Saskatoon Transit

Customer Services Centre at 23d Street transit terminal

23d Street transit terminal, looking toward Third Avenue

23d Street terminal, looking toward Second Avenue

Interior view of a typical bus in August 2014

A comprehensive study[4] 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.
• New transit garage. The current transit garage is too small for the fleet and surrounded by residential properties that make it undesirable if not impossible to expand the facility. A satellite facility or entirely new facility in a different location, probably an industrial park, is recommended within the next 5 years.
• More bus shelters. The plan recommends a target number of 215 bus shelters (30% of stops), or 22 per year over the course of the plan, up from 3 or 4 per year that are currently installed.
• Fare technology. A review of fare collection options, and in particular smart card technology, should be undertaken within a year.
• Transit-oriented development. Work with urban planners to design neighbourhoods that work with public transit and discourage use of private vehicles.
• Signal priority and queue-jump lanes. Allow buses to avoid congestion by "turning the lights green" for them, and providing bus-only lanes where needed, for instance at the approaches to University Bridge.

New design bus shelter

After failing to arrive at a mutual agreement upon a new contract (which bus drivers have not had since 2012), the City of Saskatoon locked out the bus drivers while negotiations continued.

University of Saskatchewan undergraduate students pay a mandatory U-PASS fee (currently $69.50 per term) for a universal transit pass, in the form of a validation sticker on their student card. Students living in on-campus residences and others with special circumstances may apply for an exemption.

Other post-secondary students may purchase a 4-month semester pass at a slightly reduced price compared to the adult monthly pass.

Effective February 2010, Saskatoon Transit has upgraded its fare system to use a smart card system called Go-Pass. The card has replaced tickets, day passes and monthly passes, respectively with a refillable fare card and unlimited-fare cards that expire after a day or month. The system cost Saskatoon Transit $2.9 million. The system's roll-out date was delayed to February 2010 in order to avoid problems with the new system during the 2010 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.

Smart cards have been adopted to limit fraud—such as forged monthly passes and short-changed fares—and to reduce the potential for conflict between driver and passenger. Rather than showing the card to the driver, the card is swiped across the reader and may remain inside a wallet. Transfers are barcoded and scanned when a passenger boards. The new fare boxes do not accept bills, but coins are accepted and the values displayed to both rider and driver.

Downtown transit terminal in Saskatoon

The names next to each route number are displayed on the front of each bus.

• 101 University Direct
• 102 University Direct
• 1 Exhibition – City Centre
• 2/10 Meadowgreen – City Centre
• 3 Hudson Bay Park – City Centre
• 4/43 City Centre – Evergreen
• 4/44 City Centre - Willowgrove
• 4/45 City Centre - Arbor Creek
• 5 McCormack – City Centre
• 6 Broadway
• 6 Market Mall
• 7 Dundonald – City Centre
• 8/81 Centre Mall – University
• 8/82 Centre Mall - University
• 8/83 Stonebridge - City Centre
• 8/84 Centre Mall - Briarwood
• 8/86 Centre Mall - Rosewood
• 82 U of S
• 9 Riversdale – City Centre
• 11 Airport - City Centre
• 12 River Heights – City Centre
• 13 Lawson Heights – Broadway
• 13 U of S
• 14 North Industrial
• 15 Civic Operations Centre
• 16 Stonebridge - University
• 17 U of S
• 18 College Park – University
• 19 Centre Mall – City Centre
• 20 South Industrial – City Centre
• 21 University
• 22 City Centre - Confederation
• 25 SaskTel Centre
• 26 Forest Grove - University
• 26 U of S
• 27 Silverspring - University
• 30 Lawson Heights - City Centre
• 35 Silverwood Heights - City Centre
• 50 Lakeview - University
• 53/82 U of S
• 55 Lakeridge - University
• 60 Confederation – University
• 61 Blairmore - University
• 62 Montgomery - University
• 63 Hampton Village - University
• 64 Kensington - University

