Regina Transit

Regina Transit

Regina Transit Bus 545 (TC40-102N Classic) in present livery (2009)
Founded	1911
Headquarters	333 Winnipeg Street
Locale	Regina, SK
Service area	Regina City limits
Service type	bus service, paratransit
Routes	16
Fleet	103 buses
Daily ridership	48,000 weekday
Fuel type	diesel
Website	reginatransit.com

Regina Transit Bus 566 (TC40-102N Classic) in pre-2008 livery

Regina Transit is the public transportation agency operated by the city of Regina, Saskatchewan. It is the oldest public transit system in Saskatchewan and has been city-owned since its inception.

History

Regina Transit's roots go back to July 28, 1911 (as the Regina Municipal Railway) with streetcar operations, originally on 10 miles of track, growing to 20 miles in the early 1930s. The "Dirty Thirties" saw huge deficits resulting in major cut-backs in service. With a shortage of gasoline and steel during World War II, streetcar ridership grew dramatically. The 32 streetcars used in 1945 carried 9,000,000 more passengers than they did in 1940. An important event in the system's history was a fire in its "bus barn" on January, 23, 1949 that destroyed 17 trolley coaches, 9 gasoline buses, 5 steel streetcars and 9 wooden cars. On September, 5th, 1950 The last streetcar made its final run through the streets of Regina and the Regina Municipal Railway became the Regina Transit System. Regina Transit provided trolley bus service from 1947 to 1966 using Canada Car and Foundry Brill trolley buses. Since 1955, its preferred transit fleet has been buses because their freedom from overhead lines makes them suitable for detours and charters. An innovation in the early 1970s was its Telebus service, which used a telephone/radio dispatching system to send buses to individual homes. This service ended in the early 1980s because of its high cost. In 2008 Regina Transit adopted 3 new express route centred around the university, cutting bus trip time by up to 20 minutes.

Routes

Regina Transit operates 17 routes on Weekdays and Saturdays (except holidays)

• 1 Dieppe, Broad North
• 2 Argyle Park, Downtown
• 3 University, Sherwood Estates
• 4 Hillsdale, Walsh Acres
• 5 Uplands, Downtown
• 6 Westhill,Downtown
• 7 Glencairn, Whitmore Park
• 8 RCMP, Eastview
• 9 Parkridge, Albert Park
• 10 Woodland Grove, Downtown
• 11 Normanview, Normandy Heights
• 12 Varsity Park, Downtown
• 13 Mount Royal, South Lakeview
• 14 Ross Industrial
• 15 Heritage
• 16 Rochdale*
• 17 Community Services Village

Modified routes operating on Sundays include

• 901 Dieppe, Broad North
• 902 Argyle Park, Downtown
• 903 Sherwood Estates, Glencairn
• 904 Normanview, University
• 905 Southland, Superstore East
• 906 University Park, Parkridge
• 907 Varsity Park, Glencairn
• 908 RCMP, Eastview
• 909 Albert Park, Golden Mile
• 910 Superstore, Normanview
• 912 Whitmore Park, Golden Mile
• 913 Normandy Heights, Downtown

Campus Express (university express buses)

• 20 Northwest
• 21 East
• 22 South

Bus Fleet

The system, whose service area is confined to Regina's city limits, maintains a fleet of 108 buses. Most of the buses listed, especially the New Looks and Classics, have been refurbished and given new livery colors, along with newly installed electronic destination signs. in 2010, Regina Transit announced that it will add new buses from NovaBus, which is expected to replace the New Looks.

Main article: Regina Transit bus fleet

Other Services

Regina Transit operates a charter bus service and a 26-fleet paratransit service for residents who cannot use the regular transit system.

External links

• Official Regina Transit website
• Regina Transit - Online Trip Planner
• Tom's North American Trolleybus Pix - Regina
• Bus photos
• More bus photos
• David A. Wyatt - Transit History of Regina