• For 2025, York Region Transit (YRT) plans to explore increasing service hours for Stouffville’s On-Request program and adding new connections to the Old Elm GO station.
  • YRT will also look to implement On-Request Vandorf, connecting the employment area with the Preston Lake community and Bloomington GO station.
  • Stouffville’s ridership has grown 26% over the past year, outpacing overall growth across YRT’s system.
  • In 2024, YRT improved Route 9 bus service and introduced On-Request Gormley.
  • Tamas Hertel, YRT’s Manager of Service Planning, presented the agency’s 2025 Transit Initiatives for Stouffville during the October 2, 2024, Council meeting.

 

“A key component of this Annual Plan was the stakeholder and public consultation process that we went through in the spring,” Hertel told Stouffville’s Council. “Over the summer, Staff refined our initiatives, and now we’re presenting to local councils before submitting the final Annual Plan to Regional Council for operating budget approval in November.”

That consultation included discussions with transit riders, Town Staff and Council Members, school boards, nearby transit agencies, and local businesses. YRT planning representatives also met with residents during summer events and at two open houses held at the Stouffville Library and the Stouffville GO station.

Public feedback helped spur the newly proposed On-Request Vandorf program. New On-Request connections between Stouffville and Aurora, Oak Ridges, and King were also proposed, but there are no plans to implement them in 2025.

Participants also called for increased bus frequency and weekend service throughout Stouffville, but YRT will not expand Route 9 as part of its 2025 initiatives. The route was restructured to provide two-way service late this summer, marking a significant change from the previous one-way loop.

Hertel also noted a slight improvement in Route 9’s frequency. Before 2024’s changes, a midday bus arrived at a station every 52 minutes. The average wait time has since been reduced to 48 minutes.

Other service expansions in 2024 included the new St. Katharine Drexel School Special, which has seen “fantastic ridership,” according to Hertel. Advocacy from Councillor Hugo Kroon also helped deliver On-Request Gormley in April, which connects the industrial area to the Gormley GO station, Leslie Street, and Woodbine Avenue.

While ridership for On-Request Gormley has lagged compared to Stouffville’s other transit options, Hertel said local ridership overall is exceeding pre-pandemic levels. Use of Stouffville’s On-Request services and local bus routes grew by 26% over the past year, outpacing growth across YRT’s system.

“New services always take a little while to reach the public,” Kroon said in reference to the lower use of On-Request Gormley. “Stick with it and people probably get used to it, businesses becomes dependent on it, the ridership increases.”

Following Hertel’s presentation, Councillor Sue Sherban pressed him on why further improvements to Route 9 are not planned for 2025, despite public demand for more service.

Hertel cited the recent enhancements and said YRT wants to gauge rider response before making additional changes. “If we need to do anything else, add more, or change things up…we can put that into 2026,” he said.

Sherban praised the ridership growth and highlighted the success of Stouffville’s School Special bus routes. “We’re creating a bus following,” she said. “[Students] are becoming very friendly to using a bus, feeling comfortable using a bus, and I think this is where we are doing ourselves a disservice.”

In her view, students who become regular YRT riders through School Special routes struggle when they look for transit access to jobs, shopping, and activities. This can result in a return to reliance on private vehicles and subsequent loss of ridership.

“We’re losing momentum,” Sherban said. “[YRT is] doing a great job with the schools, we’re building this knowledge base of how to ride a bus, get on a bus, get off a bus, and feel safe, and then all of a sudden, boom: they are cut off at the ankles.”

She asked Hertel to keep these concerns in mind when considering justification for future service expansion: “It’s not because, ‘Oh, there isn’t enough ridership yet,’ it’s because those who would use it need greater frequency, later access, or weekend service and can’t use it.”