Kitchener Public Utilities Commission
The Kitchener Public Utilities Commission (KPUC, or PUC) was the municipal public utilities commission for the city of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, which also served the surrounding area. Its former office in downtown Kitchener, constructed in 1931 in Beaux-Arts style, has been designated under the "Ontario Heritage Act" as both historically and architecturally significant, and is one of the Kitchener's few surviving historic public buildings. History. Transit service began with horse cars in 1887 as a private company whose owner was from New York City with day-to-day operations via Thomas M. Burt. The  line was electrified for streetcars a few years later. The city did not renew the charter and the KPUC took over in 1927. The KPUC operated streetcars until 1946, as bus and trolley bus operations took over. The electric streetcars were scheduled to be retired on January 1, 1947. An ice storm on December 27, 1946 caused so much damage to the overhead that it was not repaired. Cross-town gasoline buses started in the 1930s. Trolley coach operation began on January 1, 1947, and ended by March 26, 1973. Transit operations were passed on to the City of Kitchener  in 1973 and was operated with all-new bus routes as Kitchener Transit. Utilities operations, for gas, water and sewer services within the City of Kitchener are now run by Kitchener Utilities, a subsidiary of the municipality. In 2015, during the construction of the new Ion Light Rail system, remnants of the local streetcar system were unearthed. Roster. Buses. Roster as of December 31, 1972. City of Kitchener took over January 1, 1973. Trolley buses replaced March 26, 1973. Kitchener Transit launched with all new routes on July 3, 1973. Streetcar fleet. All time streetcar fleet: Berlin and Waterloo Street  Railway Company Preston & Berlin Street Railway Bridgeport and Berlin Electric Street Railway Kitchener & Waterloo Street Railway Routes. Routes as of December 31, 1972: