Going Out of Service

I’ve had this blog for just over two years now and while that’s not very long in may ways, it seems like an eternity in human terms.  When I started, I had twins on the way; they’re now happy, healthy, and active toddlers who naturally take up quite a bit of my free time.

Work is busier than it has ever been, and there seems like there is never enough time for all of those personal projects and interests I’d like to work on.

On a transit front, I’ve written quite a bit about frustrations and suggestions on transit in Durham Region.  We’ve seen the Metrolinx Regional Transportation Plan be developed and early work on implementation begin.  GO Transit has made significant announcements and it’s clear that work is well underway towards their “GO2020” plan.

Locally, work is underway on the Highway 2 BRT and other projects, but there hasn’t been any significant improvement in local transit since 2007.  Last year brought budget cuts and this year will see some modest service improvements but not the larger changes that are so needed.

I’ve written at length about the reasons why progress has been slow.  The biggest problem is funding – while DRT’s budget has increased significantly, we all know that fuel prices have been an enormous problem over the past few years, even if they have moderated a bit.  DRT simply hasn’t had the funding to make the kind of aggressive service increases I’d like to see.  The staff are more than capable of building the kind of transit system I want – every one of DRT’s senior staff that I’ve been fortunate enough to meet has impressed me with their ability and their desire.  The problem is solely one of money.

And yet, most Durham Region residents are going to be hard to convince to switch to transit.  Durham was built for cars, and it’s hard to imagine any transit service competing with the convenience of cars in spread-out areas.  Over time, denser development will come to Durham but that will be a long and slow process; in the meantime, we’re still building shopping areas that virtually require that customers use a car.

There will be transit wins coming over the next few years, including the Highway 2 BRT, implementation of the Presto fare card, and further improved DRT service (I hope).  On the GO side, extension of train service to Clarington has just gone into an Environmental Assessment process, half hourly off-peak service on Lakeshore is coming in the next year, and there are other good things coming.

But none of these upcoming improvements are coming soon.  They will take a while.  This leaves me with relatively little to say right now and not all that much available time or energy to say it with.  It seems to me that I’ve said pretty much anything I can say without resorting to general grumpiness, and I don’t want to write that kind of a blog.  My hope was always that this blog would be a constructive voice – critical, yes, but also fair.

With that, it’s time to make official what my declining numbers of posts has likely already made clear.  This blog is going out of service and heading into the garage.  I will keep the content online for whatever resource value it has, and I will continue to accept comments.  And who knows, at some point in the future I may reawaken this blog or start a new blog on another topic.  That might be a more generalized blog covering transit but also other things of interest to me.

In the meantime, I am going to continue to participate on the DRT Long Term Transit Study Community Advisory Committee, and I will still be online at places like Urbantoronto.ca.

I thank all of my regular readers and the friends that I have met doing this (Karem and Andy in particular), and I also thank DRT staff for listening to what I’ve had to say and taking what was – at times – harsh criticism with true professionalism.

Thanks to all.  It’s been a fun ride.

Small changes

I’ve been feeling rather pessimistic about the short-term changes of significantly better transit in Durham Region, given the relative lack of 2009 service improvements.  There are a few, but not a whole lot.

The problem, of course, is one of cost.  DRT is nowhere near full farebox recover,  nor should we ever expect them to be, as it’s just a bad idea.  We need to accept the model that transit is good for so many reasons and needs to subsidized at an appropriate level.  This doesn’t mean transit fares should be free, but we can’t expect per-ride fares to completely cover the bills.

DRT has also been a victim of significant fuel cost increases that have created operational deficits the past two years.  The solution this year was to budget for a higher-than-current fuel cost.  This should help guarantee that the service doesn’t go into deficit this year, but it starves DRT of money that could otherwise be used for service improvements.  The worst aspect of this is that if fuel prices stay at the current levels, DRT will not get to use the cash that has been saved for other purposes.

Given the state of the economy and inevitable political pressures, I doubt it would have been possible for DRT to get more money. Realistically, we all know that another $50 in property taxes would not have made anyone lose their home – but the political optics simply didn’t allow for more.

