As city grows, St. Thomas looking for feedback on current transit system

The City of St. Thomas is conducting a transit plan for growth. CTV London's Brent Lale reports.

It’s a pivotal stage of growth in the city of St. Thomas, Ont.

“The city continues to grow in population and in the number of streets and new subdivisions,” said Joe Preston, St. Thomas’ mayor. “That means we have to do a new master plan to look forward as to what transit looks like in St. Thomas. As we add PowerCo and Vianode and some of the other larger industries, we’ve got to make sure we’re getting those thousands of people to new jobs.”

With the population projected to double to nearly 80,000 by 2050, the city is looking for feedback with a survey on how the transit system can evolve.

“I think for the longer routes, they could have maybe two buses, for the shorter routes maybe one,” said Ace Morningstar, a transit rider.

“The only thing that sort of sucks about it is taking a half hour to an hour to ride,” said George Ball, who was boarding the bus at the transit hub.

“As somebody who doesn’t drive because I have epilepsy, it’s nice to have the buses, but I can’t depend on them,” added Jessica Wachter.

It’s that type of feedback the City of St. Thomas, along with Dillon Consulting, have been collecting over the past week.

“What are we already doing right?” said Preston. “What transit do we need to continue? What are some of the things you might suggest in the future? Some of them are very futuristic, fantastic input from our citizens. We also have a map of where are you going? Where do you use our transit system?”

This survey will look for public engagement, network redesign, regional connections, fleet electrification and a technology and fare strategy.

The city outlined some things that could change.

• Support a growing economy by expanding service hours and geographic reach to underserved industrial lands.
• Address new residential demand in growing areas on the city’s west side.
• Realign transit routes to provide more direct service to key destinations in the city.
• Explore opportunities to connect to the broader region, including London.
• Provide affordable and sustainable mobility for low-income residents, seniors, and students.
• Identify next steps to transition to a zero-emission bus fleet.

When Preston first ran for mayor eight years ago, the city did not have service on Sundays or even buses past 6 p.m.

Over his two terms in office, they have increased hours, added an app for service and even a regional connection.

“We’ve added transit back and forth to London and we want to continue to add to that,” said Preston. “We think there’s some other places we need to go, whether it’s St. Thomas to Port Stanley or St. Thomas to Aylmer. But it is far better to listen to the people who use the system than it is for us to sit up at city hall and pretend we know.”

During the project, the city says it will host focus groups with transit operators, students, seniors and accessibility advocates.

They will be providing more engagement opportunities throughout 2026.