Where did all the blue buses in Mississauga go?

Public transit riders in Mississauga have stepped on board the last of the blue-coloured MiWay buses as the city returns to an all-orange fleet.

A City of Mississauga spokesperson told INsauga.com on Friday all 498 buses in the MiWay fleet that travel the system’s 63 routes now don the familiar orange markings that’ve been seen on the streets of Canada’s seventh-largest city for more than 50 years.

Some 200-plus (and growing) of the Mississauga transit provider’s buses are hybrid electric vehicles while the rest — for now — are clean diesel buses.

“MiWay staff in the body shop have completely transformed the 498 buses in the fleet by painting them the new MiWay orange,” the spokesperson said in an email. “The final 92 buses were painted in the past year, bringing the multiyear project to a close. The fresh look is more vibrant and visible on the roads, and now all the buses look cohesive.”

The last 10 of the blue buses were repainted in the past five or six weeks as the city completed a visible return to its public transit roots.

Orange has been the colour of choice on city buses since Mississauga Transit (rebranded MiWay in 2010) came into service more than 50 years ago in November 1973. At some point along the way, the local transit authority added blue buses to its fleet and by late 2023, 92 of them were picking up and dropping off MiWay’s growing number of passengers across the city.

Now, some 18 months since deciding to drop the blue buses, MiWay has finished the $120,000 job — and well ahead of schedule. Officials initially said the task would be completed by the end of this year or early in 2026.

Transit riders in Mississauga will no longer be riding blue MiWay buses.

The move is about more than simply returning to the transit provider’s roots, city officials said. They noted in an earlier report presented to city council that the single colour “makes it easier for customers to identify MiWay buses at shared stops and provide consistency.”

In addition, it will help MiWay prepare to integrate its network with future transit services such as the Hazel McCallion Line (light-rail transit route between Mississauga and Brampton scheduled to open in 2026 or the following year), officials said.

As MiWay has phased out the blue buses, it has also introduced more orange hybrid electric passenger vehicles to its fleet, the city added.

MiWay’s nearly 500 buses are now all orange once again. In its earlier years, Mississauga’s transit service ran only orange-coloured buses as well. (Photos: City of Mississauga)