04-14-2021, 05:51 PM
(04-14-2021, 05:41 PM)Bytor Wrote: First is the some ridership metrics. More riders go through the Sportsworld corridor to Cambridge than through the Homer Watson corridor to Conestoga College.
I think you're missing the point about ridership following from where service is. More riders go through Sportsworld because it's currently the route all the bus services take. From Cambridge you can either go via Sportsworld, or take the 203 to 201 with a transfer at Conestoga College. The 203 doesn't serve nearly as many areas as the 302, so it's not really directly comparable. If we re-routed the 302 to take Homer Watson then passenger counts at Spotsworld would drop sharply.
I do actually think the Spotsworld routing likely makes more sense. A fast transit service between Kitchener and Cambridge serves a lot of need. Maybe the Homer Watson routing would make sense in a world where the Milton GO train got extended to Cambridge, and then up the tracks between the cities to Kitchener, creating a Milton-Kitchener line loop. That however isn't the world we live in (or will live in within the next few decades).
But the point about ridership at Sportsworld is valid. You have to look at the origin/destination pairs (of the whole trip, not just boardings). There's not a lot of trips that start or end at Sportsworld, so the ridership through there depends more heavily on where the service runs between the destinations people actually travel between.