.jpg;w=960)
What does Oakville Transit look like if you take away 70 per cent of the riders?
In search of an answer to that vaguely mind-boggling question, I arrive at the carpool lot at Highway 407 and Trafalgar early last Wednesday morning.
My plan? Take a multi-bus loop around town on a weekday rush hour for a first-hand look at what the pandemic has done to the transit system.
6:35 – Me plus zero
It’s a dark, chilly morning and I’m happy to see the #1 bus pull into the carpool lot. I’ve opted to start my journey in the most distant corner of the Oakville transit world, but I’m headed to the Oakville GO station – long the centre of the town’s transit universe.
As we head south on Trafalgar Road, there’s no one else aboard, so the empty bus is my own 40-foot limo.
We pass a closed Walmart with a strangely full parking lot, then loop through the sadly vacant Sheridan College.
Unsurprisingly, no one is waiting for us. According to the digital board, seven buses will arrive on the empty campus over the next 27 minutes. I’m doubtful they’ll find much more business than we did.
Seven months into the pandemic, the transit system is carrying about 30 per cent of the riders it did last year, according to Oakville Transit’s director Barry Cole.
Work-from-home, virtual school and fears of the danger of shared transportation have decimated transit systems everywhere, and Oakville is no exception.
Ridership was growing in August but dipped at the beginning of September and has since hit a plateau, says Cole.
6:54 – Me plus two
Back on Trafalgar Road, we pick up two passengers in quick succession before arriving at the Oakville GO station.
.jpg)
One of the busiest in the system, this station is now a shadow of its pre-pandemic self. The parking lot is largely empty, with only a handful of people waiting for trains and buses.
According to the media relations people at Metrolinx, average weekday ridership on the Lakeshore West line is down 90.5 per cent.
I check out the GO station’s coffee stand wishfully but decide the mandatory masks on the bus make coffee an impossibility. I settle for a couple of packages of overpriced Mentos.
7:13 – Me plus three
My handy Presto card cheerfully notes my “free transfer” onto the #14A bus. I join three other riders, with plenty of empty rows between us all.
Our driver – I’ll soon learn his name is Doug – is safely seated behind a plastic shield.
Bus drivers have received less public appreciation than many frontline workers, but Cole says that Oakville’s transit workers have consistently shown up for the public. They’ve not had a single case of COVID-19 among drivers, he adds proudly.
As we travel toward downtown, we lose two passengers, then gain one.
At Rebecca and Chisholm, a regular rider climbs aboard, and driver Doug greets her by name.
She is delighted, and it's impossible not to overhear their ensuing conversation on the almost empty bus. Cheerful and talkative, Doug says with 40 years in, he’s Oakville Transit’s longest serving driver.
7:35 – Me plus three
There are still four of us on the bus when we reach South Oakville Centre. I exit the bus, and a single waiting passenger replaces me.
My plan is to connect with the #3 bus headed north on Third Line, but I have a 20-minute wait. On the transit map the centre sounded inviting, but now that I’m here, it’s really just a bus pull off at the edge of a closed plaza. And there’s not even a Tim Horton’s in sight.
As I huddle in the bus shelter, Doug provides further evidence that he’s one of the good guys. He double-checks that I don’t want his bus, then pauses for an incoming sprinter before pulling away.
7:52 – Me plus one
Shortly after I’ve demonstrated my remarkable lack of restraint by polishing off my first package of Mentos, the #3 bus pulls in a few minutes early.
There’s one other passenger aboard.
The heater is warming the bus nicely, if noisily, while all the windows are open to maximize air circulation. The effect is breezily comfortable, although I’m not certain I’d love it in February.
8:03 – Me plus three
As we pull through the Bronte GO Station loop, I eye up the other half-dozen buses there. Most are even more sparsely populated than ours, with only one or two riders. Two buses are completely empty.
I count 46 cars in the parking lot, through the bus window. There may be a few hidden out of my line of sight, but who could have imagined trying that trick on a normal weekday morning?
8:07 – Me plus two
Leaving the Bronte GO Station, we head north on Third Line. With no stops to pick up or drop off passengers, it’s a much more peaceful ride than the usual bus trip.
My plan is to stay on this bus until I can connect with #13 at Westoak Trails Boulevard, but my need for caffeine leads to an impromptu change in plans and I hop off the bus at Upper Middle Road.
I pick up a coffee and start walking north on Third Line. It’s a stretch of road that reminds me that much of Oakville has been designed solely for the pleasure of the automobile.
8:30 – Waiting for the bus
At Westoak Trails I’m looking to catch #13 eastbound, back toward the GO centre of the universe. Uncertain whether my caffeine stop has thrown off my schedule, I decide to call the info number on the bus stop.
I expect to key in the bus stop number and be told when the next bus will arrive, but instead I get a long and wordy recorded message and a series of prompts. I push number 2 – “our location” – thinking that will tell me where my bus is, but instead I get directions to the Oakville Transit office.
Huh? Pressing zero gets me put on hold and after several minutes I hang up and google the schedule.
8:38 – Still waiting
It’s taken me eight minutes to figure out that my incoming bus is still 10 minutes away. I don’t care though – today I’m a bus tourist, and there’s still coffee to drink. But with no garbage cans in sight, I have to carry my empty cup with me.
8:46 – Me plus two
The #13 bus arrives. So far, my whole journey has cost only $3.16, but I’ve now either run out of transfers or confused the system with my caffeine detour. My card is charged another $3.16 Presto-discounted fare.
I join two other passengers on the bus. As we travel past fabulous fall colours along Westoak Trails, riders climb aboard.
8:55 – Me plus five
A man climbs aboard at Oxford and Culham Streets and there are now seven of us on the bus for about five minutes -- the fullest bus I’ll see this morning. But we’re hardly crowded. At least one empty row separates all passengers, and most of us are much further apart than that.
Three passengers climb off at Oakville Place and we’re back down to four riders.
9:10 – Me plus four
Back at the Oakville GO Station, I transfer to the #20 bus. I’m now headed north toward Dundas and Trafalgar, on a route that wanders through neighbourhoods on the east side of Trafalgar.
I join four other passengers, opting for a back seat where I easily pop open the window for some breeze.
The other riders all exit by the time we reach Upper Middle, and I’m back to my own 40-foot limo.
9:27 – Off the bus
The Uptown Core bus area at Dundas and Trafalgar is deserted as I get off the #20, but nearby construction suggests it will soon be a bustling place.
In retrospect, I should have parked my car here rather than at the carpool lot three km north. As the #1 bus to that lot only runs once an hour and left about three minutes ago, I opt for a cab ride back to the car.
What’s next?
So far, funding from the province and the federal government has covered the town’s costs to keep the mostly empty buses running. With some conditions, that source of cash will flow until March.
Beyond that is anyone’s guess, and while Cole says he’s optimistic that riders will eventually come back, they may board in a trickle rather than a gush.
“I would guess we could go through 2021 at maybe 50 per cent of our normal ridership,” he warns.