The City of St. John's wants to boost ridership on Metrobus, and one new measure toward that goal is giving bus drivers the power to delay a green light.

Metrobus has identified a number of intersections that it says cause regular route delays, and the transit authority has already approved and identified funding to purchase transit priority equipment.

"If you're on the bus, the idea is to get you quicker to your location," said Debbie Hanlon, councillor at large and head of the city's transportation committee.

Coun. Debbie Hanlon says ensuring the buses are able to be on time would help increase the number of people using them. (Jeremy Eaton/CBC)

"The buses have the power to delay the greens, so a good example would be, if you're leaving the Village parking lot, sometimes there's five and six buses trying to get out all one after the other," said Hanlon.

"A delayed green will allow them to get out a lot quicker and the idea is to improve efficiencies and to make the bus more accessible."

Hanlon said the city is trying to boost the number of people who ride the bus.

Some time in April

Ensuring Metrobus has the ability to provide a timely ride is one way to do that.

"We're trying to really improve ridership on the bus, that's the only way that we can make it to reduce the subsidy and to make it more economical for everyone is to have more people riding the bus," she said.

There's no exact date for the changes to come into effect, Hanlon said, but she expects it to happen some time in April.

Intersections that have already been identified by Metrobus include:

Freshwater Road at Stamps Lane/Oxen Pond Road

O'Leary Avenue at Thorburn Road

Lemarchant Road/Harvey Road/Long's Hill/Freshwater Road/Parade Street

Topsail Road at Hamlyn Road and Topsail Road at Columbus Drive

Prince Philip Drive at Clinch Crescent/Westerland Road

Transportation staff at the city will work with Metrobus to identify specific changes needed, as well as other locations.