Overcrowding reported on Mississauga buses as ridership increases

A photo of a Mississauga bus packed with passengers prompted a discussion on the need for improved MiWay service.

The post on Reddit last week shows the Route 35 Eglinton Avenue West bus full of riders at 7 a.m. The bus route runs from Churchill Meadows to Kipling TTC Station.

“This seems to be the case for a lot of the MiWay routes,” the poster writes. “Only thing I’m wondering is anything happening to fix this? More drivers to move people maybe because I think when you’re paying nearly 5 dollars for a bus ticket one way you deserve to not feel congested and unsafe.”

The rider suggests the City of Mississauga needs to improve the transit system.

While several people said this is what rush hour looks like on many transit systems, others suggested the city could make improvements.

“Not all the time, not all the lines… But MiWay can do better for sure… Like not to make buses 30 minutes apart to begin with, this is a disaster,” one person wrote. “Buses should be not more than 15 min apart.”

“Transit has been continually defunded over the years. You don’t grow Transit by minimizing service. And overcrowding buses,” another wrote.

The City of Mississauga appears to be aware of the issue.

MiWay riders have returned and ridership has surpassed 2019 levels (pre-COVID-19), which is putting pressure on our current network capacity, a City of Mississauga spokesperson tells insauga.com.

Route 35 is one of six routes that encounter overcrowding most frequently, the spokesperson says. The other routes are 61, 18, 2, 51 and 57.

The city actively reallocates resources and adjusts routes and frequencies to strive to keep to reliable schedules, the spokesperson adds.

“Our team continually monitors rider travel patterns and works to minimize overcrowding as much as possible.”

Last summer, larger, 60-foot articulated buses were added to help ease overcrowding on some routes.