Starting January 11, 2026, Brantford Transit is introducing Route 21 Tollgate Line, a limited weekday service between Lynden Park Mall and the Northwest Industrial Area designed to help shift workers reach jobs without travelling through downtown. According to a City of Brantford news release, the new route will offer two daily round trips on weekdays.
The route will depart Lynden Park Mall in the early morning to arrive in the Northwest Industrial Area by about 6:49 a.m. and return after afternoon shifts to reach Lynden Park Mall by roughly 2:14 p.m. Riders can transfer at Lynden Park Mall to Routes A, 3, 4A, 4C and 9 to complete their journeys.
This change is part of the Moving Forward Transit Plan, which began in 2024 after city council approved a shift to more direct routes. The plan aims to connect neighbourhoods more directly and reduce travel times for workers at major employers such as Ferrero Canada, Hershey and Procter & Gamble. By bypassing the ageing downtown terminal, Route 21 cuts out a long detour that forced many people to double back before reaching the industrial zone. Similar shifts toward grid-like systems in Guelph and Kitchener–Waterloo have been credited with shortening trips and are expected to increase ridership in those cities.
Ward 1 Councillor Richard Sless said, “When you go down Tollgate Road, which I do quite often, if you go there during a Ferrero shift change, the traffic queues from the intersection at King George Road and Tollgate Road back to Tollgate Tech, and that’s crazy,” according to the Brantford Expositor. A 2023 city survey showed many shift workers wanted direct service without a downtown stop. The new route should ease both traffic congestion and commute stress for workers in the city’s east and north ends.
Brantford Transit’s ridership has grown steadily since 2021, leading to major network changes this summer. On August 31, 2025, the city launched new Route A and Route 20 to shift away from sending every bus through the old downtown terminal. The Northwest Industrial Area itself has seen more than $30 million in road and utility upgrades and a $445 million investment from Ferrero Group to support factory expansions. This new service answers calls from shift workers and will help manage rising traffic on Tollgate Road during peak shift changes. Riders can find the full Route 21 timetable on the city’s website or in the Brantford Transit app ahead of the January 11, 2026 service changes.
