Saskatoon transit users are learning of a potential change to Link that could negatively impact the city’s $262 million transit overhaul. On Tuesday, administration presented an update to the city’s governance and priorities committee stating Link, the city’s upcoming bus rapid transit program, would need to be pushed back another year, to 2029. This will allow the city to complete construction downtown and phase in other improvements. “To position that Link is delivered as a complete, reliable and customer-focused transit system while continuing to provide residents with meaningful transit improvements every year leading up to launch,” Terry Schmidt, the city’s general manager of transportation and construction said during the meeting. One detail that didn’t come up in the meeting or appear in the report was a change residents have noticed at recent engagement sessions held by transit staff throughout the city. At these bus network redesign open houses, transit users have noticed the frequency for major lines has changed from 10 minutes to 15 minutes. “We were surprised at the 15-minute frequency,” Robert Clipperton, a representative of Bus Riders of Saskatoon, said. “I hope that’s a passing fancy because I think 10 minutes is the standard for rapid transit or less.” Since the BRT project was announced, 10-minute service has been one of the most constantly mentioned assets of the program, long before funding for the $262 million project was secured or approved by councillors. Clipperton worries the change could have greater implications for the entire transit network. “It just changes the whole aspect of reliability as an important factor,” he said. Mike Moellenbeck, the director of transit, said this latest round of engagement is to get feedback from residents. He said there are two options being presented: a coverage concept and a ridership concept. Moellenbeck said both will improve the system. The ridership concept features the 10-minute frequency model, the coverage concept uses the 15-minute model. According to the city’s BRT engagement page, coverage-focused networks focus on walk distance and individual trips, while ridership-focused networks focus on frequency and freedom of travel, and are designed to “maximize efficient and frequent service to higher ridership areas, even if other areas get reduced.” “Two very different concepts that use the same amount of service,” Moellenbeck said. Both have their tradeoffs. While 15-minute frequency would be a lower level of service on major Link lines, it would prevent the city from pulling drivers out of other routes to cover more buses moving on Link. “So what might have been a 20 or 15 minute frequent route in the local area, under the ridership model might then become a half an hour route,” he said. One key area the potential change could disrupt transit users is on a major route like 8th street, which currently has 10-minute service. One of the trade offs of constant 10-minute service was having riders transfer to other routes more often. Clipperton says if that service is reduced to 15 minutes, then the advantage of BRT is removed. When looking back at the number of changes that have taken place since the project first appeared before city council — such as reduced scope or reduced bus lanes — he hopes there’s still time to revert back to 10-minute service so BRT doesn’t become a nominal improvement over the current system. “We’re kind of networked a bit with other rider groups,” Clipperton said. “They said, ‘You’re gonna need to be careful that they come out with a plan for BRT and after they pare away at this and cut off that, you end up with B for bus, which was what you had to start with,’” he said. “We don’t want that to happen.” Despite using an additional $4.3 million in the 2026-2027 budget, the city expects another $9.2 million is needed in the next two-year budget cycle to fully launch Link. This marks the latest setback for one of the city’s most expensive projects to date. After a series of pandemic-related delays, the city pushed back the 2025 opening to 2026. After construction of platforms began across the city, administration pegged 2028 as an opening date prior to this latest announcement.
