London Transit

History

London Street Railway Company (LSR) a privately operated transit service, brought public transit to the city with the start of horse-drawn streetcar operations May 24, 1875, with electric power being introduced in 1895. In later years, the city operated some routes, but in 1951 assumed control over all routes and formed the London Transportation Commission to operate them. Until 1940, streetcars provided the bulk of the service. Streetcar system was converted to buses in late November 1940 (planned for the end of 1940, but forced by a blizzard that damaged trolley wires). In 1974, the LTC adopted its present name, and greatly expanded its service area to cover the newly annexed area in Middlesex County. The system has evolved to feature community bus routes, para-transit services and accessible low floor buses with the rapid transit lines as the backbone. In 2003, the LTC opened bus terminals in Argyle Mall and Masonville malls.

Active fleet

As of 2010, the LTC has 191 transit buses in its fleet. Until recently, London Transit had one of the oldest transit fleets in Ontario, with many buses older than 25 years old. However, with new buses being purchased within the last decade, this has changed. All older model high-floor buses were phased out in 2012, making the LTC fully operated with low-floor accessible buses.

During peak service periods on weekdays there are over 154 buses on the road. Sunday service reduces that number to fewer than 50.

Ridership

After the public transit boom of the 1960s and 1970s, ridership began to slip. At that time almost every transit route was passing through London's downtown area. An attempted building of two downtown malls and the economic recession of the 1990s combined to force the downtown area into serious decline. An economic slump echoed in a parallel drop in ridership, made even worse by the traditional responses of service cuts and fare increases. Between 1987 and 1996, LTC ridership declined by almost 40 percent.

In 1994, the LTC began developing a comprehensive business plan to turn these trends around. Innovations included an overhauling of fare structure, re-thinking routes, bringing buses into mall areas (which would later become true terminal areas), and making standard public transit buses increasingly wheelchair-accessible. Post-secondary students attending the University of Western Ontario and Fanshawe College now receive a subsidised bus pass incorporated into their tuition: a program which has become a great success.

Due in large part to these measures, the LTC is currently experiencing a massive increase in ridership, straining current transit resources.

Plans

With the recent announcement of federal and provincial gas tax money for municipalities, the LTC has decided to spend funds on improving service, creating bus depots at major shopping centres, and purchasing new low-floor accessible buses.

All LTC buses are equipped with GPS technology which automates stop announcements. There is also a proposal to allow LTC buses to lengthen the timing of traffic signals at key intersections to improve service.

In 2009, new digital message signs were placed at strategic transit stops to tell passengers when the bus is expected to arrive. The LTC website also allows customers to check when a particular bus will arrive in real-time.

Also in 2009, London Transit began equipping some buses with bicycle racks. This allows for cyclists to ride the bus while transporting their bike as well. The program was initially being tested on four routes, and was later expanded in 2011 to include the entire fleet.

In 2011, a second transit garage opened in the west end of the city to improve efficiency and create room for a larger transit fleet. Currently, the Wonderland Road Garage houses approximately 40 buses, with expansion room to store 60 more.

Within the next decade, London Transit may have express bus routes on high volume corridors. There has been talk from LTC that the express routes would run along Wellington/Richmond, Commissioners Road, Highbury, Oxford, Wonderland, and Dundas to aid current bus routes along these roads. This would implement the Express-Local system in London for bus routes. This system uses express buses to take people from one place to another of a greater distance by skipping stations at less popular areas (Example- A bus that starts at White Oaks Mall and stops at Wellington-Commissioners). The local buses would run on the same route, however they would stop at each and every station.

The City and LTC have begun to plan for the future Transportation Master Plan. The research program will be called "Smart Moves: What Moves You?" and will take transportation goals in London to 2030. For LTC, the study will examine rapid transit corridors while considering Bus Rapid Transit and other Rapid Transit options.

AM 980 reported that the city's planning staff had put forward a plan to introduce rapid transit. The plan would cost $1.2 billion, and would include both a bus rapid transit and a light rail components.

2009 transit strike

On November 16, 2009, Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 741 representing bus drivers and support workers went on strike, the first transit strike for London Transit since 1980. The strike affected all public routes, however specialized transit services for the disabled continued to operate.

To lessen the inconvenience on university students, the University of Western Ontario (UWO) increased its shuttle bus service. As well, the University Student's Council (USC) secured rental vans driven by volunteers looping around the city picking up students at key areas and dropping them off at the university. A community-based approach was taken by the USC including a flag-a-ride program and a shuttle service for groceries. David Empey president of the UWO staff association was against this volunteer service helping students calling it "scab labor" and said it was irresponsible to set up a system which replaced the job of striking workers. Despite this information pickets were set up at the University encouraging students to help their cause. "The strike is really inconveniencing people who are paid even less than the drivers," said a third-year Western student."This shuttle is a good idea. I had hoped they'd put something like this together. We still have to pay for our transit pass" even if there's a strike.

On December 7, 2009, ATU turned down the LTC's "Final Offer" of 9.3% wage hike over three years. This offer was rejected by 78.5% (322 of 410) of the ATU membership.

The strike ended on December 14, 2009.

Fares

Since January 1, 2017, children 12 years and under ride free. Effective December 1, 2008 the fare is as follows:

There are also a number of passes available:

Routes

London Transit announced that the following service will be available starting September 4, 2016. With this service comes a change to the buses' destination signs. Routes are still numbered but will no longer be named; the destination sign will now display route number, destination, and routing.

Regular Routes

Buses serving these routes stop at blue bus-stop signs.

Express Routes

These routes are limited-stop service. Buses serving these routes stop only at orange bus-stop signs.

Community Routes

The following regularly scheduled limited service routes operate to provide special access to seniors and individuals with impaired mobility to major shopping destinations. They are not designed as an alternative to the paratransit service.

Additional service to University and to Fanshawe College

The following routes are in service Monday to Friday only, from September to April only, and only when the University of Western Ontario has scheduled orientation, classes, or exams.

The following route is in service from Monday to Friday only, from September to April only, and only when Fanshawe College has scheduled classes or exams.