New MiWay bus route takes to the road in Mississauga and Brampton
Published February 22, 2022 at 4:08 pm
A new bus route in Mississauga that will take riders from the north end of the city into Brampton–and back again–took to the streets on Monday (Feb. 21).
MiWay’s Route 18 McLaughlin-Derry provides more weekday service between north Mississauga and Brampton. It’s an alternative to Route 66 McLaughlin and will provide riders transferring to or from Route 42 Derry with more options to connect to MiWay and Brampton Transit, MiWay officials say.
Specifically, Route 18 will provide more service on McLaughlin Rd., north of Derry Rd., connecting the Sheridan College Davis Campus in Brampton and the Hurontario and Hwy. 407 Park and Ride.
“This new route will help reduce the potential for overcrowding on the Route 66 McLaughlin, in areas north of Derry Rd., where ridership now exceeds pre-pandemic levels,” MiWay officials say. “By providing a new alternative to the Route 66 McLaughlin, customers who are transferring to or from Route 42 Derry and Route 17 Hurontario will have more options to connect to MiWay and Brampton Transit service at Sheridan College and the Hurontario and Hwy. 407 Park and Ride.”
Also on Monday, service was restored in another busy area of the city as more bus drivers return to work after COVID-19-related absences.
Service on Routes 101/101A Dundas Express returned to provide more weekday service capacity along the busy Dundas St. corridor.
Videos
“All routes in the transit system continue to be monitored regularly so that service levels are responsive to customers’ needs,” Geoff Marinoff, the City of Mississauga’s transit director, said in an earlier news release. “MiWay continues to allocate service capacity where it’s needed and restore services that were temporarily suspended as our staffing levels continue to stabilize.”
Two weeks ago, a busy MiWay route serving Mississauga university students came back online after a temporary suspension of service.
At one point, about a month ago, some 16 per cent of MiWay drivers were off work due to COVID-19, City officials say. The absences forced officials with Mississauga’s transit provider to reshuffle service across the network.
With the number of absences starting to decrease about three weeks ago, and that trend continuing, MiWay brass has gradually restored bus service.
Other MiWay service changes taking effect this week include:
- more frequent service to match increased customer demand on Routes 2 Hurontario (weekdays during the afternoon/evening peak period) and 61 Mavis (weekdays during the late evening)
- weekday service frequency reductions to match decreased customer demand on routes 48 Erin Mills, 73 Kamato and 74 Explorer
- schedule adjustments will be made on several routes to improve service reliability
- MiWay will operate on a holiday schedule on Family Day and Good Friday, and some routes will not operate on these days due to low customer demand
INsauga's Editorial Standards and Policies