Ultimately, the provincial government needs to step up and provide operational funding as it once did (prior to 1995’s cutbacks by the Harris government), relieving the pressure on local property taxes.  Ontario is showing increasing signs of being serious about greenhouse gases (see last week’s Clean Energy Act) and providing a proper funding basis for local transit is something that desperately needs to be addressed. 

And yet, in this bleak environment, DRT is taking a small step but important step to improve service at low cost.  Effective March 9, Ajax and Pickering routes will have schedule adjustments to improve their coordination with GO trains.  For example, in Ajax, most routes will depart the GO station five minutes later than is currently the case.  This means that passengers won’t have to run to make their connection, and there will be a greater window if the train is a bit late.

This is a sensible change.  While we ultimately need more frequent service, that’s not possible right now, and this change is something that can be done now for very little cost.

Details are on the DRT web site.

Tough Times for Transit

The DRT 2009 service plan is undergoing approval by Regional council and committees.  It contains some modest service increases on a handful of overstressed routes serving UOIT such as 915 and 401.  There is a five cent increase in the cost of all tickets except for co-fare, and commensurate increases in the price of ten ride fares and passes.  The DRT-GO fare agreement, subject of much concern over the past month remains, although DRT will engage a consultant to determine an approach to phasing it out once DRT begins to assume service on Highway 2 through the upcoming BRT.  DRT will move into high gear on BRT implementation work as well as the Presto fare card system, and DRT will purchase 10 replacement 40’ buses and one “expansion” bus, meaning that fleet renewal will continue but with the most modest expansion possible.

This is very thin gruel indeed for Durham transit riders who will now live through a second “lost year” in a row in which DRT was not provided the funding to make the substantial increases in service that are needed to complete the promise of a truly unified and useful system promised back in 2005 when Regional Council passed a bylaw merging the various municipal transit systems under the regional umbrella.  As just some examples, there are still no DRT-operated service connecting the lakeshore communities via Highway 2 or Bayly-Bloor-Victoria although both remain on the books.  Routes in Ajax and Pickering remain designed solely for the use of servicing GO commuters and not for more generalized usage.  Evening and Sunday service is generally poor.

Of course, DRT staff are well aware of all of these shortcomings, and no fault should be applied to them.  The issue here is solely one of a lack of funding to match the vision Council had for DRT.  Granted, we have now entered a recession and many Durham residents have been hit hard, either having lost a job or fearing for the stability of the job they have.

And it’s also true that public support for substantially enhanced transit within Durham is simply not there.  Sure, there are a great many who will cheer enhanced GO train services (such as the half-hourly off-peak service on the Lakeshore line that is promised for within a year.  Within the region, though, we all know that car usage remains king and political support for moving drivers onto transit is weak.

I honestly don’t know what the answer is.  I’d like to see the province move to its pre-1995 transit funding levels and substantially fund the operational costs of transit systems within the province, but it’s hard to see the province taking that on in the next few years.  Funding the capital spending of the Metrolinx plan is going to be a challenge, unless the government develops the will to impose fuel, parking, or road charges on car drivers to pay for transit operations – and that will is lacking at present.

On a smaller note, the province should allow Durham and other municipalities to levy transit development charges that do not reflect the average service level of the past ten years.  That’s fine for water service or other development-related costs, but transit is different. A  larger municipality needs exponentially more transit than a smaller community, and the current requirements prevent Durham Region from using development charges to substantially increase DRT’s service levels.  The province should do this immediately – it is a key recommendation of the Metrolinx plan – and would cost the provincial treasury nothing.

Until these changes happen, though, transit operational funding will remain in the hands of our municipal politicians, and they are going to need to step up and provide the needed funding.  Yes, DRT spending has increased over the four years of its existance, but substantial further increases are needed.  Transit is expensive, and Council knew that when DRT was created.  The recession might justify a slow down of those funding increases, but Council should commit to Durham residents that DRT will receive the funding needed to become a complete service within the next five years.

