Saskatoon Transit (formerly Saskatoon Municipal Railway) is the public transport arm of the City of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. It operates a fleet of diesel buses. A total of 39 bus routes serve every area of the city, carrying approximately 11 million passengers in 2008.Saskatoon Transit Unveils New Smart Card System, Dec 2009. Saskatoon Transit is a member of the Canadian Urban Transit Association. The major bus terminal is located Downtown.
History Saskatoon Municipal Railway
Saskatoon Transit was initially known as the Saskatoon Municipal Railway (SMR). In 1912, a franchise was granted to a man named H. M. Evans to develop a street railway. No work on this was done and the city revoked Evans' franchise on May 15. Following this, the city consulted the Boston, Massachusetts, transit planning firm of Stone and Webster, which advised in a report that the future street railway should be municipally operated. The city government began work and by the end of the year, of track had been laid. Streetcar service began on January 1, 1913, using a roster of twelve cars built by the St. Louis Car Company. Despite near-blizzard conditions that day, the service launch was a success, with some 5200 passengers riding the cars. Over 3 million people rode the system in its first year.City of Saskatoon Archives. Significant Dates: A Saskatoon Chronology , 1999–2006. Lines and routes followed a radial pattern outward from a central loop which passed by both the Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway stations. The terminus of each line had a turning loop allowing cars to return. Initial fares were 5¢ for an adult ticket and 3¢ for a child. Packs were sold for 25¢ and contained 6 adult or 8 child tickets.
In its early years, the system changed fairly little. Before the end of the first year, the street railway negotiated a contract with the Amalgamated Association of Street and Electrical Railway Employees of America, Division Number 615. Unlike in cities like Hamilton, Ontario, or Saint John, New Brunswick (site of the 1914 Saint John street railway strike), the street railway did not have a notably turbulent labour history, with only a brief interruption in streetcar service during a coordinated sympathy strike organized by the Saskatoon Trades and Labour Council in support of the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919. The Trades and Labour Council also successfully protested the city council's attempt to raise streetcar fares to five cents in May 1914. The initial routes had a connection to the then-town of Sutherland, via Broadway Avenue and 8th Street; the Mayfair–University line was shorter, running only from 33rd Street and Avenue F to 12th Street and Lansdowne Avenue via the 19th Street Bridge. As well the Avenue H and 7th Avenue lines ran as separate routes, and 7th Avenue ended at Princess Street. Initially Avenue H ran only a single car, with two on the 2nd Avenue–7th Avenue line and four each on the longer two lines.
The municipal railway's streetcar roster changed considerably throughout its time operating. Streetcars were initially unheated, but in 1914 and 1915, they received coal and electric heaters. Six additional streetcars were added to the roster between 1914 and 1917. These consisted of three second-hand single-truck cars called "Carolinas", as well as three large double-truck cars built by either the Preston Car Company or the Ottawa Car Company. The double-truck cars, however, proved too heavy for use over the 19th Street Bridge. Rail historian Anthony Clegg stated in a 1964 article in Canadian Rail that in 1919, the three cars were exchanged with the Calgary Municipal Railway for five lighter cars; however, John Meikle argued in a supplemental to a later issue of Canadian Rail that the 1919 exchange was of six double-ended Preston-built cars for six Ottawa-built ones from Calgary, which were single-ended.
1920–21 was marked with debate over one-man versus two-man crews, with the railway ultimately opting for one-man crews in 1921. It experienced one of its most notable accidents not long afterward, in 1922, when a streetcar derailed near the 19th Street Bridge, coming to rest at the waterfront. No one was seriously injured. A major rolling stock renewal occurred between 1927 and 1930, when some older streetcars were retired and replaced with thirteen new double-truck cars built by National Steel Car of Hamilton and the Ottawa Car Company. It was during this period that bus services first began, as rented buses were used to supplement the streetcars.
+ Saskatoon Municipal Railway routes (1945): Route Description Mayfair–University (Red) From Avenue A & 33rd Street along Avenue F, across Broadway Bridge to the University at College Street & Bottomley Avenue Pleasant Hill–Exhibition (Green) From St. Paul's Hospital at Avenue P along 20th Street, across Broadway Bridge to 9th Street and down Lorne Avenue to the Exhibition grounds at Lorne & Ash St Avenue H–7th Avenue (White) From 11th Street & Avenue H to the 20th Street line, up Avenue A to 23rd Street then along 2nd Avenue to City Park, ending at 7th Avenue south of 33rd Street.
The first bus-only route began operating in 1931. It ran from Westmount to the armouries at 19th Street and 3rd Avenue. Great Depression-era infrastructure improvements led to a grade separation along 19th Street, benefitting 7th Avenue and Avenue H service; the 19th Street Subway opened on July 1, 1931. On July 21, 1933, streetcars shifted to the newly built Broadway Bridge, another Great Depression-era make-work project. The city's final significant investment in the streetcar system was in 1941, when five additional cars were purchased second-hand after being used on the London Street Railway in London, Ontario, which had switched to diesel bus operations in 1940. This proved a warning sign for the Saskatoon system, which by this point had contracted to three streetcar routes which were fed by secondary bus routes connecting them to outlying suburban areas. By 1945 Saskatoon Municipal Railway owned 41 passenger cars.
