Durham Region Transit

[brianc1981]

41 minutes ago, John Oke said:

When could we start to see more local routes return?

From what I understand is most local routes that were cancelled are gone and will be partially replaced by these new loop type routes starting next year 

[Uwe]

That’s some great writing.  How do you explain the departure from their recently approved service strategy?

[senzation#3]

2 hours ago, Uwe said:

That’s some great writing.  How do you explain the departure from their recently approved service strategy?

Well, that was quick. I would assume that either ridership have been exceeding expectations OR that DRT realized that they have enough funds to accelerate the service strategy by the end of 2023 with an additional 10-12 PULSE routes

[senzation#3]

20 hours ago, 110B West Pickering said:

really hate to be “this guy” but I’d argue lots of this is highly inaccurate, but appreciate that you’re reporting the information you have on hand. 

I sit on the Durham Region Transit Advisory Committee, resulting from this I have the opportunity to speak with higher ups on a regular monthly basis, including 

- Bill Holmes (General Manager)

- Christopher Norris (Deputy GM, Operations) and 

- Michael Binetti (Lead Service design and Scheduling)

Everything related to DRT service, routes and whatnot, goes through at least one of these three gentlemen, and gets reported in Service Update overviews, and service plan approvals at the monthly Transit Executive Committee meetings.

I didn't know you were on the Durham Region Transit Advisory Committee. There was a report that from a couple months back that DRT was considering to explore zero-fare transit in order to recover the ridership to pre-pandemic levels. In the report, DRT mentioned that they're doing a study whether is possible to implement zero-fare transit temporarily. DRT also said that the study report must be completed this fall. My question to you is that is the study report already completed or is it still in the process? 

[brianc1981]

On 10/14/2021 at 12:04 AM, 110B West Pickering said:

really hate to be “this guy” but I’d argue lots of this is highly inaccurate, but appreciate that you’re reporting the information you have on hand. 

I sit on the Durham Region Transit Advisory Committee, resulting from this I have the opportunity to speak with higher ups on a regular monthly basis, including 

- Bill Holmes (General Manager)

- Christopher Norris (Deputy GM, Operations) and 

- Michael Binetti (Lead Service design and Scheduling)

Everything related to DRT service, routes and whatnot, goes through at least one of these three gentlemen, and gets reported in Service Update overviews, and service plan approvals at the monthly Transit Executive Committee meetings.

Pretty well none, of what was mentioned has ever had motion in the eyes of council. 

In fact, recently Durham Region Transit began implementation of “The Route Ahead 2022-2025 Service Plan”

I just took info I had got from a phone call I had with someone at the region. I wrote down everything I was told and reported it. The reason I was told for all of these changes was because they are looking to boost ridership as soon as possible, as well as the fact that ridership and ridership patterns will change due to covid. A lot of the stuff he discussed with me was stuff that was talked about in the last 2 months or so. 

I had called in to the region to find out what was going on with routes like the 920 not running to Oshawa on the weekend, or the fact that to get to a whole new development such as Windfield farms the bus that goes by there is running every 90 minutes and anything else you have to walk a substantial distance too. The gentleman that called me back from the planning department said that all the growth and all the development permits issued in the region over the last 12 months has changed where bus service needs to be implemented. He also said that some of the areas they were planning to see redevelopment in has been pushed more so lately. Some areas they expected development starting in 2023 or later and now there are whole subdivisions being built. He also said that with the 2 amazon warehouses it is estimated that many people will travel into durham from Vaughn and Toronto among other areas and will need to get to work, hence the service running to Cornell terminal. He also said in the last 6 months there have been approximately 1000 enquiries as to why there is no direct routing to the Amazon warehouse just off Markham road and Steeles from Pickering. The gentleman I spoke to also pointed out a lot of what is in the Route Ahead 2022-2025 service plan stops short of a lot of the regions needs currently and he said that a lot of those ideas will be implemented but at the same time a lot of things that he told me and I wrote above is stuff that needs to happen faster to allow for the other services to work. He said that currently with all the demand to the 2 Amazon warehouses and the 1 off Steeles they need to build these routes fast. They also need to get more service that connects neighbourhoods to the bus services running across the region. 

