More late night transit needed in Uptown Waterloo, says UW student group
Students from the University of Waterloo are calling for more overnight transit options in the city.
The UW NDP club wants to see a cancelled Grand River Transit route brought back to help students get from Uptown Waterloo to the university district once the bars close.
“We’re trying to bring back… Route 91, which is essentially a variant of the Route 7 that many people know, which will come from downtown Kitchener to Uptown Waterloo, then hit the university area,” explained Damian Mikhail, the lead organizer of a petition looking to bring about this change.
Route 91 was discontinued during the pandemic due to a lack of riders. Pandemic restrictions forced bars to close early and nightlife was scaled back in a significant way, which led to GRT’s decision.
But with a resurgence of nightlife in the city, Mikhail feels it’s time for this route to make its return.
“The big worry for us is night shift workers who often don’t have a safe and reliable way home, who have to come here late at night, spend money on parking, on gas, on all of these things,” he said.
The petition currently has over 1,000 signatures. While a big focus is cutting down on drinking and driving once people leave the bars, affordability is also top of mind.
Students have unlimited access to public transit through their U-Pass, but Mikhail said it’s not much help late at night if buses aren’t running at that time.
“We did a few calculations to see what the average price was for someone trying to get home at 2 a.m. from Uptown Waterloo [and] back to campus housing with surge pricing. Uber prices can get up as high as $37, which is just not feasible,” he explained.
CTV News reached out to Grand River Transit about the push to bring Route 91 back. A spokesperson for the transit service said consultations on its five-year business plan will begin later this year.
The statement goes on to say: “The plan will be the roadmap for all expansion of GRT services. We look forward to discussing with our customers and community their vision for the future of transit and expanded hours of service.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Details, new photos emerge about suspect charged with murder in killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO
Prosecutors were beginning to take steps Tuesday to bring the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare's CEO back to New York to face a murder charge while new details emerged about his life and how he was captured.
Canada announces new sanctions against Chinese, Russian officials
Past and present senior Chinese officials, as well as Russian officials and collaborators, are the subjects of new human rights sanctions, the Canadian government said Tuesday.
Some added sugar sources are worse than others for disease risk, study suggests
Sugar isn’t helpful when looking to reduce heart disease risk –– but sweet drinks are the worst, according to a study. There are better sweet treats.
'Governor Justin Trudeau': Trump appears to mock PM in social media post
Amid a looming tariff threat, U.S. president-elect Donald Trump appears to be mocking Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, referring to him as 'Governor Justin Trudeau' in a post on Truth Social early Tuesday.
'I never got the impression he would self-destruct:' Friends of suspect in fatal CEO shooting left in shock
Months before police identified Luigi Mangione as the man they suspect gunned down a top health insurance CEO and then seemingly vanished from Midtown Manhattan, another disappearing act worried his friends and family.
Google pulls McDonald's negative reviews over arrest in UnitedHealth murder
Google on Monday removed derogatory reviews about McDonald's MCD.N after the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealth executive Brian Thompson was arrested at its restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, where police say a customer alerted a local employee about him.
Canadian man sentenced to prison for embezzling US$1.4M
U.S. authorities have sentenced a Canadian man to 20 months in prison for a US$1.4-million embezzlement scheme.
Freeland doesn't commit to meeting her own deficit target in fall economic statement
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is not committing to meeting the $40.1-billion deficit target she set for the government last year.
'Godfather of AI' Geoffrey Hinton receives Nobel Prize in physics
Artificial intelligence pioneer Geoffrey Hinton and co-laureate John Hopfield have received the Nobel Prize for physics at a ceremony in Stockholm.