On December 12, 1946, a report was presented which proposed the total conversion of the system to exclusively use motorized buses and trolleybuses. A change in management in 1947 cemented the proposal. Conversion was gradual and done route-by-route. The 7th Avenue–Avenue H route was first converted to motor bus on October 1, 1947, before being converted to trolleybus service a year later, on November 28, 1948. Trolleybuses were introduced on the Pleasant Hill section of the Pleasant Hill–Exhibition route in September 1949. This came not long after an official name change to the Saskatoon Transit System, a name the municipal system would continue to use for decades afterward; this occurred on August 15, 1949. Use of the city's coat of arms on transit vehicles ended on July 14, 1950, when it was replaced with the plain letters "STS". Even so, streetcar operations continued for over a year, with trolleybuses and streetcars being used interchangeably along electrified parts of the system. The last recorded streetcar run was on November 10, 1951, after which most of the streetcars were scrapped. Three of the streetcars were preserved; one was returned to the United States, where it had originally operated, and two were retained for display at the Saskatchewan Railway Museum.
Saskatoon Transit System
Trolleybus service was itself discontinued in 1974.
The central transfer point for most bus routes has always been the block of 23rd Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues and the neighbouring corners on 2nd and 3rd Avenues. In 1984, this block was permanently closed to regular traffic and a "Transit Terminal" constructed, consisting of widened sidewalks, heated shelters, and angled curbs to provide three "bays" on each side of the block. The 23rd Street Transit Terminal was opened on November 2, 1984. This terminal area is perceived by many as unsafe, and most of the businesses along this block have relocated; however, Saskatoon Transit has made some recent improvements, including a constant security guard presence and a Customer Service Centre where tickets, passes and schedules may be obtained. The 2005 Strategic Plan Study recommended that major improvements be carried out to the downtown terminal, but by 2020, no changes had been made.
Although the official name is now Saskatoon Transit Services (as of 1998), it is generally known simply as Saskatoon Transit, which is what appears on their Web page, logo, and all their brochures.
The servicing garage was located in the Caswell Hill neighbourhood, on the north side of 24th Street between Avenues C and D; having expanded to a second facility across 24th Street in 1948.
2005 Strategic Plan Study
A comprehensive studyIBI Group. Saskatoon Transit Strategic Plan Study , Saskatoon Transit, October 2005. of Saskatoon Transit's service was undertaken in 2005, outlining many deficiencies and making many recommendations. Transit ridership had fallen from 12.4 million passengers in 1987 to 7.2 million passengers in 2005, while the city's population increased from 182,000 to 214,000. The conclusions of the study were summarised in a Short Term Plan and a Long Term Plan. Most of the recommendations of the Short Term Plan have been implemented, and the Long Term Plan is being carried out, subject of course to funding and other considerations.
The main recommendations of the Short Term Plan were to re-orient the current regular service network to better serve the University of Saskatchewan and other key destinations, to introduce higher-order "DART" service on four corridors interlined into two routes, and to construct a new bus terminal at Market Mall, as well as to make major improvements to the terminals downtown and at the university.
The routes in place prior to 2006 had not been substantially modified since the 1970s, and some since the 1950s, with the result that many neighbourhoods, particularly the newer suburbs, had poor service. Some areas such as Montgomery Place and Briarwood had no bus service at all on weekends. Many outlying neighbourhoods (e.g., Dundonald, Silverspring, Briarwood) had "stub routes" that deposited riders at a suburban mall transfer point, necessitating a transfer, and often two or three, to get anywhere in the city. Post-secondary institutions were under-served relative to the number of students using the buses; SIAST Kelsey Campus had only one major route serving it, so that trips to SIAST from most places in Saskatoon involved a transfer onto an overcrowded bus. Due to extreme congestion at the University of Saskatchewan, several routes bypassed the campus altogether, forcing students to cross College Drive on foot. Service to the airport was nonexistent, and service to industrial areas was extremely poor. Demand in these areas was also extremely low, at least in part due to the poor service.
The Market Mall terminal has been built, and a temporary terminal with car traffic prohibited has been built at the university, pending a longer-term solution. Work has yet to begin on improving or relocating the downtown terminal.
The Long Term Plan is a 10-year plan that focuses on the infrastructure needed to maintain the improvements to the system implemented in the Short Term Plan and expansion needed to keep up with the expected increases in ridership that the improvements will generate. Issues include staffing, fleet replacement, refurbishing older buses, maintenance, new technologies such as emissions reduction and "smart" fare collection. Critical items include: Rejuvenating the fleet. The industry standard is to replace buses on an 18-year cycle; by this standard, Saskatoon Transit's fleet is quite old. The plan recommends replacing 6 buses a year through 2010, and 7 buses a year for the remaining years of the plan, as well as expanding the fleet by 12 buses.