Understanding our transit terms
When you read City reports, meeting agendas, or service updates about Wrenford Transit, you might see technical words. This glossary explains the most common terms so you can understand how we plan, run, and improve our bus network.
Glossary of terms
- Bus Rapid Transit (BRT): A high-quality bus service that gives buses their own lanes, priority at traffic lights, and faster boarding to make trips quicker and more reliable.
- Deadheading: When a bus travels without passengers, usually to get from the depot to the first stop or from the last stop back to the maintenance yard. This keeps the schedule on time.
- Demand-Responsive Transit: A flexible service where buses do not follow a set route or schedule. Instead, you book a trip in advance or on the day, and the bus picks you up at a virtual stop. Wrenford calls this service Wrenford Flex.
- Fare Capping: A digital payment feature that stops charging per-ride fares once you have paid the equivalent of a monthly or 3-month pass. You will never pay more than your pass costs, even if you ride more often.
- Fixed-Route Service: Traditional bus service that runs on a set path with marked stops and a published schedule. Our Routes 1 through 14 are fixed-route services.
- Headway: The time gap between two buses arriving at the same stop. A shorter headway means buses come more often.
- Layover: A short break built into a bus driver's schedule at the end of a route or at a turnaround point. It allows the driver to rest and gives the bus time to recover from delays.
- On-Demand Service: Another name for demand-responsive transit. Riders request a ride through an app, phone call, or website, and the bus routes itself to pick them up.
- Peak Service: Runs during the busiest travel times, usually weekday mornings and afternoons. You will see the most buses on the road during these hours.
- Right-of-Way (ROW): The land or space where our transit infrastructure lives, including bus lanes, transit shelters, and road lanes reserved for buses.
- Rolling Stock: The physical vehicles the City uses to run transit, including our diesel buses, hybrid buses, and the new electric buses on our Zero-Emission Fleet Plan.
- Service Frequency: How often a bus runs on a route, usually measured in minutes (e.g., every 15 minutes).
- Transit-Oriented Development (TOD): A planning approach where the City encourages higher-density housing and commercial buildings near major transit hubs and stops to make it easier for people to live and travel without a car.
- Virtual Stop: A safe, designated pick-up and drop-off location for on-demand services like Wrenford Flex. Virtual stops do not have physical signage or shelters but appear on the transit app and trip planner.
- Wrenford Access: The City's specialized transit service for riders who cannot use fixed-route buses due to a mobility or medical condition. Bookings are made in advance.
- Wrenford Flex: The City's on-demand transit service operating in Northgate, Industrial Park East, Wildrye, and on evening supplements for Routes 3 and 8. Riders book trips up to 14 days ahead.
- Zero-Emission Fleet: The City's strategy to replace diesel buses with electric and hybrid models. Our electric buses have a maximum range of 310 km on a single charge.
Need more help?
If you have questions about how our services work, check the guides below or contact the Transit team.
For general transit questions, call the Downtown Transit Terminal at 519-555-0114 or email [email protected].