WATERLOO REGION — Regional officials are counting on light rail transit's perks and bus expansion to build ridership.

"There is some of that build it and they shall come I guess," Coun. Tom Galloway said.

The Region of Waterloo built its light rail system to drive intensification in city cores. That's largely been successful with an estimated $3.1 billion investment in the Kitchener and Waterloo cores.

Now the region needs to meet ridership and revenue goals to limit additional costs to taxpayers and avoid hefty fare hikes.

Since 2011, the owner of an average home has paid $969 in taxes to help launch trains and expand the bus system to feed them. This includes $597 dedicated to trains, according to regional figures.

This assumes a total increase in regional taxes reaching almost 13 per cent on a home assessed at $344,000 this year. Next year will be the final tax increase of 0.4 per cent.

Staff estimated in 2014 that the region would need at least $9 million annually from ridership for its funding strategy. That strategy assumed a contribution of $35 million from the taxes for transit that the region has been collecting.

Peter Zinck, director of transit operations, said those projections remain the same and the region hopes to have 20,500 weekday Ion boardings by 2021. That would be at least 5.3 million boardings on an annual basis.

Boardings and ridership differ.

A ride is a paid trip, including any transfers. Boardings are the number of people who get on and off transit, regardless of transfers, according to the region.

The goal is to reach 28.3 million riders on buses and Ion combined by 2021. Boarding estimates were not available.

Galloway said intensification will help drive ridership.

"It's already taking place and of course many of those residential towers are not even occupied yet or they're under construction so each time one of those gets occupied no doubt there'll be additional riders," he said.

Zinck said the region plans to expand the Grand River Transit system significantly by 2021 to help drive passenger numbers.

The goal is to expand bus service to bring people to the light rail line and also make some bus trips more direct and convenient.

"Part of getting people to use it is to get people to it," Zinck said. "We're looking to provide choices so people can get to Ion services or ideally they're on Ion or on one bus trip to get where they're going.

"Greater frequency helps a lot to make it more convenient and people like the direct service so that their travels are quicker."

About 35,000 bus service hours will be added each year starting with upgrades in Cambridge in September.

Zinck said it's too early to get an accurate read on light rail usage because students are away.

Ion trains are equipped with Wi-Fi, articulated buses are being introduced and the train shelters are more modern, including heating in some.

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"All these things are intended to not just make it comfortable for existing riders but to attract new riders as well," Galloway said.

pdesmond@therecord.com

Twitter: @DesmondRecord