Community invited to help shape the future of transit service in Guelph

Guelph, ON, November 9, 2026 – Guelph Transit is inviting residents to share feedback on proposed updates to the Future Ready Action Plan from November 9-27.

The Guelph Transit Future Ready Action Plan was created to support the delivery of a more robust, convenient, and reliable transit system over the next ten years. Now at the halfway point of the plan, Guelph Transit is reviewing progress made over the past five years and evaluating how service delivery should evolve to meet the needs of the community.

Earlier this year, Guelph Transit gathered feedback from the public and community groups, compiled service data, and conducted research on conventional, mobility and on-demand transit services. That work has informed a series of proposed service changes designed to improve reliability, increase frequency, strengthen connections across the city and enhance accessibility.

We are now bringing these proposed changes back to the community for feedback before Council approves the changes.

“Community feedback has played an important role in shaping these proposed updates,” said Glenn Marcus, General Manager at Guelph Transit. “We are encouraging residents to review our recommendations and tell us if we’re on the right track. Whether you’re a daily rider, occasional user or someone who doesn’t currently use transit, we want to hear from you.”

Beginning November 9, residents can provide feedback on proposed changes related to:

Conventional transit network design
Sunday, Civic Holiday and Boxing Day service
Statutory holiday service
On-demand transit service
Mobility Services

Feedback received during this engagement period will help refine the proposed service changes before recommendations are presented to Council.

Highlights of proposed changes

Conventional service

Key themes from community feedback:

Increase service frequency (have buses come more often)
Increase schedule reliability (buses arrive on time)
More grid-like, cross-town service (less need to transfer at terminals or hubs)
Faster and more convenient transit travel

The proposed transit network would introduce new routes, more high-frequency options, increased connections, and improved service levels for Sunday and statutory holidays. This includes:

10 high-frequency routes
17 base routes
6 university routes

Sunday, Civic Holiday and Boxing Day Service

We heard that riders would rather have regular bus service that runs for longer hours on Sundays, Civic Holiday, and Boxing Day instead of the current On-demand service.

Under the proposal, all regular transit routes, except university routes, would operate from 7:15 a.m. to 10:15 p.m. on Sundays, Civic Holiday (August) and Boxing Day (December).

Residents also told Guelph Transit they would rather have regular hourly bus routes instead of On-demand service.

Under the proposal, on statutory holidays, all regular transit routes, except university routes, would operate on an hourly schedule between 9:15 a.m. and 6:45 p.m.

Statutory holidays include: New Year’s Day (January), Family Day (February), Good Friday (March or April), Victoria Day (May), Labour Day (September), Thanksgiving (October), Christmas Day (December).

On-demand service

We heard from riders that the current On-demand service isn’t working.

The proposed changes would shift to a new First-Last Mile model operating seven days a week during all conventional and mobility service hours. The service would help connect riders between their origin or destination and the nearest fixed-route transit service when the distance exceeds 400 metres.

Mobility service

Proposed mobility service improvements include:

Reducing advance booking requirements from seven days to three days
Increasing vehicles and service capacity to better meet demand
Maintaining existing service hours

The proposed changes respond to concerns about trip availability, last-minute cancellations and booking flexibility.

How to participate

Residents can learn more about the proposed changes and provide feedback on the Have Your Say project page.

The page includes a survey and an interactive network design route map, where residents can explore proposed routes, travel times, and leave comments.

The Guelph Transit team will be hosting opportunities for engagement virtually and in person on a drop-in basis. More details and locations can be found on Have Your Say.