Tag Archives: 56 Centennial
No Winter service for 56 CENTENNIAL
Route 56 CENTENNIAL, which was reduced to weekend only service in September, will not be in service during the winter. Weekend service will return in the spring.
The route was reduced to weekend service when route 44 RYMAL was extended north to the Centennial Walmart. Customers wishing to travel between Eastgate Square and Walmart / Confederation GO Station can make use of route 44 RYMAL. Route 11 PARKDALE can be used to access the Hamilton Beach Trail on weekends and holidays.
Source: City of Hamilton
10 B-LINE EXPRESS gets extended; Saturday service starting September 1st
There are some pretty solid service changes coming in September to the HSR in Hamilton. The most notable of a change is to route 10 B-LINE EXPRESS, the East-West express bus that operates between the Eastgate Transit Terminal and University Plaza in Dundas. The route has added service on Saturdays and service on weekdays has been extended by three hours, ending at 10:00pm instead of 7:00pm.
Route 44 RYMAL will get extended north to the Walmart Plaza just south of the QEW every day of the week while 56 CENTENNIAL will return to operating on weekends only in the area. 18 WATERDOWN will also see a short extension to Plains Road in Burlinton to make up for the removal of Burlington Transit’s 1 PLAINS bus from the Aldershot GO Station.
Here is a summary of the changes coming in September.
44 RYMAL extended north to Walmart in September
Beginning Fall 2019, route 44 RYMAL will be extended to service Walmart on Centennial Parkway just south of the QEW. Customers along the corridor between Eastgate Square and Walmart will benefit from 30 minute frequencies in non-peak mid-day service periods, 20 minute frequencies in am and pm peak service periods, and 1 hour frequencies in the night-time service period.
Customers along the corridor will also benefit from expanded hours to match the current route 44 RYMAL span of approximately 5:30 am to 12:30 am Monday through Saturday and 6 am to 12 midnight on Sundays.
The extension greatly exceeds the current service span and frequency of 56 CENTENNIAL.
56 CENTENNIAL to get Riverdale service pilot this fall

In the fall bus service on route 56 CENTENNIAL will be modified, adding new service area coverage as well as shortening the route length on weekdays.
The Riverdale HSR service pilot will run between September 2018 and the end of April 2019. Ridership will be assessed each month for both the route as a whole and specific to the stops in the Riverdale neighbourhood.
If successful (measured by ridership) the program will continue through summer 2019 with permanent implementation as part of the 10 year transit strategy. If deemed unsuccessful (lack of interest, no or low usage, reduction of ridership, status quo) the program will be assessed to determine if any portion should be retained (frequency or span or Riverdale routing) or if the route should return to the way it was before the pilot.
This change is very similar to one formally proposed to the City of Hamilton by me back in 2014.
Extended 56 CENTENNIAL service this summer
Additional HSR service is coming to Hamilton Airport and Van Wagner’s Beach areas this summer
Beginning with the summer schedules, the HSR will begin providing additional service to the John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport and the Van Wagner’s Beach area. This additional service starts June 24th, 2018.
Customers traveling to the John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport will not see any additional service to express bus route 20 A-LINE EXPRESS but will instead see service hours of the Glanbrook TransCab extended. The service, which costs an additional 50 cents on top of the standard fare, operates from the Mountain Transit Centre to Mount Hope. The hours will be extended during Monday to Saturday, and now on Sundays with newly added weekend hours.
Glanbrook TransCab will now run Monday to Saturday between 6:00am and 2:00am and on Sundays between 6:00am and 1:00am.
Another summer of inadequate service coming for 56 CENTENNIAL
On Sunday, June 25th the Hamilton Street Railway will switch to summer schedules. As per every year that means that many routes will adopt summer schedules which sees a reduction in frequencies. One such route is the north-south route on the edge of Stoney Creek, the 56 CENTENNIAL. However this reduction does at best a disservice since the route was changed in 2012.
Prior to 2012 route 56 was known as 56 CONFEDERATION PARK. The route was a summer only service which only ran during the summer months and only on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. The routing for this old route is the same as the current incarnation 56 CENTENNIAL except for two differences. The route did not service the Walmart Supercentre plaza as it did not exist previously and the route had far better service times.
Here’s a little bit of history.
As previously mentioned route 56 CONFEDERATION PARK only operated in the summer months on weekends. During this time the route ran on a 45 minute frequency between Eastgate Terminal and the Lakeland Pool loop, stopping at Wild Waterworks in both directions. The first bus departed Eastgate at 9:15 AM and the last bus headed towards the beach at 8:30 PM. The final departure headed back towards Eastgate from the Wild Waterworks waterpark in Confederation Park was 9:00 PM, a full hour after the waterpark closes in the summer.
Centennial Closure Detours 56 CENTENNIAL July 17-20

Starting at 9:00 pm on July 17, Centennial Parkway will be closed to through traffic in both directions between the Arrowsmith Drive and Goderich Road intersections until 5:00 am on July 20. The road closure is to accommodate work involving the removal of the CN Rail tracks that currently span Centennial Parkway south of the Goderich Road intersection.
During the road closure, buses operating on the 56 CENTENNIAL route will be required to divert. Local traffic will be maintained at all times.
Route 56 CENTENNIAL buses will be detoured as follows:
Service Resumes to Wild Waterworks on June 28th
Seasonal service to the Wild Waterworks water park resumes on Sunday, June 28th as the park begins daily summer operations. Route 56 CENTENNIAL, which operates year-round passed the park on Van Wagners Beach Road, will enter the park while it is open.
Wild Waterworks opened for the season on Saturday June 6th and will be open daily until Monday September 7th.
During the spring 56 CENTENNIAL operates on a 45 minute frequency between Eastgate Square and Lakeland Loop however the schedule is revised to operate on a 60 minute frequency during the summer with the addition of service into Wild Waterworks.