As for all the Pulse routes, he said that there are plans for 10-12. As we know there is the existing 900 and 901. There will be an official changeover of the 902, 905, 915 and 916. So that brings it up to 6. There is going to be a Pulse bus from Cornell along 7/Winchester that will operate into Brooklin and then go down to Whitby Station. He told me there will be a new Pulse bus that will operate into Newcastle, but the details were not finalized but he said it would probably be a branch service of the 902, but it would probably start at Harmony terminal to Liberty road and down. He also talked about possibly having the 920 as a form of Pulse service. He also told me there are plans to run back to Davis/404 and run it more often. He said ridership was low when it ran before but it was because of how limited the service was and as a region they have heard many people who what that service back. 

If some of this stuff I was told turns out to be wrong then I will be happy to be proven wrong, but I would really hope most of this service is accurate as he did provide great ideas for improving service and to allow runs to run more often in certain areas then before. He also stated that these new routes that are being proposed would be a great way to restore service in some areas without have low ridership routes or duplication of services in some areas. The idea of running the 915 with less stops also works well for the fact that the local bus routes that would run along parts of Taunton would take more people to transfer point stops. 

I think these are good ideas and I hope they do implement a lot of this stuff but if not I do trust that whatever they build serves Durham well because it is clear this system is broken right now and is being held together by bandaid fixes and a lot of that was due to the cuts in service because of the pandemic. 

[brianc1981]

20 hours ago, 110B West Pickering said:

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)

And to be fair, this information could also be someone spewing ideas that have not been discussed or voted on yet. He could just be talking out of his ass so far. But the reason I posted it is that there is a lot of good ideas there and I truly thing implementing them would be good for Durham and to improve the ridership. Personally I think the best way to improve ridership is to lower fares while adding extra service across the region. 

[J. Bullock]

On 10/20/2021 at 1:26 PM, brianc1981 said:

And to be fair, this information could also be someone spewing ideas that have not been discussed or voted on yet. He could just be talking out of his ass so far. But the reason I posted it is that there is a lot of good ideas there and I truly thing implementing them would be good for Durham and to improve the ridership. Personally I think the best way to improve ridership is to lower fares while adding extra service across the region. 

Lower fares and enhanced service is a bit of an oxymoron. A lot of service enhancements are costed by farebox return. Subsidized costs on monthly passes and single ride tickets are more obtainable. Free service for those under 12, the U-Pass program and Access Passes already break down barriers to access when it comes to public transit. DRT fares are on par with the rest of the local systems under the Metrolinx umbrella.

[John Oke]

4 hours ago, Gamer Studios said:

Isn't 6106 from Westney?

Could it be 7106 possibly? 

[FutureHeartsJunkie]

Out of curiosity (and sorry if this has been mentioned recently), but it is uncommon to see a non-Pulse branded DRT bus - to operate the 900 and 901 bus routes?

Also, I was wondering if the OnDemand services will be expanded to serve the other areas where the pre-pandemic routes used to operate (notably the (theoretically) terminated 225 Audley North for example)? 

[J. Bullock]

On 10/25/2021 at 10:52 AM, Gamer Studios said:

To answer your first question...no...its been happening almost every day. This is partly due to whatever units they have available in the event of a breakdown

It's also because of some runs interlining with Pulse/Non-Pulse routes, in particular N1.

[TTC Birchmount]

I rode the 7:07am trip on the 920 from McCowan Station for the first time twice this week and both days there was a full seated load by the time the bus reached Port Union and Kingston Rd.

 

I wonder if DRT will consider adding one or two more trips in the morning peak considering there seems to be the demand.

