The story
History
Public transit in the Grand River area began with private operators and slowly gave way to municipal run service. Interurban and streetcar service were the earlier modes and by the mid-20th century, bus transit became the norm.
Kitchener–Waterloo
Berlin Gas Company 1888–1894 horsecar
Berlin Street Railway 1894–1906 - electric car
Berlin and Bridgeport Railway Company 1904–1906
Berlin Public Utilities Commission 1906–1916
Kitchener Public Utilities Commission 1916–1973; operated streetcars, buses and trolley cars
Kitchener Transit 1973–2000
Grand River Transit 2000–present
Read the full text
Ion light rail 2019–present
Cambridge
Public transit was provided to Galt and Preston before Cambridge was formed.
Grand River Railway Company 1919–1957; bus and interurban electric service
Galt, Preston City and Suburban Transit Co. 1921–1929; transit bus service
Dominion Power and Transmission Company 1929–?; transit and interurban bus service
Canada Coach Lines 1950–1962; transit bus service
Galt Public Service Commission 1962–1973; transit bus service
Cambridge Transit 1973–2000; transit bus service
Elmira
Elmira had bus service to Kitchener that ended in 1997. Route 21 now travels to Elmira from Conestoga Mall in north Waterloo. Riders can then transfer to another bus to get to Kitchener.
Elmira-Kitchener Bus Lines 1922–1929
Lishman Coach Lines Limited 1929–1979
United Trails Incorporated 1975–1997
New Hamburg
On April 25, 2016, Grand River Transit began operating route 77 which connects The Boardwalk and the Wilmot Township (Petersburg, Baden and New Hamburg) during the AM and PM peak periods. This route is a BusPlus route and because of the length of the route, route 77 operates every 75 minutes. GRT is using Voyago (formerly Voyageur Transportation Services) to operate the new route.
The Grand River area also had interurban railway service from 1894 to 1955 by various operators.
Breslau
As of June 11, 2022, Grand River Transit operates BusPlus service for Breslau, which provides locations in Breslau, including Region of Waterloo International Airport. Connections with route 34 and 204 are also available for those needing a trip to Kitchener, Waterloo or Cambridge.
History
In June 2011, Waterloo Region council approved a plan for a light rail transit line, powered by electricity, between Conestoga Mall in north Waterloo and Fairview Park Mall in south Kitchener. At first, rapid buses would run from the south end of Kitchener to the "downtown Galt" area of Cambridge but eventually, the LRT would be expanded to that city. (At least one journalist pointed out the similarity between this plan and the electric Grand River Railway system of the early 1900s.) In Stage 1, the Ion rapid transit train runs between Fairway station and Conestoga station by way of the central districts of Kitchener and Waterloo.
Construction on the light rail system, now named Ion, began in August 2014 and the Stage 1 service was expected to begin in 2017. Most of the rails had been installed by the end of 2016; the maintenance facility and all underground utility work had been completed. The start date of service was postponed to early 2018, and then to December 2018, however, because of delays in the manufacture and delivery of the vehicles by Bombardier Transportation. Bombardier was to deliver all 14 vehicles by December 14; that was postponed to December 2017 and then to June 2018. In April 2018, the planned start of Ion service was postponed to December, and was finally accomplished on June 21, 2019.
In late February 2017, plans for the Stage 2 (Cambridge section) of the Ion rail service were still in the very early stage but a proposed route with map had been published. The public consultation process for Cambridge was postponed to 2018.
In early July 2017, Cambridge City Council expressed an objection to parts of the route planned for that city and requested the Region to consider alternatives. At that time, a report indicated that construction of Stage 2 would not begin until 2025. Until LRT service arrives in Cambridge, GRT will offer rapid transit with adapted iXpress buses to Fairway Station using bus-only lanes at Pinebush, Munch and Coronation to minimize slowdowns at times of heavy traffic. Following Ion launch in Kitchener–Waterloo GRT continued the remainder of the iXpress 200 service to the terminal at Fairway Station, numbered as 302.
From Wikipedia’s article on IXpress, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3