407 Extension to be tolled

According to a provincial news release today, the 407 extension will be built by the province and owned by the province, but operated as a toll road.  The province would regulate the tolls.  No word over whether the 407 Consortium that operates the current 407 segments would operate tolls on the extension.  Certainly, having the consortium handle the tolling would be an effective way to avoid double-tolling – or perhaps the province could negotiate with the Consortium to bring the tolling aspects of both the old and new segments until provincial control, while the ownership and setting of tolls on the old segments could remain with a Consortium.

I’m quite sure that most Durham residents would prefer the extension and the two north-south connector highways be toll-free.  We have to be realistic, though – the rest of the 407 is tolled and it would be politically very hard to avoid tolls on this segment.  Further, road pricing is likely to be even more widespread in the future as a way of discouraging driving in favour of transit usage, and as a way of having the costs of infastructure funded in direct part by the people who will use it.  That likelihood made it even less likely that this new highway would be toll free.  The good news for many will be that the province expects tolls to be lower than on the existing segments of the 407.

A small note in the news release indicates that the province expects to release a Request for Proposals for construction of the extension later this year.  While the long history of this extension makes me reluctant to say it’s a done deal, there is more and more indication that the extension will happen and that residents can expect to see significant construction by next year.

Final 407 Public Information Centres

The 407 Extension Environmental Assessment is nearing the end of the process and is expected to be submitted to the provincial government in June.  Coming up over the next few weeks are the final set of public information centres.  These are intended to present the Technically Preferred Route (TPR) for the transportation corridor, including additional route refinements and the location / size of support facilities for the corridor.

I will post links to the display boards for these meetings when they become available online, which should be sometime next week.  For those planning on attending in person, the locations and times are:

Clarington Area
Tues., Jan. 27, 2009
4:00pm to 8:00pm
Garnett B Richard Recreation Complex
2440 Highway 2
Bowmanville

Whitby Area
Wed., Jan. 28, 2009
4:00pm to 8:00pm
Faith Baptist Church
95 Taunton Road East
Whitby

Pickering/Ajax Area
Thurs., Jan. 29, 2009
4:00pm to 8:00pm
Ajax Community Centre, HMS Room
75 Centennial Road
Ajax

Oshawa Area
Tues., Feb. 3, 2009
4:00pm to 8:00pm
General Sikorski’s Polish Veteran’s Club
1551 Stevenson Road N
Oshawa

Peterborough Area
Monday., Feb. 2, 2009 (NOTE: changed date)
6:00pm to 9:00pm
Peterborough Public Library
345 Aylmer Street North
Peterborough

More on GO-DRT Fare Agreement

Rita Szekely of Metroland has written an article that provides more details on DRT’s proposal to cut the GO-DRT fare agreement.

The proposal is a result of an $800,000 budget DRT budget deficit.  One of the key issues is that DRT is being asked to budget $1.20/L for diesel fuel, as a precaution against increased fuel prices.  We’re all aware of the volatility that fuel prices have had over the past few years.  DRT states that if they budget $1.08 for fuel prices, they would be able to meet the guideline without cuts, but that would of course leave them vulnerable should fuel prices increase.

Finance Commissioner  Jim Clapp stated “Let’s get [fuel prices] under control”.  I wholly agree with this sentiment, but I do wonder why DRT has not considered entering into fixed-price fuel contracts.  True, these contracts can cost you more if free-market prices end up staying lower than the contract price, but they allow certainty on fuel pricing and that is critical for transit planning.  We haven’t seen the TTC adversely affected by fuel price volatility, and that is because the TTC is protected by its fuel contract.  DRT should consider the same.

In my previous post, I mentioned that the Finance Department staff recommended that DRT be asked to prepare a business case.  Instead, the Finance Committee (e.g. the politicians, rather than the staff) chose to proceed with budget talks at the February 4 Transit Executive Committee, which will be a joint meeting with Finance.  A more detailed discussion will occur at that time, but Rita states that the finance committee did not seem supportive of axing the agreement.

I’m hopeful that more detailed discussion at the February 4 meeting will provide a path through this that results in DRT being able to keep the GO agreement in effect and provide the planned 2009 service increases. 

