Proposals from the Grand River Transit (GRT) to reduce service to every 30 minutes on the 9, 13, 19, and 30 bus routes have raised concerns among the campus community that it will negatively affect riders and set a bad precedent for transit in the region.

The proposals are part of GRT’s 2026 budget proposal, which this year is meant to focus on affordability. The reductions are meant to “respond to decreased ridership, changes in travel patterns, and maintain GRT’s frequent transit network.”

Kathryn Froese, a fourth-year chemistry student, takes the 9 and 19 routes daily. She said the proposals to cut service on these routes came as a disappointment because of how busy the routes can get during rush hour, particularly the 19. Though the issue doesn’t happen every day, Froese expressed that it happens often enough to make cutting service “unrealistic.”

Matt West, a collections maintenance assistant for UW libraries, is legally blind and takes the 19 every day. West has similarly seen the bus become so full it had to leave people behind during rush hour, and pointed out that incoming developments along the routes will bring in thousands of new residents, some of whom will need to take public transit.

“That is so stupid of them to reduce the service now, especially when these apartments are getting built and we are expecting a population growth within this neighbourhood,” he said.

Jeff Casello, a professor in the school of planning, said via email that all GRT buses are equipped with automatic passenger counting technology which keeps track of the number of passengers getting on, getting off, and remaining on the bus for each stop. Though demand can increase during rush hour, it may only last for one or two buses.

“Cutting the bus routes directly affects the people who are most sensitive to this sort of thing,” Froese said, emphasizing the student impact the cuts would have by pointing out that the 19 travels along a route largely populated by students. She and West both hope to attend the public budget consultation happening on Dec. 3.

For West, the route reductions could cause personal economic impacts. He said depending on the timing of the bus, his partner, who relies on the bus to pick up their two children, may have to leave work earlier in order to arrive on time. According to West, the bus has “quite often” failed to show, leading to concerns that a 30-minute service could become a one-hour service.

Casello pointed out that the university area is generally “very well served by transit,” and that when reductions are decided on, transit planners consider whether there are transit alternatives to trips “that will be less attractive by transit.” While “marginal reductions in some routes may require students to change their travel patterns … for the most part, moving around the campus and in adjacent areas is still reasonably convenient.”

Froese worries that if service on these routes is successfully reduced, the GRT may introduce more reductions, making it harder for people like her brother, who uses a wheelchair and relies heavily on the bus system. “Theoretically, I could take a 40-minute walk to campus, and it would be possible, but it’s not so easy for everyone, especially as it gets closer to winter, … and this city is really terrible at dealing with sidewalks.”

West had a similar point of view, stating that his blindness and work on campus made his choice to live along the bus route for its convenience very intentional. “For anyone else who has a visual disability or a physical disability, [service reduction is] going to make it a lot harder for them to get around,” he said.

Rodney Chan, a third-year planning student, has launched a campaign against the proposed reductions to service on those routes, which has received hundreds of shares on Instagram and thousands of views on Reddit. Chan, a long-time transit advocate, has successfully fought against several previous proposals to reduce service, including on the 9 and 30. But he said he was surprised to see the proposals to reduce service on the 13 and 19, especially given how crowded the 19 can get.

“I kind of understand the position that GRT staff are in,” Chan said, citing property tax increases for 2025 which were originally slated to be 10.45 per cent, “and that does not look good.” The tax was eventually approved at 9.48 per cent. He said that because of the municipal election next year, Waterloo regional council is aiming for a lower increase in property tax, which “at best, means maintaining the current level of service.”

Casello said this year’s budget was particularly constrained because of previous inflation rates and competing demands for public services. “No one at GRT or the Region, I would suspect, is eager to reduce services for transit,” he said.

Chan attributed the choice to reduce these routes to a disconnect between the interests of students and more permanent residents, particularly from the perspective of the regional council. He said that though students can vote in municipal elections, “I think it’s often the people who live here, who own property, who have the most political power, that’s who council hears from the most. And that’s who council feels mostly elects them.
So getting students more involved in municipal and local politics is kind of a key piece to this.”

Though Chan hopes mobilizing students will block the route reductions, he acknowledged the difficulty in choosing to run the campaign at all because of its potential effects on planned service improvements, like extensions of the 14, 27, and 36 routes, if it is successful.

“It feels kind of like a lose-lose, like either we cut student services to students, or we don’t expand service to important places elsewhere. And I think the answer is to fully fund public transit and mobility, as a right,” he said.

Froese echoed this sentiment, stating that the transit system in Waterloo is one of the reasons she enjoys living in the city.