Nearly 300,000 passengers boarded ION trains in Waterloo over first 11 days of service

If it feels like you are the last person at your office to take a trip on Waterloo’s ION LRT, this might actually be true.

Waterloo Region announced Wednesday that almost 300,000 passengers used the service in the 11 days following its official launch on June 21.

A total of 299,760 people took advantage of the region’s offer to test the trains for free. That figure includes the 73,000 passengers who boarded the LRT on its opening weekend.

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“I’m thrilled that our community has embraced this exciting new service that the Region of Waterloo has provided,” Regional Chair Karen Redman said in a statement. “It’s been very encouraging to see the trains filled with so many happy faces.”

READ MORE: ION LRT gets on track in Kitchener and Waterloo

With all of the changes to the Grand River Transit service, the entire system was free over the 11-day period, and a total of 1,007,542 people took advantage of the entire transit network.

“These numbers are beyond our expectations for ridership, and it shows that the arrival of ION has brought transit in Waterloo Region to the next level,” Coun. Tom Galloway said.