chrisw
Active Member
Interesting, open payments and cash cost $1 more than Presto. And Youth only get a 10% discount.
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KawarthaTransiteer
New Member
This weekend and next weekend, DRT will be running late night specials that meet trains for the Taylor Swift Eras Tour, with trips running between 10 PM and 2 AM. The schedule is here: https://www.durhamregiontransit.com/en/routes-and-schedules/resources/Swift_Schedule_Map_2024.pdf
There will be 4 specials, providing drop-off only service to southern Durham, except for Bowmanville:
There will be 4 specials, providing drop-off only service to southern Durham, except for Bowmanville:
- The Evermore Loop Special, which serves Pickering, and mostly follows the routing of the 121.
- The Folklore Loop Special, which serves northern Ajax via Westney and Salem.
- The Reputation Loop Special, which serves southern Ajax, and mostly follows the routing of the 227A.
- The Fearless West Special and Fearless East Special, which serve Whitby, Oshawa, and Courtice via Rossland, Trulls, Bloor, and Brock Street. The east special leaves Whitby GO, and the west special leaves Oshawa GO.
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Coolibop
Active Member
From the latest regional finance commitee, we are not able to order the electric busses that were budgeted this year.
Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada (formerly Infrastructure Canada) has told the Region that DRT would not be receiving funding through the ZETF program. So instead of ordering (34) electric, they're ordering 18 diesel to minimize service impacts (for planned sep '26 enhancements).
This leaves a small period of time to address the shortfall so something to keep an eye on when it's presented to council...it's unclear to me why we banked on/why it fell through as the report doesn't clarify in the background para's; probably related to my post on the previous page re: Canadian Public Transit Fund (sorry can't seem to insert quotes on edited message).
Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada (formerly Infrastructure Canada) has told the Region that DRT would not be receiving funding through the ZETF program. So instead of ordering (34) electric, they're ordering 18 diesel to minimize service impacts (for planned sep '26 enhancements).
This leaves a small period of time to address the shortfall so something to keep an eye on when it's presented to council...it's unclear to me why we banked on/why it fell through as the report doesn't clarify in the background para's; probably related to my post on the previous page re: Canadian Public Transit Fund (sorry can't seem to insert quotes on edited message).
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Bojaxs
Senior Member
Something similar happening in Oakville.
Pulling the plug: Oakville Transit to buy diesel after electric bus grant money runs out
Rising costs lead town to pull the plug on plan to electrify the service, with some councillors concerned about transit expenses.
www.oakvillenews.org
KawarthaTransiteer
New Member
The agenda for the TEC meeting tomorrow is up right now. There isn't a lot right now, however the General Manager's Report for the month is viewable. Some of the major things and things that caught my eye in the report are as follows:
I definitely do recommend having a look at the report, as it has a lot of statistics regarding DRT's service and also their goals for many different measures.
Last month I took on-demand from Mount Albert to Uxbridge and then Uxbridge to Pickering, so I have experienced how massive those gaps in on-demand service are. For those trips in particular, I was only able to book them the morning of; the previous day I couldn't find any trips at all. That meant I had to completely change my plans on my way to Mount Albert since I already booked YRT trips back to Newmarket, assuming that was the only way I could leave Mount Albert. Obviously as per the report, it's quite difficult to have consistent service within northern Durham, given the lower demand there.
- Ridership for scheduled services in October was 1,269,000, 12% higher than last October. Through the month, ridership this year reached 10,977,196, which is 20% higher than 2019. Ridership nearly also met the total ridership in 2019 of 11.1 million.
- So far this year, the highest amount of on-demand trips have occurred within the municipality of Clarington, with 16,935 trips within the urban area, and 7,147 trips within the rural area. Interestingly, there have been 16 trips in the 'Toronto-York' service area this year (service was extended to the Meadowvale Loop, and to Cornell Bus Terminal and the surrounding area in September). There were 7 trips in October, and the other 9 trips occured in September.
- In October, demand for on-demand service was 240% higher than capacity. Northern Durham (the townships of Brock, Scugog, and Uxbridge) in particular has the lowest demand for service, however those municipalities have the biggest gaps in capacity, relative to demand.
- On the week of Christmas (December 23 to December 27), service will be reduced to a weekend service level.
- On Christmas though, scheduled service will be reduced to only routes 902, 916, N1, and N2. N1 and N2 will be operating on a 30-minute frequency, with routes 902 and 916 operating on an hourly schedule between 9 AM and 6 PM. On-demand will be operating on a weekend service level.
- On New Year's Eve, free service will be available between 7 PM and 4 AM.
- The January service changes will only have minor schedule changes for better service reliability.
I definitely do recommend having a look at the report, as it has a lot of statistics regarding DRT's service and also their goals for many different measures.
Last month I took on-demand from Mount Albert to Uxbridge and then Uxbridge to Pickering, so I have experienced how massive those gaps in on-demand service are. For those trips in particular, I was only able to book them the morning of; the previous day I couldn't find any trips at all. That meant I had to completely change my plans on my way to Mount Albert since I already booked YRT trips back to Newmarket, assuming that was the only way I could leave Mount Albert. Obviously as per the report, it's quite difficult to have consistent service within northern Durham, given the lower demand there.
