Ehab James and Jan Durkiewicz, UTM Campus Council Members spoke with respect to the following:
- Issues with the digital U-Pass causing delays in student boarding and at times not being permitted on the bus;
- bus capacity during peak hours along certain routes that cause significant delays to students attending morning classes;
- concerns that the growth of student population will increase, and cause further overcrowding and delays for student to rely on MiWay Transit to get to classes; and
- proposed adjusting MiWay Route 26 bus to enter the University of Toronto Mississauga campus to alleviate the pressures on Route 44
Mary-Lou Johnston, Acting Director, Transit spoke to the issues with respect to the digital U-pass and noted that UTM has an education video, and that MiWay staff are on location at the UTM campus to provide assistance to students. Ms. Johnston further noted we are advising transit operators to permit students while the U-Pass process is being addressed.
Alana Tyers, Manager, Service Development spoke to the issues of the overcrowding and explained that staff are exploring solutions to provide additional trips and/or bus size considerations, and advised that staff are monitoring ridership to provide immediate solutions such as additional trips or change in bus size. Ms. Tyers expressed thanks for the feedback to propose Route 26 to enter the UTM campus and advised that staff will look at opportunities to improve the routing and connection between Route 44 and Route 26.
In response to Shauna Brail, Citizen Member, enquiry, Jan Durkiewicz, UTM Campus Council Member, advised that although there is less demand in the summer there are still commuter challenges.
Mary-Lou Johnston, Acting Director, Alana Tyers, Manager Service Development responded to questions from the Transit Advisory Committee as follows:
- UTM provides a pass to students who do not have a cell phone.
- Transit operators are encouraged to make announcements to have customers move to the back of the bus to make room for boarding customers.
- Off boarding payment system technology is available; there are costs to providing to this technology across the entire Transit system including recruiting fare enforcement officers.
- Challenges in providing the reliable service, as resources are not available.to meet the demands.
Moaz Ahmed, Citizen Member, spoke to the impacts of service delays and suggested the staff consider UTM as a site to pilot an off boarding payment system.
Geoff Wright, Commissioner, Transportation and Works noted that staff would review and report to the Committee on the suggestion to pilot an off boarding payment system at UTM.