[TTC Birchmount]

2 hours ago, Gamer Studios said:

They do have peak trips but those run from Pick Pkwy Term to Simcoe and Founders.

Sorry, guess I wasn’t clear enough. I meant extra trips in the morning from McCowan.

[Gil]

On 8/14/2021 at 1:38 PM, John Oke said:

I’ve noticed in Whitby south of Victoria there are new signs up for the autonomous shuttle telling drivers to slow down, it looks like they’re still planning on going ahead with it as well, by the parks along the lake there are also what looks like little platforms for it. 

I had to search for a reference to the autonomous shuttle service which apparently debuted this week:

CTV Toronto: Inside look at Durham's new autonomous shuttle

The piece mentions it's Canada's first integrated autonomous shuttle service.  Does the TTC pilot project in West Hill not count?  It took a little more digging to find information on DRT's route 300 which still has a "coming soon" banner on DRT's website (route map).

The shuttle route

The six-kilometre shuttle route will begin and end at the Whitby GO Transit station, making a loop through the Port Whitby area (in south Whitby).

Once public ridership begins, the shuttle service will be integrated into the existing Durham Region Transit (DRT) schedule (External link)as Route 300. The shuttle will operate weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. in off-peak times to minimize traffic impact on the community, and on weekends between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m.

[Tom1122]

I heard the DRT route 300 is now supposed to start on Monday when I went to try to ride the bus. It was parked in the station's south parking lot.

[Tom1122]

Can anyone confirm if the shuttle started running today or there was another delay?

[Bus_Medic]

9 hours ago, 110B West Pickering said:

It’s free

If it’s anything like the Rouge hill automated shuttle though, reservations are required for contact tracing.

[2044]

On 11/3/2021 at 8:59 PM, Gil said:

I had to search for a reference to the autonomous shuttle service which apparently debuted this week:

CTV Toronto: Inside look at Durham's new autonomous shuttle

The piece mentions it's Canada's first integrated autonomous shuttle service.  Does the TTC pilot project in West Hill not count?  It took a little more digging to find information on DRT's route 300 which still has a "coming soon" banner on DRT's website (route map).

The shuttle route

The six-kilometre shuttle route will begin and end at the Whitby GO Transit station, making a loop through the Port Whitby area (in south Whitby).

Once public ridership begins, the shuttle service will be integrated into the existing Durham Region Transit (DRT) schedule (External link)as Route 300. The shuttle will operate weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. in off-peak times to minimize traffic impact on the community, and on weekends between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m.

The West Hill shuttle was supposed to start in October, but I’ve heard nothing lately of a start date.

[DavidH]

Transit Toronto did a video in the shuttle, including a ride along.

[Bus_Medic]

Autonomous….but with an attendant. Cool.

Gotta find childcare arrangements for grocery shopping too. What a disaster.

[J. Bullock]

On 11/13/2021 at 11:40 AM, Bus_Medic said:

Autonomous….but with an attendant. Cool.

Gotta find childcare arrangements for grocery shopping too. What a disaster.

The attendant isn't permanent, just temporary until the trial run is done, this is to ensure safety and reliability, in case the vehicle malfunctions and manual control is required.

The child limitation also has to do with liability. The Region doesn't want the onus on them, and rightfully so. Children on public transport can sometimes be a handful... I'm sure these regulations will be dropped when the trial period is over.

 

[FutureHeartsJunkie]

This just in...

 

[DavidH]

25 minutes ago, FutureHeartsJunkie said:

This just in...

 

 

[Bus_Medic]

In light of new information arising about the Attendant’s critical injuries, I’m editing this post accordingly. 
 

I wish them a speedy recovery.

[Articulated]

I think the only thing more concerning to me than the fact that one of these crashed (so quickly into the pilot, mind you) is that the on-board operator was unable to stop it before it left the roadway and collided with the tree. There's gonna need to be a lot of questions surrounding how even the "fail-safe" couldn't prevent the accident from occurring.

[DavidH]