page_title: Saskatoon Transit
section_title: 2005 Strategic Plan Study
hierarchical_section_title: Saskatoon Transit / History / 2005 Strategic Plan Study
caption_attribution_description: English: Interior view of a typical Saskatoon Transit bus in August 2014
context_page_description: Saskatoon Transit is the public transport arm of the City of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. It operates a fleet of diesel buses. A total of 23 bus routes serve every area of the city, carrying approximately 11 million passengers in 2008. Saskatoon Transit is a member of the Canadian Urban Transit Association. The major bus terminal is located Downtown.
context_section_description: A comprehensive study of Saskatoon Transit's service was undertaken in 2005, outlining many deficiencies and making many recommendations.  Transit ridership had fallen from 12.4 million passengers in 1987 to 7.2 million passengers in 2005, while the city's population increased from 182,000 to 214,000.  The conclusions of the study were summarised in a Short Term Plan and a Long Term Plan.  Most of the recommendations of the Short Term Plan have been implemented, and the Long Term Plan is being carried out, subject of course to funding and other considerations.
  The main recommendations of the Short Term Plan were to re-orient the current regular service network to better serve the University of Saskatchewan and other key destinations, to introduce higher-order "DART" service on four corridors interlined into two routes, and to construct a new bus terminal at Market Mall, as well as to make major improvements to the terminals downtown and at the University.
  The routes in place prior to 2006 had not been substantially modified since the 1970s, and some since the 1950s, with the result that many neighbourhoods, particularly the newer suburbs, had poor service.  Some areas such as Montgomery Place and Briarwood had no bus service at all on weekends.  Many outlying neighbourhoods (e.g., Dundonald, Silverspring, Briarwood) had "stub routes" that deposited riders at a suburban mall transfer point, necessitating a transfer, and often two or three, to get anywhere in the city.  Post-secondary institutions were under-served relative to the number of students using the buses; SIAST Kelsey Campus had only one major route serving it, so that trips to SIAST from most places in Saskatoon involved a transfer onto an overcrowded bus.  Due to extreme congestion at the University of Saskatchewan, several routes bypassed the campus altogether, forcing students to cross College Drive on foot.  Service to the airport was nonexistent, and service to industrial areas was extremely poor.  Demand in these areas was also extremely low, at least in part due to the poor service.
  The Market Mall terminal has been built, and a temporary terminal with car traffic prohibited has been built at the University, pending a longer-term solution.  Work has yet to begin on improving or relocating the downtown terminal.
  The Long Term Plan is a 10-year plan that focuses on the infrastructure needed to maintain the improvements to the system implemented in the Short Term Plan and expansion needed to keep up with the expected increases in ridership that the improvements will generate.  Issues include staffing, fleet replacement, refurbishing older buses, maintenance, new technologies such as emissions reduction and "smart" fare collection.  Critical items include:
  Rejuvenating the fleet.  The industry standard is to replace buses on an 18-year cycle; by this standard, Saskatoon Transit's fleet is quite old.  The plan recommends replacing 6 buses a year through 2010, and 7 buses a year for the remaining years of the plan, as well as expanding the fleet by 12 buses.
  New transit garage.  The current transit garage is too small for the fleet and surrounded by residential properties that make it undesirable if not impossible to expand the facility.  A satellite facility or entirely new facility in a different location, probably an industrial park, is recommended within the next 5 years.
  More bus shelters.  The plan recommends a target number of 215 bus shelters (30% of stops), or 22 per year over the course of the plan, up from 3 or 4 per year that are currently installed.
  Fare technology.  A review of fare collection options, and in particular smart card technology, should be undertaken within a year.
  Transit-oriented development.  Work with urban planners to design neighbourhoods that work with public transit and discourage use of private vehicles.
  Signal priority and queue-jump lanes.  Allow buses to avoid congestion by "turning the lights green" for them, and providing bus-only lanes where needed, for instance at the approaches to University Bridge.
caption: Interior view of a typical bus in August 2014
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