saw improved service when NRT debuted, but since they predate the region’s initiative, I have included them as local transit routes. Now that we have a comprehensive accounting of the Niagara transit network, we need to peel back the layers:

Locally-operated transit in red.

When we look at the transit options in Niagara that pre-date NRT, we find that the region was not as disconnected as it appeared to be. St. Catharines Transit operates routes from the downtown bus terminal to both campuses of Niagara College, as does Niagara Falls Transit from the mini-terminal at the Zehrs Plaza. In addition, Welland Transit operates a route from Niagara College – Welland to Brock University. None of these routes appear on the local transit maps, making it easy for one to believe that there was no way to get from city to city.

One should not interpret this point as criticism of improving transit service in the area. NRT makes multiple trips daily, and runs all year long. Compared to the local routes – some of which are school-year, peak hour only – the improvement is immeasurable. That said, it is possible that additional funding to provide regular service on the campus shuttle routes could have achieved some of the same objectives.

Regardless of what could have been done, NRT is here, hopefully to stay. Going forward, the objective should be to evolve the system into something that provides value to residents and allows the local agencies to retire their campus shuttles and redistribute these resources within their own borders. To do that, I propose uploading two local routes and modifying the existing three into a network that provides Züm-like rapid bus service between major destinations, and GO Transit-like inter-municipal service between cities:

Niagara Region “Rapids” Transit concept

Like other express bus services, NRT should adopt a marketing name that establishes it as a rapid bus service, rather than an ordinary all-stop system. It already runs as an express service, but this is not explicit in the branding. Something to do with Niagara Falls – possibly “Rapids” – would be a good choice, but branding is not my specialty. Looking at the routes themselves, here is what I propose:

Route 50 / 55 – St. Catharines – Thorold – Niagara Falls

• Extended from St. Catharines bus terminal to Fairview Mall.
• Modified to serve Brock University directly and Niagara Region HQ from the street.
• Modified to serve downtown Niagara Falls via Queen Street.

Route 60 / 65 – Niagara Falls – Welland

• Extended from Welland bus terminal to Seaway Mall and Niagara College – Welland.
• Modified to serve downtown Niagara Falls via Queen Street.

Route 70 / 75 – St. Catharines – Pelham – Welland

• Extended from St. Catharines bus terminal to Fairview Mall.
• Modified to serve Brock University directly and Niagara Region HQ from the street.
• Modified to serve Fonthill in the Town of Pelham.
• Truncated to terminate at Niagara College – Welland.

Route 80 / 85 – St. Catharines – Niagara Falls – Fort Erie

• New route based on Fort Erie Link.
• Extended from Zehrs Plaza to St. Catharines bus terminal via Niagara College – Niagara-on-the-Lake.
• Modified to serve Niagara Square and Minacs Marketing Solutions.
• Extended from Fort Erie Walmart to Douglas Memorial Hospital and downtown Fort Erie.
• Short turn service at Niagara Square.

Route 90 / 95 – Welland – Port Colborne

• A new route based on the Port Colborne Link.
• Modified to provide two-way service on a single corridor, rather than a figure-eight.
• Extended from downtown Port Colborne to Port Colborne General Hospital.

Initial service targets on these routes should be service every 30 minutes, which is appropriate for the context and results in combined service every 15 minutes between Fairview Mall and Brock University, and between Niagara College – Welland and downtown Welland.

Were this concept be implemented, the logical question becomes “where to next?”. The major communities of the northern Niagara municipalities (downtown Grimsby; Beamsville, Vineland and Jordan in the Town of Lincoln; and downtown St. Catharines) are all connected by Regional Road 81, so a route along this road could be a wise undertaking. However, the remaining hamlets of the less populated municipalities are not all neatly organized. Additional study would be needed to define where these residents actually want to go.

The municipalities in Niagara Region have long asked for (and received) GO Transit service to connect it to the GTA, but it is unlikely that the region will become a bedroom community for anything past Hamilton. As such, we cannot forget the importance of improving the internal transit network for residents and visitors alike.