Hello everyone!

I'm a little overdue on this update, apologies. We're over 1100 signatures now and I'm so grateful for our communities stepping up and voicing our concerns over the termination of route 2 with this petition. Jackie Sharkey of CBC KW, spoke about it on The Morning Edition with Craig Norris, you can listen to the radio piece and read the written article here if you missed it.

There was another lively discussion on reddit around the CBC piece, you can find that here.

As we move towards the info sessions hosted by Grand River Transit and Region of Waterloo, I have something to ask of you to help me organize the next step.

Please email me, Meredith, at savegrtroute2@gmail.com any questions you would like to direct to the region and GRT. My plan is to give the GRT and ROW the questions in advance so they can be addressed in the info sessions. My hope is we will skip the "I will have to get back to you" answer this way.

I’m going to be pulling stories from many of the comments shared on the petition but would love to gather any other personal stories of how the cancellation will impact us, these stories are powerful contributions to effecting change. Consider emailing me;

• If you are or are connected with seniors who use Route 2 to visit family, get to the family doctor or health care services, and to shop, let me know how important our bus route is to you.
• If you are a student who uses the bus, or will soon be, to access the French Immersion program at Westheights PS, the high schools and  the post-secondary campuses Route 2 connects us to, please write to me how losing access to Route 2 will impact you.
• If you are a local business owner or employee on Route 2 please write to me with your thoughts about how this will impact your business and employment.
• If your home is along route 2 and you chose to live in the neighbourhoods it serves because of access to transit, please write to me about how the termination of route 2 will affect you.

I know that conversations are happening between our regional councillors and the transit commissioner and GRT representatives. At city council on Monday April 17th  Margaret Johnston, councillor for ward 8, asked Mayor Vrbanovic to bring the conversation and concerns about route 2 back to the region. Bil Ioannidis, councillor for ward 7, supported Cllr. Johnston's request as well as raised the point that in his years of working for the city, with any transit changes councillors were invited to a regional committee to consult about the impact of proposed changes. He says this was not the case this time and he learned about it through the media. You can view that here, the relevant discussion starts just before the 48 minute mark.

I cannot put enough emphasis on how critical communication is. You can write as much or as little as you like, ask the questions you'd like answers for. My goal is for us to express ourselves as organized community voices and communicate with the Region and GRT with a knowledgeable, cooperative attitude to help them understand the situation with a depth previously lacking. 

I am thankful for the work our councillors, municipal and regional, as well as regional staff and GRT are putting into this now. I believe we can expect info sessions in May, June and August regarding route 2 and am waiting for scheduling information about those.

I hope the week finds everyone well, I'm looking forward to hearing from you!