District Bus-Based Routes (yellow route lines) supplement and fill in the gaps of the city-wide (LRT and BRT) routes to complete the mass transit network. They enable frequent and rapid travel within and between clusters of neighbourhoods (known in The City Plan as districts) and provide connections to commercial and institutional areas in these areas (known in The City Plan as nodes and corridors). They also play a critical role in supporting cross-city public transit travel by providing connections to the city-wide routes. The bus travels in mixed traffic or along roads with minor road infrastructure changes to accommodate the service, like painted lines to show the curb lane is a bus lane.
There are 2 types of district bus route service:
Rapid (Limited-Stop) Node Service bus routes run within and between districts, connecting riders to commercial and recreational centres within these districts (known in The City Plan as nodes). It allows for faster travel than local or the corridor bus service by only stopping at strategic locations along the way and bypassing intermediate stops. These routes may include higher capacity buses and some transit priority measures, such as transit signal priority and/or queue jumps. Service on these routes would function similarly to current rapid or express-type bus routes.
Frequent Corridor Service bus routes run along corridors (for example: Jasper Avenue, 124 Street) and have lots of buses coming often that make frequent stops to reduce wait times. Stops tend to be spaced closely together to reduce walking distance and make transfers more practical. Because frequent routes stop often, these routes tend to be slower than the rapid routes but the high-frequency service can move high volumes of people along densely populated corridors. Service on these routes would function similarly to current regular bus service along a popular main street.
