Celebrating 50 years of Oakville Transit!

This week, the Town of Oakville marks a significant milestone with the commemoration of Oakville Transit’s 50th anniversary.

Following an external study commissioned by the town and approval from Council, Oakville Transit was officially established on September 5, 1972. Service was introduced with 10 new buses, five routes across town with a 20-minute schedule frequency, with 300 bus stops and 31 drivers.

Oakville Transit’s initial service focused on a downtown terminal at Church and Dunn Streets, then moved to emphasize service to the Oakville GO Station. While Oakville Transit initially operated solely within the Town of Oakville, service to our neighbouring communities expanded over the decades.

Today, Oakville Transit serves four GO Stations, two GO bus terminals and makes connections to Burlington and Mississauga with eight bus routes. Oakville Transit’s current fleet includes 101 conventional buses and 23 specialized transit buses, 22 local routes and eight school specials, with 1,137 bus stops. Oakville Transit had over 4 million boardings in 2019.

Service is provided by Oakville Transit’s 220 employees, including 150 bus operators, who operate out of a state-of-the-art transit facility located on Wyecroft Road.

Other notable accomplishments and features of Oakville Transit include:

• Oakville Transit’s door-to-door transportation service called care-A-van (specialized transit) for persons with disabilities was launched in 1980
• Construction of the Uptown Core Terminal in 2008 and the construction of an on-campus bus loop at Sheridan College in 2009
• Six grid routes were implemented in 2009, a major change to transit service, allowing for more direct east-west and north-south travel on major cross-town streets, and all-day service to the Bronte GO station was introduced. Today, five remaining grid routes still play an important part of Oakville Transit’s network.
• Introduction of the PRESTO fare card in 2010, allowing customers to travel with ease between Oakville and other transit agencies across the GTHA
• Opening of a modern, 265,000 square-foot Silver LEED-certified transit operations facility in 2011, located on Wyecroft Road
• Home to Hub launched in 2015 for Oakville neighbourhoods north of Dundas Street, expanding to Southeast Oakville in 2017
• Introduction of an intelligent transportation system and control centre, with pre-board announcements, on-board stop announcements (visual and auditory), and real-time bus tracking in 2016
• Fully accessible bus fleet, featuring low floor ramps on all buses
• Bike racks on all conventional buses
• Free public Wi-Fi on all buses beginning in September 2022
• Introduction of battery electric buses was announced in 2019 and plans include the acquisition of more than 60 replacement and expansion buses by 2026, and all-electric fleet by 2035

For more information on transit schedules, routes and services, visit oakvilletransit.ca.