A new Medicine Hat Transit is aimed at improving bus reliability in the city's south around the main shopping areas and Southlands Boulevard. (CHAT News File Photo)

By Chris Brown

Transit piloting new route for better reliability in city’s south

Aug 30, 2023 | 3:23 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Medicine Hat Transit is introducing a new route aimed at improving service reliability, especially during peak traffic periods.

The city is piloting Route 56 in the south starting on Thursday and running until the end of the year. It’s a combination of a piece each from current Routes 53 and 61.

Gordon Dykstra, Medicine Hat Transit manager, says traffic on Dunmore Road between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. is heavy and it’s tough to keep buses on schedule. When buses aren’t arriving when they should people stop taking the bus, he says.

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Dykstra says this new route will give drivers on each of the routes more time to make their rounds.

“So all three of those buses ought to have no problem staying on schedule,” he says. “Plus we’ve been able to add access to the Walmart shopping area for the people in the Masterpiece Southlands area that they don’t have now, and we’ve got two-way access from the mall to the Walmart shopping area during the middle of the day. So it’s actually improved service at the same time as helping all three buses stay on schedule.”

The new route will run between 11:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Monday to Friday.

Dykstra says if the new route is successful it will stay after December and possibly expand.