GRT News

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Region to spend $73M for new Grand River Transit garage
July 2, 2014 | Paige Desmond | The Record | Link

WATERLOO REGION — The Region of Waterloo has purchased 17 acres of land to accommodate an ever-expanding Grand River Transit fleet.

Councillors voted recently to spend about $7.4 million on land at 300-350 Northfield Dr. E. in Waterloo.

"We need additional space," Coun. Jim Wideman said. "We're getting more buses."

The site will become home to a bus storage facility and some office space for staff.

"It's a very good purchase and a really good bargain on behalf of the taxpayers," Wideman said. "It's hard to find a 17-acre parcel of land in Waterloo."

In total, about $73 million has been budgeted for the project, with most of the money expected to be spent between 2017 and 2019.

The region has five sites to accommodate buses and maintain them. Three are in Kitchener and two are in Cambridge.

Thomas Schmidt, commissioner of transportation and environmental services, said the new site would only be partly developed at first and construction would take about a year.

It will help get buses started on their routes in Waterloo because they won't have to travel from Cambridge or Kitchener.

"It can be difficult deploying to north Waterloo," Schmidt said.

A 100,000-square-foot storage facility on Chandler Drive was just completed earlier this year.

The five facilities accommodate more than 240 buses and 30 MobilityPLUS vehicles.

But that number is expected to grow substantially by 2031.

A staff report that recommended the Chandler Drive facility said the region's fleet is expected to grow to 430 buses by 2031.

About $18 million is budgeted for new buses between 2014 and 2023 and, according to budget documents, the region expects to add the equivalent of 11 new full-time staff in 2014.

Officials hope bus expansion will build up ridership for the planned light rail transit system expected to run between Waterloo and Kitchener in 2017 and then feed into the system.

To pay for light rail and bus expansion the region has planned tax increases of up to 12.9 per cent from 2011 to 2019.