The specifics of Guelph Transit and your Universal Bus Pass
Duncan Day-Myron

Photo by Megan Verhey

If you’re a first year living on campus, many of your needs—where you live, where you eat, where you study, even where you go at night—can be met on or around campus. However, as exciting as the U of G campus can be, it’s only a matter of time until you want to venture beyond the confines of 50 Stone Rd East. Thankfully, there’s the Universal Bus Pass.

“The Universal Bus Pass is a bus pass that all students get access to have unlimited access to Guelph public transit. Everyone pays, and everyone benefits,” said Galen Fick, the CSA’s outgoing Local Affairs Commissioner. “Students pay with their students fees. It’s currently $82.15 per semester, and it comes off automatically.”

The City of Guelph buses begin operation from St. George’s Square in downtown Guelph at 5:40 a.m. Monday to Friday, 5:45 a.m. Saturday and 9:15 a.m. on Sundays, with the last buses leaving downtown at 12:15 a.m. Monday to Saturday, 6:15 p.m.on Sundays. The last outbound bus from the University Centre departs between 12:25 a.m. and 12:30 a.m.. These buses depart downtown on the hour and every 20-minutes thereafter during the day Monday to Friday. Weekday evenings and weekends buses they depart downtown at a quarter after and quarter to the hour.

For students heading off campus late at night or students returning to campus from downtown after the City buses have stopped running, the CSA offers a late night bus service to all students a few nights a week.

“The night bus goes between downtown and campus, and there’s buses that go in big loops from campus. [They] run when the city services stop at 12:30 a.m., and that’s when the night bus picks up until 4 a.m.,” said Fick. “That runs Thursday, Friday and Saturday. There’s also a Sunday service that runs a big loop around the city.”

Schedules for any specific stop can be checked a number of ways. Each bus stop has schedule information posted for each bus route servicing that stop, but they can also be checked online or over the phone in advance.

Full schedules are available at the City of Guelph website (www.guelphtransit.ca) as well as route maps. Guelph also participates in a service called NextBus which, through GPS monitors, gives you real-time information on bus arrivals. NextBus can be accessed online at www.NextBus.com. Simply scroll to ‘Ontario’ and click ‘Guelph’, then select your route, direction and stop. The same information is available through a phone service by calling 519-341-2468 and then inputting the stop number.

For passengers traveling with a bicycle, Guelph buses are now equipped with bike racks located on the front of the bus. These racks accommodate two bicycles and are loaded by the passenger prior to boarding. The bike racks are easy to use, but step-by-step instructions and a tutorial video are available on the Guelph city website, under “rack, ride ‘n’ roll”.

Many buses are also equipped with ramps and kneeling capabilities for passengers with mobility devices.  Buses stopping downtown and at the University are accessible to all passengers, but not all street-side stops are able to accommodate the ramps. A list of accessible stops, organized by route, are available online under “routes & schedules” at the Guelph Transit website. The City also offers a fully accessible Community Bus operating weekdays between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. which must be booked for individual trips.

With their Universal Bus Pass, students have full access to the city of Guelph included in their tuition.