A city evaluation committee has selected WSP Canada Inc. of Thornhill, Ont. to conduct a review of Sault Transit operations.
WSP was one of eight firms that responded to a request for proposals.
It proposed to do the job for $159,421.
City council is expected to award the contract to WSP at a meeting on Monday.
Other companies that submitted proposals were:
- Arcadis Professional Services (Canada) Inc., Toronto
- CIMA Canada Inc., Mississauga
- ConceptDash Inc., Toronto
- HDR Corporation, Richmond Hill
- Steer Davies Gleave, Vancouver
- Via Transportation, Inc., New York
- Watt Consulting Group, Calgary
One major focus of the review is expected to be whether to retain the existing downtown bus terminal on Dennis Street or relocate to the Huron Street bus bay.
Other focus areas will include:
- ridership capacity constraints where the number of riders exceeded available bus seats at tines
- ridership utilization per route and best strategies to service
- length of trips and recommended changes to optimize
- transfer point review
- review of on-demand service
- review of service hours
- bus stop usage, consideration of traffic congestion and/or future road construction
- impact of newcomers to the community who are heavily utilizing transit services
- post-secondary institutions (U-Pass Algoma University)
- expansion of high school partnerships – “Pass to Knowledge Program”
- Social Equity Transit pass
Monday's city council meeting will be live-streamed on SooToday starting at 5 p.m.