September is on the calendar and that means that summer is ending and classes at secondary and post-secondary schools are starting. And, people are returning to workplaces after the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to work from home — or not work at all.

All of the transit agencies in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area are making changes to their services over the next few days — some of them, including the TTC and York Region Transit, are making fairly extensive changes. That requires us at Transit Toronto to put together a lot of information during a short time.

We’ve decided to temporarily publish only highlights of the changes so that readers can receive information while it’s still timely. Shortly afterward, we will fill in the details for each post so you can get our usual extensive look at the various changes the agencies are making.

Starting Labour Day, Monday, September 5, MiWay is revising its services by:

• adjusting service levels in the transit network to match growing ridership demand along key corridors;
• resuming regular service to post-secondary and high schools, as students return to class; and
• allocating blue buses on two local (non-express) routes to help redistribute resources and improve service reliability.

Also, starting Tuesday, September 6, MiWay passengers can connect with Milton Transit buses directly at Lisgar GO Station. MT is introducing its new 21 Steeles route between Milton and Lisgar GO stations that day. MiWay passengers can also connect to Milton Transit at stops on Argentia Road.

If you are transferring from Milton Transit to MiWay:

• Show the MiWay transit drivers your Milton Transit paper transfer. MiWay will accept Milton Transit paper transfers and will honour the 2-hour transfer window. MiWay drivers won’t issue a paper transfer.

If you are transferring from MiWay to Milton Transit:

• Show the Milton Transit drivers your PRESTO card and tell them that you are transferring from MiWay. The Milton Transit drivers will provide you with a paper transfer.

Service increases due to high demand

MiWay is increasing service along some routes to respond to ridership growth and provide more capacity where and when passengers need it. These routes include:

• 35 Eglinton (Mondays to Fridays);
• 42 Derry (Saturdays, Sundays and holidays);
• 61 Mavis (Saturdays, Sundays and holidays);
• 66 McLaughlin (Mondays to Fridays); and
• 107 Malton express (Mondays to Fridays).

Service at the University of Toronto’s Mississauga campus

Buses along this route again operate to and from the campus:

• 101 / 101A Dundas express.

Service at Humber College’s North campus

Buses along this route again operate to and from the campus:

• 107 Malton express.

Blue buses operate along two local routes

MiWay is allocating blue MiExpress buses to two MiLocal routes every day, it says, “to deliver a consistent [passenger] experience”, as it reassigns orange 12-metre (40-foot) and 18-metre (60-foot) buses “to busier routes to support service reliability and address overcrowding.” The routes are:

• 11 Westwood; and
• 66 McLaughlin.

Service reductions due to lower demand

MiWay says it’s reducing service along several routes where passenger demand and ridership is consistently low. It identified these reductions comprehensively reviewing ridership across the MiWay network. It will reinvest the resources it saves from these reductions elsewhere in the network to address overcrowding and increase capacity, where necessary. The routes are:

• 4 Sherway Gardens (Mondays to Fridays);
• 28 Confederation (Mondays to Fridays);
• 29 Park Royal - Homelands (Mondays to Fridays and Saturdays);
• 36 Colonial - Ridgeway (Mondays to Fridays and Saturdays); and
• 76 City Centre - Subway (Mondays to Fridays).

Service to high schools

MiWay is resuming its 300-series of high-school special routes. However, it’s cancelling the afternoon trip along the 304 Father Goetz-Mississauga Valley high-school special route and all service along the 335 Glenforest South high-school special route “due to low demand”. High-school special routes are:

• 302 Philip Pocock - Bloor West;
• 304 Father Goetz - Mississauga Valley;
• 313 Streetsville Secondary - Meadowvale;
• 314 Rick Hansen - Creditview;
• 315 Rick Hansen - City Centre; and
• 321 Stephen Lewis - St. Joan of Arc.