After waiting in queue for months, the city of Saskatoon will partner with Google Transit to provide an online mapping website. This interface will take the routes and city schedules currently available and google maps will then calculate for the website viewer the optimal connection for transport between two addresses and the time to be at the designated bus stop for bus service.[5][6]

DART is Saskatoon Transit's planned bus rapid transit service. The four DART routes will interline in the central sections to form two corridors with extremely frequent service. Along this portion of their routes, bus stops will be widely spaced to increase speed, and there will be "express" sections on each route with no stops for over a kilometre. The interlined routes 50/60 will run from Confederation Mall to The Centre via downtown and the University of Saskatchewan, and routes 70/80 will run from The Mall at Lawson Heights to the University Heights Suburban Centre via SIAST Kelsey Campus, downtown and the University. The routes will continue past these points, each serving a residential loop at either end (a total of 8 loops). Low floor buses will be used on the DART routes. Some of these buses will be air-conditioned and all will have bicycle racks on the front. Construction is planned to begin 2022.[7]

There are 46 bus routes serving Saskatoon, 32 of which are full service.[8] About a third of the buses serving the city are now low-floor. Most have a blue livery. Many routes meet at the downtown terminal (except 13, 17, 21, and 25, all of which serve the University Terminal.) As well as full service routes there are also peak only routes. Some only operate in one direction at a time, either towards the downtown or the University in the morning, or towards their respective terminals in the afternoon. Others run both directions, but hourly during the peak hours only.

Some buses change their route number at their terminals, which is also known as a "stay-in-seat transfer" because the passengers do not have to leave the bus when it changes to the different route. The list of these "transfers" is as follows:

• 1 Exhibition becomes 7 Dundonald at Downtown Terminal
• 9 Riversdale becomes 3 Hudson Bay Park at Downtown Terminal
• 3 Hudson Bay Park becomes 9 Riversdale at Downtown Terminal
• 7 Dundonald becomes 1 Exhibition at Downtown Terminal
• 12 River Heights becomes 19 Centre Mall via Lorne Avenue at Downtown Terminal
• 19 City Centre via Market Mall becomes 12 River Heights at Downtown Terminal
• 5 McCormack becomes 15 Civic Operations Centre at Downtown Terminal
• 15 Civic Operations Centre becomes either 10 Pleasant Hill or 5 McCormack (every 15 mins alternately)
• 18 College Park becomes 55 Lakeridge at Place Riel
• 55 Lakeridge becomes 18 College Park at Place Riel
• 50 Lakeview becomes 17 Stonebridge at Place Riel (ONLY DURING PEAK HOURS)
• 86 Rosewood becomes 84 Briarwood at Centre Mall Terminal. 84 Briarwood completes one full ride from Centre Mall then becomes 8 City Centre again
• 60 Confederation becomes 63 Hampton Village at Place Riel
• 63 Hampton Village becomes 65 Kensington at Place Riel
• 65 Kensington becomes 60 Confederation at Place Riel
• (On weekends and holidays only): Route 65/63 approach Confederation Terminal, then ride through Kensington, Confederation, Hampton Village, Blairmore areas before coming back to Confederation Terminal and ride back to Downtown.

Saskatoon Transit operates special morning and afternoon service to many of the city's schools, and also serves events at SaskTel Centre. Buses are also available for charter trips within 40 km of the city centre. Special routes which are available to the general public have route numbers in the 300-series, with route 399 being the SaskTel Centre special from the downtown terminal. SaskTel Centre sometimes offers charter service from locations other than the downtown, but because these are charter services which regular fare, passes and transfers do not apply, these do not have route numbers.

Access Transit is a shared-ride door-to-door service for people who are unable to use regular transit services. Passengers are required to register in the system and book their trips in advance, either on a per-trip basis or as a regularly scheduled "subscription trip". Fares and payment are the same as for regular transit service. Access Transit in Saskatoon has been used as a model for other cities in Canada and the United States.