MiWay

Founded	1969
Headquarters	3484 Semenyk Court
Locale	Mississauga, Ontario
Service area	Mississauga, Brampton, Oakville, Toronto
Service type	Public Transit
Routes	59 local 7 express 3 limited-stop 14 regular school 13 summer school 1 TTC-contracted
Stops	3673[1]
Hubs	28 (8 outside the city)
Depots	2
Fleet	623 buses
Daily ridership	119,152 (2014)
Annual ridership	36.6 million ( 2.2%) (2014)[1] (52.2 million boardings)
Fuel type	Diesel, Hybrid electric
Operator	City of Mississauga
Chief executive	Geoff Marinoff
Website	www.miway.ca

MiWay^{[pronunciation?]} (stylized miWAY) is a public transport agency serving Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. The city's Transportation and Works department is in charge of its operation.

The current MiWay service consists of two types of bus routes, MiLocal (local buses that make frequent stops) and MiExpress (express buses between major destinations), and includes the Mississauga Transitway, a dedicated east to west bus-only roadway used by several MiExpress and MiLocal routes.

MiWay's routes connect with GO Transit commuter rail and intercity buses. The system also connects with Brampton Transit to the north, Oakville Transit to the west, York Region Transit (YRT) to the northeast, and the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) to the east, including the Islington and Kipling subway stations on Line 2 Bloor–Danforth. MiWay is a member of the Canadian Urban Transit Association.

In 2013, MiWay's annual ridership was 35.8 million passengers, with more than 50.9 million boardings.^[1]

History

Public transit in Mississauga was first operated by Charterways Limited as Mississauga Transit Systems with four buses in 1969 and was acquired by the city's newly formed Mississauga Transit in 1974, incorporating the former towns of Mississauga, Port Credit and Streetsville. Services began on November 1, 1973.

It later acquired routes formerly operated by others, such as;

• TTC's 74 Port Credit bus, in February 1976, that had operated on Lakeshore Road from Long Branch since 1935. This succeeded a former interurban railway, dating back to 1892 as the Toronto and Mimico Electric Railway and Light Company.
• Gray Coach Lines, and later GO Transit, also served intercity routes on Dundas Street, and Hurontario Street, both being provincial highways before the construction of present freeways such as Highways 401, 403, 410, and 427.
• Malton is still served by TTC's 52 Lawrence West bus, which has replaced 58 Malton. Local services in Malton were provided since 1969, and expanded after 1973.

Mississauga Transit was renamed MiWay on October 4, 2010. New MiWay-branded hybrid buses entered service, with orange MiLocal buses on local routes and blue MiExpress buses on express routes. Advertisements were placed on buses and shelters in September 2010 to introduce users to the new branding. Older buses using the old logo would continue to be used until they are decommissioned. Service levels did not change with the rebranding.^[2]

The reason for the company's new name is twofold: "Mi" could be interpreted as standing for Mississauga, and it is also a homophone of "My", suggesting possession.

On December 1, 2011, the last high-floor bus retired, making the transit fleet 100% low-floor and fully accessible. As of October 22, 2012, bus stop pads have been put at all stops that MiWay serves. This allowed all routes, hence the entire system, to become fully accessible.^[3]

Facilities

Major

Transitway stations

All MiWay routes are wheelchair-accessible ().

Other terminals and junctions

All MiWay routes are wheelchair-accessible ().

• †: September to April only

GO Transit stations

All MiWay routes are wheelchair-accessible ().

Services

Routes

All routes are wheelchair-accessible ().

TTC-contracted routes

Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) routes within Mississauga require an exact fare, a MiWay ticket or a transfer. A TTC ticket or token with cash supplement, depending on the category that the passenger falls onto, can also be used for fares. All TTC passes (day, weekly and monthly), except the GTA weekly pass, are not valid for travel in the Mississauga Fare Zone.

NOTE: Presto card readers on TTC buses that operate in Mississauga are not set up to collect Miway fares at this time (although Presto users can pay their TTC bus fares with Presto while operating within the City of Toronto). As such, Presto users who wish to transfer onto TTC buses from a Miway bus within the Mississauga fare zone must tap their Presto card on the fare readers upon boarding and obtain a paper transfer from the driver.

Transfer privileges apply to and from MiWay routes. Only one route, 52B/52D Lawrence West, is operated by the TTC on behalf of the City of Mississauga.

