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D40LF

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  • 3 weeks later...

KT will be running free buses for The Hip's concert streaming in Market Square, expected to bring 100,000+ to the city. I'd imagine there will be a lot of coaches running extra that night.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Picked up a new schedule today and noticed a "new" route! 18Q which is essentially a Sunday route 18 which runs later. Also not sure if this is new but route 20 has 15 minute service listed 

1469908053488-737339577.jpg

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19 hours ago, DanT said:

Picked up a new schedule today and noticed a "new" route! 18Q which is essentially a Sunday route 18 which runs later. Also not sure if this is new but route 20 has 15 minute service listed 

It looks like KT is really stepping up its game servicing Queen's University this round.  They also completely reconfigured the late night 17.  Runs up and down Brock and Johnson in addition to Union.

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On 7/30/2016 at 3:47 PM, DanT said:

Picked up a new schedule today and noticed a "new" route! 18Q which is essentially a Sunday route 18 which runs later. Also not sure if this is new but route 20 has 15 minute service listed 

1469908053488-737339577.jpg

I have already seen the new schedules up at the Metro bus stops, however I do not remember seeing 18Q on there. I wonder if they forgot to print it?

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On 7/30/2016 at 3:47 PM, DanT said:

Picked up a new schedule today and noticed a "new" route! 18Q which is essentially a Sunday route 18 which runs later. Also not sure if this is new but route 20 has 15 minute service listed 

1469908053488-737339577.jpg

18...Q? Weird name, but ok...

The bit about waiting 30 minutes for late trains/buses is interesting.. this is likely specifically intended for VIA train #648 from Toronto, which is scheduled to arrive in Kingston around 9:10PM but is typically delayed to around 9:30-9:40, which until now has forced passengers to often take a cab.

 

On 7/31/2016 at 11:06 AM, Lenz said:

It looks like KT is really stepping up its game servicing Queen's University this round.  They also completely reconfigured the late night 17.  Runs up and down Brock and Johnson in addition to Union.

The main reason is because in 2015 the student association at Queens agreed to have the annual fee for the student bus pass raised from $45 to $65. That, combined with enrollment increases at Queen's (by 2018 there will be 1,200 more undergrads than there were in 2014), means KT is getting a more revenue from the student bus pass program. This means KT is a lot more willing to spend extra money on student-oriented service than it was in the past.

As for the change to Route 17... do you have more info? (I'm in Ottawa at the moment so I don't have access to the maps). Is the route also getting straighter as well? Route 17 is so windy it's almost comical with some streets being looped on multiple times in the same run....

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On 8/1/2016 at 11:40 AM, Generator.edu said:

I have already seen the new schedules up at the Metro bus stops, however I do not remember seeing 18Q on there. I wonder if they forgot to print it?

Hmm.. maybe; it's on the reverse side with the express schedules

22 hours ago, 1overcosc said:

 

I've never really paid attention to it's routing before, but here's the new map!

13918749_10209618142361173_149223629_o.jpg

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I see KT still forgets about the rest of the city. Years ago there were complaints about the preferred treatment that Queen's gets.

I have to agree with them, so what if they pay for service, so does everyone else!

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In the past, when Kingston Transit service was far poorer than it is today, Queen's students were more or less the only ones who consistently rode the bus.

These days... a weird point to make. There's the express bus network the city just spent millions on, it services the whole city and is focused on commuters, not students. 

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2 hours ago, D40LF said:

Right, but when does the service end? Queen's always got later service which didn't do anything to help others get home after a late night out on the town.

All routes, both local and express, have the same hours of service; to ~11PM Monday-Saturday and ~8PM on Sunday.

The 17 route does serve the downtown area after those hours, but it's a charter route paid for entirely by the university, on top of the fees that students already pay to access the system. Most trips of the 18 are also funded like this as well.

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14 hours ago, 1overcosc said:

All routes, both local and express, have the same hours of service; to ~11PM Monday-Saturday and ~8PM on Sunday.

The 17 route does serve the downtown area after those hours, but it's a charter route paid for entirely by the university, on top of the fees that students already pay to access the system. Most trips of the 18 are also funded like this as well.

2300 is still early. I currently go out of service at 2300 and that is considered early, other buses are out there until 2630 (0230AM in normal talk). The last buses leave downtown at 2420 and some people say that we finish too early!

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There seems to be very little interest from KT in extending service hours. We've seen huge investment in new routes and new frequencies, but the hours of service have been completely unchanged throughout the whole transformation process that's been ongoing since 2010.

When KT was doing consultations for what should be in the next 5 year plan (covering 2017-21) I submitted as my suggestion that end of service should be moved to midnight Monday-Saturday and 10pm Sunday; with the express routes continuing to 2am on Fridays and Saturdays.

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5 hours ago, 1overcosc said:

There seems to be very little interest from KT in extending service hours. We've seen huge investment in new routes and new frequencies, but the hours of service have been completely unchanged throughout the whole transformation process that's been ongoing since 2010.

Unless somebody else, like Queen's, is willing to pay for it.

I always found KT to be reactive not proactive to changes.

