More and more people in Riverview are taking the bus.
A study by Arcadis Professional Services in Toronto found the average monthly ridership in 2024 was 9800, compared to 7600 per month the year prior.
“Riverview is experiencing some of the highest rates of growth, and it’s in this environment that the town is elected to assess transit services with an eye to better understanding where riders are coming from and where they’re going, assessing the overall performance of transit as a town-wide service and recommending how transit might change in the future to support continued increases in ridership,” Arcadis Spokesperson David Forsey told Town Councillors.
The study also found that transit ridership has now completely recovered from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and now exceeds 2019 levels.
It made several recommendations to Riverview Town Council, including hiring a Transportation Coordinator in 2025 to partly dedicate their time to monitoring and administering transit services in Riverview.
“The town should purchase two additional busses in 2025 to ensure sufficient operational resilience to provide reliable service, and the town should begin constructing new concrete bus pads and installing bus shelters at high ridership stops,” Forsey suggested.
In the Riverview budget for 2025, the town has already taken the first steps and purchased a third bus. An additional purchase of two more would bring the total number of buses to five in Riverview.
Two additional buses would cost 1.8 million dollars, and they would be operational as soon as 2026.
The review conducted by Arcadis consisted of several components including a technical review of the four routes in operation, and town-wide ridership data. It also looked at identifying infrastructure improvements to help the town prioritize the experience of pedestrians and those accessing transit on foot.
Forsey also told Town Councillors the study recommended expanding services in 2026 with three routes that would connect Riverview to Downtown Moncton.
Those three routes would operate seven days a week from 5 am to 11 pm, on Saturdays from 6 am to 9 pm and on Sundays from 10 am to 6 pm.
It also suggested offering a taxi service to transport some patrons to and from bus stops.
Riverview Town Council had also explored the option of offering free bus fares, but this wasn’t endorsed in the study.
“Making fares free would result in a loss of approximately $220,000 per year in revenue,” Forsey told Town Councillors during a presentation at this week’s Town Council meeting.
Riverview Town Councillors voted unanimously to accept the report from Arcadis and to proceed with the recommendations as presented by David Forsey of Arcadis Professional Services.
