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w at er lo oc hr on ic le .c a W at er lo o C hr on ic le | T hu rs da y, S ep te m be r 27 ,2 01 8 | 12 Beginning in April, the City of Waterloo will begin the 2018 fire hydrant inspection, maintenance and flushing program. There are approximately 2500 fire hydrants within the City and all fire hydrants are inspected annually. This program is designed to ensure that our hydrants will operate properly when needed. Due to the complexity of the program, it is difficult to determine which day testing will be conducted in a specific area. Hydrant operation may cause some temporary inconveniences such as poor water pressure and in some cases coloured water. Please check your water before use and if discoloured water is detected, please open a cold, hard water tap (non-softened water) and allow the water to run for 5 minutes. If it does not clear, turn it off, wait one hour and let it run another 5 minutes. Continue to do this until it is clear. Thank you for your co-operation and understanding. Any questions or concerns should be directed to the Utilities Customer Service Representative at 519-886-2310 ext 30239. Hydrant inspection and maintenance program P. 519.886.1550 TTY. 1.866.786.3941waterloo.ca/publicnotices KITCHENER - On-de- mand transit is now avail- able in a Kitchener neigh- bourhood. The pilot route launched Monday aims to improve ac- cess to public transit in the Trinity Village and Free- port area using a smaller 19- seat vehicle. "The service doesn't op- erate on a schedule," said John Cicuttin, manager of transit development for the Region of Waterloo. "It's re- ally flexible." People register for the 901 Flex Trinity-Freeport pilot and then book a ride with a 15-minute pickup window at one of six stops, including the Fairway sta- tion, Freeport, Sunbeam Centre and Trinity Village. Trips must be booked at least an hour ahead of the requested pickup time, and can be for the same or next day, with service Monday to Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The vehicle is fully ac- cessible and equipped with wheelchair spaces, and pay- ment is like riding any Grand River Transit bus. Cicuttin expects it will take some time for riders to take advantage of the new service. "It's going to take longer to get the message out be- cause it's so different," he said. It's a step in the right di- rection for Trinity Village, which has been lobbying for two decades to get a bus stop on Kingsway Drive. The re- tirement community is a busy spot with residents, visitors, volunteers and hundreds of employees. "The amount of people that come and go through the day, it's a lot," said Jayme Noordermeer, com- munity and donor develop- ment co-ordinator at Trini- ty. "We're just really excited that it's finally happened." Before this new route, to connect with public transit, people had to trek from the station at Fairview Park mall - not easy in the cold winter months - or take a cab there. The Trinity-Freeport route is one of three alterna- tive transit models the re- gion is testing out starting this fall in areas where there are service gaps and traditional buses aren't op- timal. 'FLEXIBLE' TRANSIT OPTION LAUNCHED IN UNDERSERVICED KITCHENER NEIGHBOURHOOD JOHANNA WEIDNER jweidner@therecord.com LOCAL THE REGION OF WATERLOO HAS LAUNCHED AN ON-DEMAND PUBLIC TRANSIT BUS ROUTE IN THE TRINITY VILLAGE AND FREEPORT AREA USING A SMALLER 19-SEAT VEHICLE.