MiWay
| |
Area served | Mississauga, ON |
Founded | 1969 |
Fleet size | 389 (MiLocal) 79 (MiExpress) |
Number of routes | 84 |
Ridership | 36.6 million (2014) |
Union | ATU Local 1572 |
Mississauga Transit, branded MiWay as of October 4, 2010, provides transit service to the city of Mississauga, Ontario, which is Canada's sixth largest city. The agency is Ontario's third largest municipal transit agency. It operates as part of the city's Transportation and Works Department, and is funded by both the municipal and provincial governments. Connections are made at or near borders with the TTC, Brampton Transit, York Region Transit and Oakville Transit, as well as with GO Transit at several locations within Mississauga. For a detailed history, see the timeline.
Fares
MiWay collects exact cash fares in its GFI Genfare CENTSaBILL fareboxes. Operators do not make change, and the farebox shows the driver exactly how much money has been put in. Presto readers are installed on all buses.
Fares effective January 30, 2017
Fare Type | Cash Fare | 5 Tickets | 10 Tickets | PRESTO | PRESTO Monthly Pass |
GTA Weekly Pass | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Child | $3.50 | $8.25 | $16.50 | $1.65 | N/A | $63.00 |
|
Youth | $3.50 | $11.25 | $22.50 | $2.25 | N/A | $63.00 |
|
Post-Secondary | $3.50 | N/A | N/A | $2.85 | N/A | $63.00 |
Presto Only |
Adult | $3.50 | $15.50 | $31.00 | $3.00 | $130.00 | $63.00 | |
Senior | $3.50 $1.00* |
$10.50 | $21.00 | $2.00 | $61.00 | $63.00 |
|
Other
Cost | |
---|---|
Children (5 and under with fare paying passenger) | Free |
GO CO-Fare | $0.80 (PRESTO only as of Jan. 2016) |
Visually Impaired (With CNIB Card) | Free |
Support Person | Free |
PRESTO Card (non-refundable) | $6.00 |
PRESTO Protective Card Sleeve | $2.00 |
Route Map | $2.00 |
Freedom Pass (youths ages 12-14 during the summer) | Free |
The weekly pass was slowly discontinued in 2013 with the adult weekly finally discontinued in January 2014. The high school monthly pass was discontinued in July 2015 to encourage more students to use PRESTO. The senior annual pass was discontinued in January of 2016. Finally, the remaining paper passes were discontinued after April 2016 when PRESTO monthly passes became available in March 2016.
Transfers
All cash and ticket paying passengers receive a transfer on the first bus they board. It is valid on any bus on any route (except Route 88 ) for two hours from the start of the operator's trip on the route.
All buses are equipped with Angletime transfer cutters that cut transfers in a straight line, across an hour then a fifteen minute interval. The earliest time a transfer can expire is 6:00AM, while the latest transfer that can be cut is for 2:45XM. Operators receive books of 50 transfers on a pressed cardboard backing. On the back is an information slip used for passenger fare disputes. Transfers show the date in several places, and the week number in the background. All transfers from a given day are exactly the same. Each day a different design on the middle of the transfer is different. It could be a vertical line through the middle, a diagonal line all the way down, diagonal stripes from right to left and left to right or the Miway logo. The designs on transfers was first added in 2013. Each year the transfers are entirely redesigned.
Miway accepts transfers from other GTA transit agencies, such as Oakville Transit and Brampton Transit as long as they are not expired. However Toronto Transit Commission transfers are not accepted unless they are punched to paid to two zone and is from TTC route 52.
People
Directors of Transit
The Director of Transit leads senior managers in operations, maintenance, service development and business development, and reports to the Commissioner of Transportation and Works, who is currently Martin Powell.
Geoff Marinoff
After the retirement of Bill Cunningham in 2007, Marinoff joined Transit from his previous post as Manager of Subway Operations for the TTC. Trained in engineering, he appreciates no-nonsense efficiency, sprouted by his Canadian Forces days. Geoff (pronounced joff) prides himself on the fact that he uses the transit system at least once a week for his commute, and is rumoured to be a fan of the ElDorado E-Z Rider.