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421 harmony
New Member
does anyone know about the 920B Anderson
APTA-2048
Senior Member
Some bad news for DRT this morning. They had a fire at their Ajax garage. Thankfully it looks like it was only one bus and the damage looks relatively minor.
generalcanada
Senior Member
tf? another fire?
generalcanada
Senior Member
Elevated cable cars preferred transit option to serve Simcoe Street corridor in Oshawa | INdurham
It’s not exactly flying cars but the future of transit on Oshawa’s Simcoe Street may seem nearly as outlandish if the preferred option of the team developing a rapid transit line on the busy corridor ever sees the light of day. Aerial cable cars. And yes, for those fans of the Simpsons, a...
durham.insauga.com
Whats funny about this is that its quite obvious why.
>Dunn believes the cable car system is the way to go, as it moves more passengers – 9.7 million per year vs 8.9 million for the BRT – and is less intrusive to the environment as it doesn’t need any traffic lanes to be ripped out.
Fkn jokes man.
KawarthaTransiteer
New Member
The schedules for Christmas was released recently. The link is here: https://www.durhamregiontransit.com/en/routes-and-schedules/resources/PrintSchedules/Xmas2024.pdf
Unfortunately, the 916 will be running between 11 AM and 4 PM instead of the planned 9 AM to 6 PM. The first eastbound trip on the 902 is scheduled to leave Oshawa station at 8:25 though.
Northern Light
Superstar
Durham Region Council adopted its 2025 budget just before Christmas, and this is what DRT got under the tree:
Coolibop
Active Member
Does anyone know if those 18 electric buses will address the shortfall I mentioned above (we needed 34, got 18 diesel for '26 service enhancements)? Or were there planned purchases each year leading up to the planned service enhancements (Oct '26)? I could only find the below which suggests GHG going down slightly '25-'26 may be due to a small bus purchase...Durham Region Council adopted its 2025 budget just before Christmas, and this is what DRT got under the tree:
View attachment 622118
Finally, if some were wondering about that last bullet, I went back through the 10 year plan ('23)...Here's some of what they had suggested:
...
421 harmony
New Member
any updates on 7103
Coolibop
Active Member
Listening to a presentation on the DSBRT from Metrolinx at Durham Regions Committee of the Whole...I have no nice words for this and am going to be blunt: what a complete waste and joke of a project this is becoming. Highly disappointed...
It’s puzzling why Metrolinx is presenting the Preliminary Design Business Case (PDBC) to the Durham Region Council now, six months after its release, without providing any new updates. The presentation featured a brief five-slide deck with three presenters: one for the land acknowledgement, one for context about the PDBC, and another who reiterated the well-known issue of lacking funds outside the federally funded section (ICIP). Metrolinx essentially passed the baton to the province and Durham Region/Toronto to move the project forward.
When questioned about the start of ICIP-funded sections and the conclusion of Indigenous consultations by Metrolinx, they placed the responsibility (for consultations) on the Region. This is baffling given that, as a crown corporation, Metrolinx is required to lead these consultations as I understand...
I've previously mentioned that it's been over ten years since discussions around planning and funding began, yet there is no clarity or progress. Metrolinx's deflection of responsibility to the province is ironic, especially considering they initially claimed the City of Toronto was responsible for funding their section independently. Now, Durham is expected to fund theirs too?
Regional councilors have spent efforts to convince residents that this project is beneficial. No wonder there's increasing talk about government waste, which feeds into the widespread sentiment around here, notwithstanding the predominantly conservative voting patterns. The old signs in Ajax and Pickering announcing 'BRT coming soon' shouts of this project's stagnation (they have been posted for at least 4-5 years).
To top it off, having three people present four slides on what they claim to be a 'key' project is a fitting representation of the overall inefficiency.
And the #$^%!@ Gondola...!
KawarthaTransiteer
New Member
According to the General Manager's report for the month, total ridership last year was 13.1 million. In total for On Demand service, there were 265,681 trips with 152,645 trips being specialized trips. Overall, OTP ended up at 69% for the year.
Also, scheduled service is planned to return in Brock, Clarington, and "some urban areas" this year.
Here are some of graphs from the report I thought were interesting:
Firstly, here's the monthly ridership for scheduled service.
Secondly, the total demand responsive graph (both on demand and specialized).
Thirdly, on demand trips broken up into urban and rural areas.
Finally, the breakdown for on demand service areas.
If there's some other things in the report that you think were interesting, please add on. I haven't had the energy recently to look at it in depth
Also, scheduled service is planned to return in Brock, Clarington, and "some urban areas" this year.
Here are some of graphs from the report I thought were interesting:
Firstly, here's the monthly ridership for scheduled service.
Secondly, the total demand responsive graph (both on demand and specialized).
Thirdly, on demand trips broken up into urban and rural areas.
Finally, the breakdown for on demand service areas.
If there's some other things in the report that you think were interesting, please add on. I haven't had the energy recently to look at it in depth