Niagara Transit (NT) is scheduled to undergo some rapid changes over the next 10 years as part of a strategic growth plan. This is great news, as there is plenty of room for optimization and growth in the region’s transit system.
However, it’s difficult to find information on the upcoming changes to NT routes in general, and it’s been even more challenging to find information on changes proposed in Phase 1 of the growth plan, which is scheduled to occur from 2026-2027.
Recently, I tried to take the bus from Brock to the Pen Centre. I plugged in my location and desired destination into the Transit app, and it suggested that I take Regional Route 75 to get there since it was arriving soon.
,However, upon boarding the bus, I learned that it would not be stopping at the Pen Centre, and I was instead spat out at the downtown St. Catharines Bus Terminal.
I wasn’t able to find any clear justification for why Route 75 didn’t stop at the Pen Centre, and I was starting to wonder if maybe the bus driver had missed his stop before I stumbled upon the NT YouTube podcast, Transitwise.
Transitwise episode one provides reasoning for why some regional routes have stopped servicing malls at 19:40. This boils down to excessive route duplication by local routes — an incredibly solid justification.
Yet, I think that I should’ve heard about these changes before I ended up at the downtown bus terminal instead of the Pen Centre. Although I don’t know much about the logistics of public communication, I think that NT could be doing a much better job,.
My first recommendation is to make changes more visible on the Transit app. This suggestion isn’t directed at NT, assuming they don’t have much say over Transit, but as a current longtime user, I know that it’s possible to put service bulletins on specific routes that can advise you of any changes to them.
Secondly, making use of passive paper advertising is also a good idea. Though I’m not sure how costly this would be, attaching proper service change announcements at busy stops along affected routes would be effective.
For example, a proper temporary plastic sign at the Brock hub or at the Schmon Parkway stop explaining that Regional Route 75 would not stop at the Pen Centre between certain times would have probably prevented my headache with route planning.
In Mississauga, I’ve seen route changes advertised on the ad boards inside buses and stations in place of regular advertising, though I imagine this is more expensive than the common temporary plastic signage.
Digitally, though, I have been impressed with some of NT’s public outreach examples. I think that making use of Instagram stories and posts has made it a lot easier to follow along with what changes are occurring.
I’m also a huge fan of the NT website. The user interface is pretty solid, though some information is missing from the site. For example, Route 75 has a service change announcement dated effective Aug. 31, but when clicked on, a 404 error message appears on your screen.
The NT podcast is what I find the most interesting. While I think the idea behind it is great, I would recommend segmenting the videos by topic to make it easier to find relevant information.
For example, I don’t want to sit through 19 minutes of fare restructuring discussions if all I want to know is why changes were made to regional routes.
My biggest grievance with NT, however, is the lack of public information around Phase 1 of the growth plan. Specifically, anything related to the GO Station.
Like many Niagara students and residents, I make regular use of the St. Catharines GO Station and I am getting annoyed at NT’s failure to provide a timeline for when and how the station will be connected to transit.
While Route 338/438 does claim to connect to the station, it has a lot of problems. The connection point at Dexter Street is far from the station by foot — let alone if you have a bag — and the train never really arrives on time, so if you miss the bus, you’re out of luck since there was only one scheduled.
Given the progress with construction, it’s easy to imagine that it’s possible to route the bus closer to the station or to make use of the parking lot as a pickup zone, but all of those thoughts are born out of a lack of a route improvement timeline.
Ubers are expensive and there is always massive travel demand to and from the station. It would be great to know that in April of 2026, routes XYZ will connect directly to the GO Station as part of their regular routes.
Announcing something along the lines of, “the region isn’t sure when the station will be complete but here are the details of potential routes,” or even “we haven’t yet begun route planning,” would be helpful.
Oftentimes, a lack of information can make it seem like absolutely nothing is happening when there are probably many things happening in the background. Information should be available and abundant, so that users don’t have to go searching for an answer.
I think that although NT is heading in the right direction, they could definitely improve their public communication, especially with the upcoming changes in the growth plan. An informed public is a powerful ally.