[chrisw]

Interesting, open payments and cash cost $1 more than Presto. And Youth only get a 10% discount.

 

[KawarthaTransiteer]

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:

• 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.

 

[Coolibop]

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).

 

[Bojaxs]

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).

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]

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:

• 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.

 

[421 harmony]

does anyone know about the 920B Anderson

 

[APTA-2048]

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]

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.

tf? another fire?

 

[generalcanada]

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]

• 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.

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]

Durham Region Council adopted its 2025 budget just before Christmas, and this is what DRT got under the tree:

Regional Council approves 2025 Business Plans and Budget including water and sewer rates

www.durham.ca

 

[Coolibop]

Durham Region Council adopted its 2025 budget just before Christmas, and this is what DRT got under the tree:

View attachment 622118

Regional Council approves 2025 Business Plans and Budget including water and sewer rates

www.durham.ca

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...

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]

any updates on 7103