Saskatoon has twice as many bus routes as Regina. The municipality of Saskatoon is less than 1.5 times larger than Regina in both geographical area and population.
Sarah Miller, a student at Saskatchewan Polytechnic, used the bus system in Regina for four years before moving to Saskatoon in September of 2021. She continues to take the bus.
“Mostly I use it to go to school but also just to get around the city.”
Based on her personal experience, Miller can compare the two systems.
“I feel like it’s a little bit more expansive in Saskatoon. I feel like more people use it more frequently. I feel like you can get more places using it.”
If Miller were to make one change to Regina’s transit system she would increase the amount of bus routes.
Regina resident Geoff Delorme used to take the bus until he got his license earlier this year because he was sick of relying public transit.
“In the summer it’s really easy to just bike between bus stops and buses and they’re more reliable. In the winter sometimes they get stuck and then you’re waiting outside in the cold. You miss your bus, you might just freeze to death.”
Miller agrees that waiting in the winter is worse.
“In the winter, they’re not always as on time. It’s always a lot colder… definitely a less pleasant experience.”
One thing Delorme has noticed since getting his license is that it now takes him 20 minutes to cross the city when it used to take 90.
If Delorme could change anything about Regina’s bus system he would want a more reliable bus schedule and an easier way to track the buses.
“The transit live website could be more accurate. Sometimes buses will just drop off… you can watch them but sometimes they’ll just drop off. Great. I have no idea where this bus is now.”
Saskatoon has a Transit app for bus tracking. The reliability of the app is not guaranteed.
There are 21 bus routes in Regina. There are 42 bus routes in Saskatoon and according to saskatoon.ca three of these routes are not in operation.
In 2011 the census subdivision of Regina covered 145 square km and the census subdivision of Saskatoon covered 210 square km.
According to Statistics Canada, the census subdivision of Regina had a population of 215,000 in 2016 and the census subdivision of Saskatoon had a population of 246,000.
Both cities have experienced and continue to experience population growth since this data was collected.
According to Miller both cities could benefit from a more consistent schedule. She has noticed no significant difference in the buses’ punctuality.
Although Delorme prefers driving in Regina he found an upside to taking the bus.
“There’s a lot more responsibility [driving] because if the roads are bad you actually have to worry about it. One nice thing with the buses… you’re not even worried about it. You just sit there and have an nap.”