Bill Cunningham
After taking over from the retired Ed Dowling in 1997, Cunningham was the Director of Transit until 2007, when he retired.
Ed Dowling
Director from 1974 to 1998, Dowling's father ran Streetsville Coach Lines. By the age of 30, he was the sole employee of Ed Dowling School Bus Lines. Later on, he sold that business and went to work for Charterways Transportation. In March of 1973, he became the manager of the Town of Chinguacousy's dial-a-bus transit system, Bramalea Bus, then was hired by the Town of Mississauga as a consultant in its transportation study. After the City of Mississauga's incorporation in January of 1974, Dowling was hired and became the Director of Transit. Many regard him as the "Father of Mississauga Transit." Dowling brought in a number of innovations over the years that are now a requirement in all transit agencies these days. One major innovation includes the automated telephone systems for bus schedules and departure times. He introduced the Canada's first articulated buses, made sure Mississauga was the first agency to sell passes, and made Mississauga the first agency in Ontario to use electronic destination signs on the buses instead of roll signs and route cards. Because of Dowling, Mississauga was the first municipality to offer air conditioning on buses in Canada. In late 2015, the Central Parkway garage operations building was renamed to E.J. (Ed) Dowling Transit Facility. An official ceremony was held on October 13, 2015. On the Saturday morning of December 12, 2015, Dowling passed away from cancer. He was 76.
Supervisors
Supervisors are responsible for time checking, passenger disputes and detour creation. They respond, at the demand of Transit Control, to buses with problems on the road. Most supervisors are former operators who have chosen to take on the job, however some are hired from the outside. Operators can try out the supervisor position for six months, at the end of which they must decide if they want to continue as a supervisor, or move back to their operator position. Supervisors may not move back to being operators.
Transit Enforcement Officers
The Transit Enforcement team was launched in September 2007 after an increasing number of assaults against transit operators, and ever-growing concerns of terrorist or other illegal activity. Previously, security guards patrolled only the CCTT, however the Officers, who have access to several vehicles to travel around the city, patrol other terminals and ride buses undercover. The officers are part of the city's Corporate Security department and are neither police officers nor special constables.
Facilities
Passenger facilities
The following are transit facilities served by Mississauga Transit:
- City Centre Transit Terminal
- Clarkson GO Station
- TTC Islington Station, bays 4-7 leased for $321,000 per year
- Long Branch GO Station
- Meadowvale GO Station
- Meadowvale Town Centre Terminal
- Port Credit GO Station
- Sheridan Centre
- Gateway Terminal (Shoppers World Brampton)
- South Common Centre Terminal
- Trillium Health Centre
- Westwood Mall Terminal
- Dixie Mall Bus Terminal
- Erin Mills Station
- Central Parkway Station
- Cawthra Station
- Tomken Station
- Dixie Station
- Tahoe Station
- Etobicoke Creek Station
Non-passenger facilities
MiWay Transit has Two Garages:
- Central Parkway Garage, 975 Central Parkway West
- Malton Garage, 6780 Professional Court
Bus routes
MiWay currently operates 82 bus routes throughout the City of Mississauga. Regular routes are numbered 1-99, Express routes in the 100 series, and school routes in the 300 series.
Current routes
The following are current MiWay bus routes. The colour behind each route number is the colour used for each route's line on the system map. School routes in the 300 series do not appear on the system map; they are represented with standard MiWay orange.
Former routes
In the past, Mississauga Transit routes were organized following a different structure. For example, routes 11, 21, 31, 41, and 51 at one point all ran from Islington Station, travelling west on Dundas Street and branching off at various points along the street, allowing one seat trips to be made to the subway from most of the city. Express routes, in the past, were all numbered in the 80 series, while Catholic and public school specials were numbered in the 70 and 90 series, respectively. Also, routes in the 50 series were historically rush-hour only routes, serving industrial areas on weekdays.