Route		Direction and Termini				Accessible	Operates	Extra Fare Required
style="background:#Template:TTC color;color:white" align="center" valign=center| 52B	Lawrence West	EB	To Lawrence Subway Station via Lawrence West Subway Station	WB	To Westwood Mall		Monday through Friday	West of Pearson Airport
style="background:#Template:TTC color;color:white" align="center" valign=center| 52D					To Victory Crescent / McNaughton Avenue		Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays

Bus rapid transit

In 2007 Mississauga received federal funding for a bus rapid transit (BRT) line, the Mississauga Transitway. This line will be built alongside Highway 403, which passes through the City Centre. It will connect to Toronto and Pearson Airport at its terminus point, Renforth Drive.

Light rail transit

The Cities of Mississauga and Brampton propose a light rail transit (LRT) route on Hurontario Street between Lakeshore Road and Steeles Avenue in Brampton.^[5] This route would link Port Credit, Mississauga City Centre, and Downtown Brampton in response to increasing congestion and anticipated high growth in the corridor.^[6]

The LRT will connect to three GO Transit rail lines (Georgetown line at Brampton GO Station, Milton line at Cooksville GO Station, and Lakeshore West line at Port Credit GO Station), and seven rapid transit lines (Lakeshore Rapid Transit, Dundas Rapid Transit, Highway 407 Transitway, Züm Steeles, Züm Queen, Züm Main, and Mississauga BRT).

Accessibility

MiWay operates low floor, wheelchair accessible buses. The last high-floor bus was retired December 1, 2011. A separate transit service for the disabled, called Transhelp, is operated by the Peel Regional Municipality.

Schedules

Mississauga Transit's paper "Ride Schedules" were discontinued in 2004. From 2005 onward all timetables were only available from the system's website.

MiWay provides up-to-date bus schedules via their CityLink telephone service. In November 2005 MiWay inaugurated a schedule finder on their website, called Click 'n Ride,^[7] with information specific to each bus stop.

Fares

As of January 2017^[update] the MiWay's cash fare is $3.50 (exact change) for all passengers.^[8] Presto cards are being used in the entire MiWay system since May 30, 2011.^[9]

Traditional fare media:

PRESTO card fares:

TTC-contracted routes:

Other fares:

PRESTO programs

In 2007, MiWay was the first test site for the new Presto card, before being adopted across the entire MiWay system in May 2011.^[10] Since launching the Presto card in Mississauga, MiWay has issued more than 9,000 cards and they are currently being used for more 2.4 million trips within the system.^[3] MiWay offers two programs exclusively for Presto cardholders:

• GO Transit co-fare:^[11] Presto cardholders only have to pay 80 cents when connecting to/from GO Transit buses and GO Transit trains at a discounted fare. On the other hand, non-cardholders have to pay the regular MiWay fare when connecting to/from GO buses and GO Trains.
• Loyalty program:^[12] When Presto cardholders have paid for 12 regular MiWay fares in a calendar week, they would be able to ride for free for the rest of the week. GO Transit co-fares and fares paid on other systems will not be counted towards this program. The weekly ride count resets to zero on Mondays.

Smart Commute Discount Transit Program

MiWay is also offering discounted adult transit passes to employees of the members of Smart Commute Mississauga^[13] and Smart Commute Pearson Airport Area.^[14] Transit passes are automatically paid by deductions on payrolls.

Fleet

Mississauga Transit has an active bus fleet of 627 units: 340 regular 40-foot buses, 66 60-foot articulated buses. 0879 retired. and 7 more 32-foot minibuses. MiWay operates only fully wheelchair-accessible buses (); however, some routes are still not designated as accessible due to the lack of bus stop pads for safe loading and unloading of disabled passengers.

Media related to MiWay buses at Wikimedia Commons

Mississauga Transit Enforcement Officers patrol in white Dodge Chargers bearing a single black stripe and wording Transit Enforcement in black.

Transit Enforcement and Staff

MiWay drivers are represented by Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1572.^[15]

Mississauga Transit Enforcement Officers are part of the City of Mississauga Corporate Services team. Transit Enforcement are designated as Municipal Law Enforcement Officers, and enforce the Mississauga Transit Bylaw 425-03.^[16]