Kingston Transit route 501/502

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501/502
Service type Express
Number of Branches 2
Types of Buses Used XD40 LFS
Related Routes 4, 6

Routes 501 and 502 are express routes operated by Kingston Transit in the city of Kingston, Ontario, Canada. They make up part of the Kingston Express bus network.

Route Details

Buses running this route run in a loop, signed 501 going clockwise and 502 going counter-clockwise. Running mainly on Princess street, Bayridge Drive, and King Street, this route serves the majority of Kingston proper, such as (in clockwise order) Downtown, Queen's University/Kingston General Hospital, INVISTA, Bayridge Centre, Cataraqui Centre, and Kingston Centre.

As this route is an express route, buses only make a limited number of stops along the route (relative to overlapping local service).

Branches

This route has two branches.

  • 501 (Cataraqui Centre-Kingston Centre-Downtown-Queen's University-INVISTA-Bayridge Drive-Cataraqui Centre)
  • 502 (Cataraqui Centre-Bayridge Drive-INVISTA-Queen's University-Downtown-Kingston Centre-Cataraqui Centre)

History

In an effort to improve transit services within Kingston, Kingston Transit partnered with the Waterloo Public Transportation Initiative to conduct an analysis of the system. The Kingston Transit Redevelopment Plan, the result of the analysis, was released in August 2011. One of the recommendations of the report was to introduce 3 express routes, which would run with 15 to 20-minute headways during rush hours, and 30 to 20 minutes outside of rush hours. This plan, to be put into action over the course of two years (2013-2015), would ultimately form a backbone for Kingston Transit services.

Phase One of the plan called for an express route that would run mainly on Princess Street, Bayridge Drive, and Front/King street, corridors which see high ridership. This phase was implemented in September 2013. The introduction of the routes 501 and 502 resulted in a significant overhaul of Kingston Transit along the express route corridor; namely, service on route 1 west of Downtown was entirely replaced with this route.

As per the Kingston Transit Redevelopment Plan, Phase 2 (May 2015) saw the introduction to two other express routes. As a result, mid-day headways on routes 501 and 502 were improved from 30 minutes to 20 minutes.

September 2016 saw peak service on routes 501 and 502 upgraded to 10-minute frequencies. A further increase to 7.5-minute frequencies will be implemented within the next two years

Sunday hours of operation for routes 501/502 were extended to the equivalent of Saturday service in September 2017.

Vehicles

Routes 501 and 502 primarily use New Flyer XD40 and Nova LFS buses painted in the Kingston Express scheme. Rush hour crews may use any 40ft bus in Kingston Transit's fleet.

References

v·d·e
Current Routes
Local 1 2 3 4 6 7 10 11 12 14 15 16 17 18 20
Express 501 502 601 602 701 702 801 802
Former Routes
Local 1A 4A 6R 8 9 12A 19 20 21 22 A B C
Properties
Terminals Bus Terminal - Cataraqui Centre - Downtown - Gardiners Centre - Kingston Centre - Train Station
Miscellaneous Bus fleet