Grand River Transit route 200 'iXpress'

iXpress

Operating Division	Strasburg Road, Conestoga Boulevard
Buses Used	Nova Bus LFS , Orion VII , New Flyer D40LF , Orion VI , Orion V, MCI Classic

The iXpress is a rapid transit bus route operated by Grand River Transit, connecting the cities of Waterloo, Kitchener, and Cambridge. It is coloured orange.

Features

The iXpress, being a rapid transit route, has some additional features that local buses do not have.

These include transit priority measures along 15 intersections, which would allow to make red lights shorter and/or green lights longer for buses, allowing for increased speed of travel. The shelters have the distinctive iXpress logo with the stop name, and real-time information on when the next bus shows up. In transit terminals, the real-time information is shown under the distinctive flags that show the iXpress logo. Automated announcements were initially launched solely for the iXpress vehicles, but has since spread to all other vehicles under 12 years old.

History

The Region of Waterloo was selected as one of eight municipalities across the country to receive funds from Transport Canada. The Region is eligible for up to $3 million in funding, one-third the development cost of the iXpress service. The Region submitted the idea of a Central Transit Corridor Express bus service to Transport Canada’s Urban Transportation Showcase Program (UTSP) in Spring 2003. The UTSP was a five-year program created to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation in Canadian cities.

The iXpress bus service is a key component of the Region of Waterloo’s Growth Management Strategy. Regional Council developed this strategy in 2001 to plan how future residential and employment growth should occur. As one of the fastest growing communities in Canada, the Region of Waterloo plans to develop the community efficiently - in a way that allows community members to travel by public transit, by cycling and by walking.^[1]

The iXpress began service in 2005, to address growing demand due to the implementation of the U-Pass for Wilfrid Laurier University students, and general corridor growth throughout the Central Transit Corridor (King Street). It was originally called the CTC Express Bus Service. Service operated during weekdays only, operating every 15 minutes during rush hour and every 30 minutes midday.

Saturday service was added on June 30, 2007, operating every 30 minutes throughout the whole length. September 4, 2007 showed the implementation of the U-Pass for University of Waterloo students. This, in return, introduced Sunday service and weekday evening service across the whole length, also operating every 30 minutes. 2009 saw service increases to every 15 minutes during weekday middays, and every 15 minutes on Saturdays between Conestoga Mall and Fairview. 2011 saw service increases to every 10 minutes between 7:00am and 7:00pm weekdays, weekend evening service, and every 15 minutes on Saturdays on its whole length.^[2]

September 2011 will see the route name changed from the simple iXpress designation to route 200 (which is the current internal code for iXpress), in order to accompany the introduction of 201 iXpress.

Route Details

The route starts at Conestoga Mall Terminal in Waterloo, where it goes north on King Street, west on Northfield Drive, and south on Parkside Drive, serving the McCormick community. It then continues south on Parkside Drive until it enters Wes Graham Way, and the David Johnston Research and Technology Park. Continuing south and west, the route turns south at Hagey Boulevard, serving the R&T Park stop. After serving the stop, the route continues south until it enters the UW campus. It travels along the east side of Ring Road, stopping at the Davis Centre bus stop.

South of UW, the route continues on Ring Road until the exit to University Avenue by the South Gateway. It turns east on University Avenue until King Street, serving Laurier in between. The route turns south on King Street (entering Kitchener), mirroring the local route 7 until Victoria Street (while serving Uptown Waterloo and Grand River Hospital). Drivers use either Victoria Street or Francis Street to access Charles Street and Charles Street Terminal, depending on traffic.

Passing Downtown Kitchener, the route continues east on Charles Street (serving Ottawa) until it meets back with King Street east of Ottawa Street, where it follows the 7A/7F routing around the Highway 7/8 interchange. It continues along Kingsway Drive after the interchange and enters Fairview Park Terminal from the west side. However, trips that short-turn at Fairview go straight down King Street to Highway 8, and continues until the exit at Fairway Road, turning south on Fairway Road and entering Fairview Park Terminal from the east side.

The route enters Highway 8 after serving Fairview by going north on Fairway Road. It goes the entire length down to Highway 401, then continues east on the 401 (entering Cambridge) until the Hespeler Road exit. Exiting the highway, the route goes down an overpass which leads to Smart!Centres Cambridge. It exits the power centre by heading south on Conestoga Boulevard, passing by the garage just before the turn to Dunbar Road (and Cambridge Centre Terminal). The rest of the routing to Ainslie Street Terminal mirrors route 51.

It is designed so it strategically connects with the major nodes in the transit system, which include the two universities (University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University), the three major shopping malls (Conestoga Mall, Fairview Park Mall, and Cambridge Centre), and the two major transit terminals (Charles Street Terminal and Ainslie Street Terminal).