The following is an incomplete list of former Mississauga Transit routes:
2 | Hurontario | 6 | Burnhamthorpe | 14 | River Grove | 15 | Woodbine Raceway and Slots Express | 17 | Timberlea | 18 | Northwest-Explorer |
21 | Dundas-Streetsville | 21 | Rathburn/Tomken | 24 | University | 27 | Matheson | 29 | Sheridan Park | 31 | Dundas-Erindale |
31 | Folkway-Homelands | 32 | Rick Hansen | 33 | Rick Hansen | 33 | Erin Centre Loop | 36 | Burnhamthorpe | 37 | Clarkson Shuttle |
40 | Westwood | 41 | Thomas | 41 | Port Credit | 43 | Speakman | 45 | North Sheridan Way | 50 | Creekbank |
52 | Shawson Loop | 55 | Meyerside Loop | 62 | Cooksville GO | 65 | Barondale Loop | 72 | Timberlea | 74 | City Centre Shuttle |
81 | Dundas Express | 82 | Financial | 83 | Bloor Express | 84 | Queensway Express | 85 | Dixie Express | 88 | Wonderland |
89 | Meadowvale | 102 | InterCity Express | 201 | Dundas | 202 | Hurontario Express | 206 | Burnhamthorpe Express |
School routes
Summer school routes
Mississauga Transit changes the routes used for summer school on a yearly basis, based on which schools are used for summer school classes by the Peel and Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Boards. Therefore, numbers and names are changed and re-used on a yearly basis. Many of the routes followed exactly the routes of their regular school year counterparts, however carried a different route number for standardization within the year.
Summer 2008
Summer 2009
Summer 2014
Summer 2015
Summer 2016
Summer 2017
Carassauga routes
Every year, MiWay sponsors Carassauga, a festival of cultures event held every year in Mississauga by providing shuttle buses. This is the list of routes that run during the festival weekend.
505 | Carassauga Route A | 506 | Carassauga Route B | 507 | Carassauga Route C |
Pan Am/Parapan Am Games 2015 routes
During the 2015 Pan Am and Parapan Am games, some games were hosted in venues located in Mississauga. 4 special event routes were created and ran during the games.
95 | Pan Am-Port Credit | 96 | Pan Am-Kipling Station | 97 | Parapan Am-Port Credit | 98 | Parapan Am-Kipling Station |
Run numbers
Run numbers are assigned to each bus which enters service on any particular route. It is not mandatory for operators to set their run boxes, in fact newer buses do not have run boxes, and therefore a run number that you see cannot necessarily be taken as being correct.
Runs/Garage | Central | Malton |
---|---|---|
All Day | 1-19^ | 20-39 |
AM Peak | 40-59 | 60-69 |
PM Peak | 70-89 | 90-99 |
^Some Central routes such as 1 and 19 surpass 19 runs, and therefore overflow into "Malton" run numbers, however those runs run out of Central.
Accessibility of buses
After the retirement of the last high floor buses on December 1, 2011, the entire fleet became fully accessible. Every bus has a wheelchair ramp and can kneel down for passengers who have trouble climbing big steps. Each bus have 2 flip benches at the front of the bus that can be flipped up to allow passengers in wheelchairs to park there. Each bus has a LED next stop sign inside the bus showing the name of the next stop and automated announcements are made. As of January 2014 each bus was retrofitted with external announcements for people who have vision loss or cannot see the destination sign properly. Each time when a bus stops at a stop and the driver opens the front door, an automated announcement will announce the route number, route name, direction, and destination. Sometimes you may hear a double ding stop request. This happens when someone press the stop button under the wheelchair seats. The double ding signals the driver that a passenger with a wheelchair wants to get off at the next stop and the driver will deploy the ramp at arrival of the next stop. This button or strip (for Orion VIIs) can be found under the seats on or under the handle bar of the wheelchair seats.
Fleet
Active
Retired
- Note: early units under operation by Charterways had "Mississauga Transit" and "Operated for the Town of Mississauga by Charterways Co. Limited" lettering on the sides.
Non-service
See: Mississauga Transit non-service fleet
Rapid Transit
Mississauga Transitway (BRT)
The Mississauga Transitway was designed to improve rapid transit service across Mississauga by creating traffic-seperated, limited-stop bus rapid transit (BRT).
Construction of phase 1 began in 2009 and was completed in late 2014. Originally, this segment was expected to open in fall 2013, however, due to delays and budget issues, the Transitway was opened a year later. Phase 1 opened on November 14, 2014.