Mississauga Transitway

Bus rapid transit system in Mississauga, Ontario

The Mississauga Transitway is a bus rapid transit (BRT) system in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It comprises a series of purpose constructed bus only roadways, as well as reserved lanes on existing city streets and portions of Highway 403, that together form a continuous route spanning most of the city from Winston Churchill Boulevard in the west to the junction of Highways 401 and 427 in the east on the border with Toronto. Service on the Transitway is provided by MiWay and GO Transit, with some stations providing connections to Brampton Transit and Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) bus services.

Originally proposed in the 1970s, the Mississauga Transit plan has evolved over time. At least eighteen studies were made between 1970 and 1992. In the 1990s, a serious proposal intended to build a "transitway" from Ridgeway Drive at the very western edge of the city; this was eventually revised to its current state, with construction beginning in November 2010. To save money, the stations at Ridgeway Drive, Creditview Road, Mavis Road, and Hurontario Street were dropped, as well as a portion of the proposed busway was replaced with existing roads between Erin Mills and Hurontario. The first stretch of the present Transitway opened between Hurontario Street and Dixie Road on November 17, 2014. Other remaining sections faced delays, and were open in stages until the eastern terminus, Renforth, was opened on November 22, 2017. There were plans to eventually extend Transitway service to a new regional bus terminal at the Kipling subway station in southern Etobicoke, which came to fruition with the opening of the Kipling Bus Terminal on January 4, 2021.

The Mississauga Transitway consists of two busways and bus priority lanes. The western busway segment parallels Highway 403 from the western terminus at Winston Churchill Boulevard to Erin Mills Parkway. From there, buses use dedicated shoulder lanes on Highway 403 and Centre View Drive to reach MiWay's City Centre Transit Terminal on Rathburn Road. The longer eastern busway begins east of Hurontario Street, paralleling Highway 403 to Cawthra Road and then following Eastgate Parkway on its north and west side to Eglinton Avenue, and Eglinton on its north side to the eastern terminus at Renforth Drive at the boundary with Toronto. Bus services along the Mississauga Transitway operate similarly to that of the Ottawa Transitway network, using a mixture of express and local routes that call at intermediate stations constructed along the route. Because the Transitway does not directly connect to any major transit hubs other than the City Centre Terminal, all routes that use the Transitway travel in mixed traffic to reach other outlying termini such as Kipling subway station. The Transitway is shared by MiWay standard and articulated buses for intra city travel, along with GO Transit operated highway coaches and double decker buses along inter city routes. The busways have a maximum speed of on the dedicated roadway between stations, and in the vicinity of stations. MiWay buses operating along the Transitway stop at all stations by request, while GO Transit routes only make stops at Winston Churchill, Erin Mills, Dixie, and Renforth stations (depending on the route). Construction responsibilities were divided between Metrolinx and the City of Mississauga: Metrolinx was responsible for the western segment between Winston Churchill and Erin Mills, a portion of the eastern segment between Hurontario and Cawthra, and Renforth Station; while the city was responsible for all other stations and segments. Including construction, land, design and bus acquisition, Mississauga’s cost was at least $328 million. Metrolinx 's cost was over $200 million. The federal government contributed $83 million, bringing the total to approximately $611 million.