J. Hollingsworth

DRT Doesn’t produce terminal maps. Metrolinx has been rolling out forms of the wayfinding system at other stations such as Ajax, Exhibition, Union and West Harbour, and are open to working with other agencies on implementing this as a wayfinding standard across the GTHA agencies, Durham has expressed support for this, and is in discussions with MX about how it can be further implemented, Perhaps this will be a consideration when constructing the new Harmony Terminal in the coming five years. Also, yes. Pickering Parkway Terminal is on the station wayfinding maps for Pickering GO, and is labeled as “Pickering Station Bus Terminal B” with terminal A being the bus loop at the station.

WAVE Shuttle has officially concluded in light of the shutdown of local motors and the collision announcement coming later today

8466 is up on Govdeals and is the first 2009 to retire

The initial route for Cornell will be standalone, not a 915 extension. The route will travel from Pickering Parkway Terminal, Kingston, Brock, Taunton, Whites, Highway 7. it’s currently planned as a “base” route at 30 minute service at least Monday - Friday

Who's ready for an underwhelming budget? Not to say it's not interesting, but they're still being cryptically vague about specific service enhancements, because... you know. So. What do we have then? (https://calendar.durham.ca/meetings/Detail/2022-02-02-1330-Transit-Executive-Committee-Meeting/a25d30bc-bbe8-4c74-9e62-ae2b01536abe) Metrics: - 4.4 Million Passenger Rides in 2021, 40% of pre-pandemic and 82% of 2020 ridership. - 96% of trips taken were are conventional buses, 3% OnDemand Trips and 1% Specialized Services. - December was the first month since march 2020 that ridership had surpassed 50% of pre-pandemic ridership, this got destroyed by Omicron again. - DRT anticipated for 2021, farebox revenues of $14.9 Million, but only reached 93% of this total at $13.9 Million - PRESTO adoption up from below 40% pre-pandemic to now 80% thanks to suspension of paper fare media, introduction of fare incentives and the electronic PRESTO Ticket u-pass. Budget Amount DRT annual budget amount is $117.3 million from all sources, $69.2 million from property taxes. DRT operating and capital is divided among these departments. - Administration - Operations - Maintenance - Specialized Services - Northern Services - Facilities Management - 551,075 2022 Service Hours, increase of 2.3% and 12,398 service hours in 2021. - 486,153 Conventional Service Hours, 64,922 OnDemand Hours. Service Highlights There are very few noted service related changes, this is due to the fact that the covid pandemic still adds uncertainty to if and when specific routes will return. This is year one of "The Route Ahead" 2022-2025 Service Plan, so here's what that definitely entails, - Introduction of more frequent service on existing routes to support ridership recovery. including, - 901 PULSE Simcoe, - 902 King - 915 PULSE Taunton, with 15 minute minimum daytime service level, 7 days per week. (who remembers when it was hourly...) - 920, with an extension to Harmony Terminal from Durham College. - 302 Brock/Baldwin, additional two way service between Brooklin and Durham College. - 917z will have additional trips, in 2021, the service ran every two hours, so perhaps this year it may be hourly. While these are the only listed service enhancements coming in 2022, this represents $0.4 Million of the 2022 $1.5 Million service plan, with the other $1.1 Million for "returning Service" but no details are available as to which routes or services may be restored. 2022 Capital investments - $16.1 Million in capital investments - 2 additional PULSE replacements (likely 7123-7124) ($1.4m) - 4 replacements specialized buses ($0.8m) - Raleigh Admin Building Design ($0.6m) - Bus Stop Infrastructure improvements ($3.1m) - Planning, Design and engineering of 2400 Thornton Road North Indoor Facility ($2.5m) - E-bus charging infrastructure ($3.1m) - Westney Fuel Tank Replacement ($0.8m) And then there's this "As a result of network realignment, scheduling efficiencies and delivery of demand responsive services in rural and low demand urban areas, DRT will be reducing the size of its fleet from 188 buses at the beginning of 2022 to 157 buses. This will allow for the retirement of 31 buses at end of life and savings from repair costs to keep these vehicles in operation (-$0.5 million). These buses will be replaced when required through enhanced frequency of service and as demand increases in lower demand areas over the next three to five years as included in the capital forecast." Essentially, DRT doesn't want to pay the price to maintain the D40LFs anymore as parts are becoming increasingly expensive and hard to find, while letting the issue of not having enough busses be a future them problem. Staff - Five new Full Time Positions - three new "DRT Ambassadors" which are essentially the roaming customer service reps like TTC, and YRT have.

Yes… this is to be summed up in my post I’ll make about the budget.

DRT actually notes that in the most recent General Manager’s report that they’re are working with partners to determine if they’ll be able to resume shuttle operations, but this decision is pending the completion of their review and the police investigation. so it’s unlikely, but not all hope is lost. I’ll sum up the rather underwhelming budget later.

I don’t think the vast majority of people who live in West Rouge care whatsoever. it’s been criticized by a few friends I have in the area for being a dinky, slow, and inconvenient fake bus. Which… to be fair, it is

Likely due to 7118-7122’ pending delivery

Likely yard shuffle between Willowbrook and East

Wow, I wonder what that means for DRT and TTC

The Vaccine buses go all throughout the province, they’ve been to North Bay, Cornwall and Collingwood before.

I actually meant to do this yesterday, I added 7118-7122 which are due for delivery in January, I couldn’t find a single mention of the purchase of these buses, much like 6117-6119 when they were delivered, however, DRT provided an updated roster that had these vehicles listed, and I confirmed that the 5 more PULSE 40’ Novas will be delivered then.

Not with GO at least, perhaps they were sold, but GO definitely does not have them anymore

7111 has entered service on route 901 - PULSE Simcoe 7104 and 7105 should be next ready for service 9106 entered service yesterday on the 900 - PULSE Highway 2

https://www.durhamregiontransit.com/en/about-us/resources/The-Route-Ahead-ACCESSIBLE.pdf

No reservations. It’s completely integrated into the regular transit network aside from the fares

It’s free

It was open to the general public as of last Tuesday. it then was not in service Wednesday-Friday. it ran on Saturday. and officially entered service today

https://blog.metrolinx.com/2021/11/02/crews-install-last-piece-of-track-for-eglinton-crosstown-lrt/

You’re not mistaken, November 1st is the date that all Metrolinx employees and any contractor providing service to the public must be fully vaccinated

Some good news coming out of GO Today as Metrolinx is preparing to increase speeds on the Kitchener Line through Guelph. • Increase from 10 mph to 20 mph starting October 25 • Increase from 20 mph to 30 mph starting November 15 • Increase from 30 mph to 45 mph starting December 6 hopefully this should soon result in shorter travel times between Kitchener and Guelph, but also reduce overall travel time on the entire line from London to Toronto https://blog.metrolinx.com/2021/10/13/moving-the-needle-on-kitchener-line-go-expansion-as-shorter-travel-times-start-to-become-reality/

6106 and 9107 have been delivered to Raleigh Division

To be fair, maybe the information you’ve heard may be implemented in part with the “Local Area Transit Plans” Section, where information currently is unavailable to the public (including myself)

I don’t believe anything came of it, nor will it if the item is reported back. Zero Fare hasn’t really been something they considered, it was Initially discussed after a councillor asked if removing fares would be beneficial for DRT, post fare suspension in March to July of 2020. TEC heard the presentation, saw the costs and were presented with alternatives on how that kind of investment could be better used, money that to be fair… doesn’t even currently exist. I don’t think we will be seeing any fare cut anytime soon