Performance measures

 GRT tracks ridership on a regular basis. If a rider takes two buses to get to their destination, this counts as one revenue ride. 

Ridership (in millions)

Since fall 2017, GRT's system ridership has been increasing compared to the previous year as bus routes have returned to regular routing after ION-related construction wraps up. Recent service improvements have also contributed to the ridership increase. These include increasing service frequency on the 201 and 202 iXpress, and on routes serving Conestoga College. We expect ridership to continue to grow as we implement GRT’s New Directions plan to develop a better, faster transit network centred on ION.

 A GRT bus is considered on-time if it departs a scheduled timepoint no more than 3 minutes late. 

GRT's on-time performance is affected by construction on roads around Waterloo Region. On-time performance improves as detours end and buses return to regular routing.

A crowded bus negatively affects the comfort and safety of passengers. It could also result in the bypassing of customers waiting at bus stops.

A bus is identified as overcrowded when it is carrying:

• More than 45 passengers during weekday peak periods; or
• More than seated capacity (36 passengers) during midday, evenings or weekends.
  

Routes are regularly monitored to identify bus trips that are consistently overcrowded. Subject to availability of staff, buses and budget, GRT responds to overcrowding by adding bus trips during busy hours. Long-term measures include increasing service frequency for overcrowded routes.

Top 10 overcrowded routes and percentage of trips which are overcrowded:

GRT provides approximately 60,000-68,000 scheduled service hours per month. Service delivery is measured by the percentage of scheduled service hours that are operated. Missed service can occur due to traffic, weather, mechanical breakdowns, collisions and the lack of resources assigned to a route. As a result customers are negatively impacted by longer wait times and missed transfers.

• In August 2018, 99.76% of services were delivered as scheduled.
• In September 2018, 99.82% of services were delivered as scheduled.

GRT continually evaluates service disruptions and the resulting service impacts and takes action to minimize the disruptions. Short and long term measures such as responding to on-street incidents and implementing service adjustments, modifying preventative maintenance and training programs and maximizing staffing resources are implemented to minimize disruptions and improve service delivery.

A number of GRT's traveller information systems give predicted real-time departure information for buses so riders have a better idea of when their bus will be leaving their stop.

While GRT expects most predictions to be reasonably accurate,  the technology is complex and relies on multiple systems, on and off the bus to work together. Because of this complexity, riders may occasionally receive inaccurate  information when one system fails to communicate with the others.

Each bus route has series of bus stops, usually at major intersections or landmarks, that are identified as timepoints on its schedule. For example, "King at University" is one of thirteen timepoints identified on the Route 7 public timetable. Bus operators drive to the scheduled time at these timepoints.

In addition, every bus stop between timepoints has a time associated to it but these times are subject to some variability so customers are asked to be at stops 5 minutes early.

Weather or detours can affect the on-time performance of buses. In a snow storm, buses will typically run later than scheduled which will be reflected in the calculation of schedule adherence.

If a detour is known about in advance and will last for a significant length of time (such as a month or longer road construction project), GRT staff will take this into account and, when possible, adjust the schedule for the affected route(s). On-time performance is based on the adjusted schedules. In contrast, the schedule for a route is not adjusted for detours that occur with little advance notice or are only in effect for a short time. Examples of events that cause short-term detours include a water main break, traffic accident or minor road repair. For these short-term detours, a bus is recorded as running late.