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On 2016-08-05 at 10:26 PM, 1overcosc said:

There seems to be very little interest from KT in extending service hours. We've seen huge investment in new routes and new frequencies, but the hours of service have been completely unchanged throughout the whole transformation process that's been ongoing since 2010.

When KT was doing consultations for what should be in the next 5 year plan (covering 2017-21) I submitted as my suggestion that end of service should be moved to midnight Monday-Saturday and 10pm Sunday; with the express routes continuing to 2am on Fridays and Saturdays.

I've always been amazed people don't flame the system more for having bad hours. The system shuts down entirely after 8 on Sunday. As people have said before in this thread, KT is trying to make it's service better, and seem more like a large system. The hours really don't reflect their efforts.

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Back in April I went to one of the public meetings KT was holding to get ideas for its 5 year plan.

A couple people (including myself) brought up hours of service; but it wasn't a common theme.. the main thing people complained about lack of service to places like Westbrook or Highway 15 & Highway 401, and fares (which is funny because KT fares are a lot lower than Ottawa or Toronto).

In my opinion, the early end to service on Sunday is the single worst deficiency in the entire system, and should be the #1 priority for new transit funding. Extending Sunday hours to 10pm would only cost about $200k-$300k (rough estimate by looking at the number of buses required to run the Sunday schedule and the approximate figure of $100 per service hour), which is a pretty small pittance considering City Council had to add millions to KT's subsidy to fund the express system.

Heck, the margin by which ridership growth has exceeded expectations in the past 2 years should be enough to fund it.

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1 hour ago, 1overcosc said:

In my opinion, the early end to service on Sunday is the single worst deficiency in the entire system, and should be the #1 priority for new transit funding. Extending Sunday hours to 10pm would only cost about $200k-$300k (rough estimate by looking at the number of buses required to run the Sunday schedule and the approximate figure of $100 per service hour), which is a pretty small pittance considering City Council had to add millions to KT's subsidy to fund the express system.

Heck, the margin by which ridership growth has exceeded expectations in the past 2 years should be enough to fund it.

I'd wish they'd have done that by now! I rarely go out after 6 on Sundays because the end of service day is near + hourly service on locals! Heck, I remember when service would end at 5 on Sundays; that was terrible! :lol:

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I was on the bus today and noticed the "stop requested" sign at the front has been replaced by an LCD display showing the current time.  Now when there is a stop request, it alternates between showing the time and the text "Stops at".  Seems strange.  I'm wondering if it's supposed to display "Stops at <<name of next stop>>" but it hasn't been completely programmed yet. 

Also wondering it perhaps this will replace the current GPS system.  I chatted with a driver downtown at the Princess St Promenade and he said in the next 12-18 months they hope to have a real-time GPS system available to riders.

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1 hour ago, Teddy said:

I was on the bus today and noticed the "stop requested" sign at the front has been replaced by an LCD display showing the current time.  Now when there is a stop request, it alternates between showing the time and the text "Stops at".  Seems strange.  I'm wondering if it's supposed to display "Stops at <<name of next stop>>" but it hasn't been completely programmed yet.

Do you remember the bus you were on? If not, what route?

 

1 hour ago, Teddy said:

Also wondering it perhaps this will replace the current GPS system.  I chatted with a driver downtown at the Princess St Promenade and he said in the next 12-18 months they hope to have a real-time GPS system available to riders.

That would be very interesting. I remember when I lived in Marseille, some of the buses had a full color LCD display near the rear doors, with route information, name of next stop, ETA for next stop, time, and if it was stopping or not. However, not many buses actually had this, and I noticed that some of the newer buses didn't have it either, or it wasn't working on them yet. But the point is, it was extremely helpful. I took the bus frequently when I lived there, and I always breathed a sigh of relief when one of those buses came to my stop. I really hope this LCD will bear fruit, because it will make the system so much better.

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4 minutes ago, Generator.edu said:

Do you remember the bus you were on? If not, what route?

Forgot to include that. Was bus 0728 on route 4. I was on route 502 a couple weeks ago on an XD40 but I don't remember specifically. Didn't have this new sign. 

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20 hours ago, Teddy said:

I was on the bus today and noticed the "stop requested" sign at the front has been replaced by an LCD display showing the current time.  Now when there is a stop request, it alternates between showing the time and the text "Stops at".  Seems strange.  I'm wondering if it's supposed to display "Stops at <<name of next stop>>" but it hasn't been completely programmed yet. 

Also wondering it perhaps this will replace the current GPS system.  I chatted with a driver downtown at the Princess St Promenade and he said in the next 12-18 months they hope to have a real-time GPS system available to riders.

Interesting, any signs of external announcements? I believe a clause in an Ontarians with disabilities act put forward by the government has that pegged to be on all systems by 2017; some coaches have speakers just above the front entry door already 

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21 hours ago, DanT said:

Interesting, any signs of external announcements? I believe a clause in an Ontarians with disabilities act put forward by the government has that pegged to be on all systems by 2017; some coaches have speakers just above the front entry door already 

Not that I noticed, wonder if it's coming.

Was on route 501 this morning on my way to work, the bus didn't have the new LCD sign.   I don't recall which bus specifically it was, I think it was 1359 or 1360.

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