(05-05-2015, 10:32 AM)Drake Wrote: I don't ride the bus very often, but I did take an iXpress from uptown (in front of RBC) to the Conestoga mall and was surprised to learn it had a milk run through the university and Albert McCormick area of Waterloo. The reality was the 7C would have been faster and more direct without the moniker 'express'.
Again, as a noob who does not carefully study the bus routes, it was my expectation that two buses leaving the same stop ending at the same destination the one named express would arrive first. I was surprised I was wrong in that assumption and that is why I asked the question.
It's a fair point: iXpress between Conestoga Mall and Uptown is at least 5 minutes slower than the 7C. It loses time in the detour (though it's hardly a milk run: a huge proportion of its ridership uses stops on this leg) and also in boarding time, because of the huge passenger turnover at UW and WLU.
The "iXpress" brand suggesting "express" is a bit of a misnomer, in my opinion. It's not an express. It's a limited-stop route. And even then, the 200 iXpress has wider stop spacings (even after a couple infill stops) than the other iXpresses which serve corridors without complimentary "local" routes. Again, not really "express".
Do we need an express? I've had arguments with a coworker about why we're putting LRT down the middle of town, for instance, when we can run buses from Conestoga to Fairview Park mall via the highway. It's an extreme example of an "express": maybe you could come up with something with a few more stops that is still a little faster than the 200.
The good news is: ION looks like it should save a LOT of time on the Conestoga to Uptown trip. The amount of time lost on the windy turns through the tech park and Ring Road, on boarding time, and on taking University to King and crawling down King should all disappear. And if news about the train being able to get up to 70km/h along the spur are true, ION ought to beat 7C to Uptown, while also serving the major destinations in between.