Regular readers will know that I have frequently been disappointed with DRT’s service levels and with its inability to provide planned service increases in the past.  Despite the fact that DRT is getting a 12% increase in its budget for 2009, our politicians really have to ask themselves whether transit is a priority for them, and if it is, provide the dollars necessary.  If more money is needed than it is feasible to fund from property taxes, Regional Council needs to start making the case – loudly – that provincial operational funding is needed, as once existed prior to its elimination during the years of the Mike Harris government.  Instead, Council is silent and Durham residents have to accept transit service that fits into a limited budget rather than the service that we know is needed.

GO/DRT Fare Agreement in Jeopardy

I’m in receipt of a Durham Region Finance and Administration (F&A) Committee report stating that DRT staff are recommending the elimination of the DRT/GO fare agreement that allows riders to use GO buses within Durham for a DRT fare.   No offsetting service improvements would be made, which would mean that – most significantly – Durham Region residents would be left without a way to take transit along our most important corridor – Highway 2 – for a standard DRT fare for the next few years until BRT service begins.

While no reason is given, it doesn’t take much reading between the lines to see this as a cost-saving measure given that the program costs $2.8 million for 2008  for a program that has attracted approximately 790,000 riders.

The report states that given the significance of the fare agreement, a business case analysis needs to review the impacts including service level and operating impacts, capital ridership and operating cost impacts, impact to riders and ridership, negotiations with GO Transit and consistency with the overall provincial philosophy of service integration.  The tone of the F&A report is one of skepticism, so perhaps this ill-conceived proposal will suffer a quick death. The report recommends delaying the DRT 2009 Transit Servicing and Financing study until March in order to properly consider this issue.

While I sympathize with DRT’s budget concerns, the idea of leaving Highway 2 with no DRT-fare-level service is simply unacceptable and would represent a massive step backwards after three years.  It would be a slap in the face to cut what DRT staff readily acknowledge has been an extremely successful program without putting alternative services in place.  Yes, service on Highway 2 should be provided by DRT rather than GO, but until DRT is ready to take on the burden of providing that service itself, the GO fare agreement provides a ready alternative.

It’s very sad, in light of this week’s leak of a Metrolinx report on fare integration and their lack of success in promoting such at the TTC. Here in Durham Region, we have a form of integration and we’re proposing to go backwards, yet again.  I urge regional councillors to reject this proposal and to allocate the monies necessary for a truly useful service increase in 2009.

Happy New Year!

Well, I’m a little bit late getting started on writing for the new year.  The past week and a half has been challenging given that both of the little ones have been both sick and teething, and I’ve had some dental problems of my own.  All of that has led to me being severely sleep challenged and having no energy for anything “optional”.  Things are settling down, and it’s time to get started.

First up, what are the big items coming up in the coming months for Durham transit riders and advocates:

• The Durham Long Term Transit study has kicked off and will be progressing through the year.  There will be a series of public meetings, with the first coming in March.  In addition, I’m participating as part of the Citizen’s Advisory Committee, so I’m sure there will be lots of interesting things to talk about later this year.
• The Region’s budget process is getting underway soon and this means we’ll learn what DRT has in store for us in 2009.  Original plans were for significant service increases this year, but the decision of Council to cut back the property tax increase target from 4.5% to 4% may have some impact here.  We’ll know in just a few weeks.
• DRT has participated in a joint bus order managed by Metrolinx, and so there will be another order of New Flyer new buses this year.  I don’t have final numbers yet, but we can expect most of the buses to arrive in the summer.  Production is targeted to begin around May.
• GO Transit has released their GO 2020 plan for service improvements over the next 12 years.  I’ve already posted on it but I hope to cover some of the points in more detail here soon.
• And of course, Metrolinx continues to push their plans forward.  The focus now is on creating “Benefits Case Analysis” studies for each plan.  The Highway 2 BRT will go into this process later this year (which will target the full implementation, not the initial “quick win” phase).  Before that, we should see studies on electrification of the GO Lakeshore line and on the extension and upgrade of the Scarborough RT line.  The latter seems likely to interconnect to the planned Eglinton LRT line, providing an alternate east-west option for Durham commuters connecting to STC via GO or DRT routes.

In the meantime, I hope that the first two weeks of 2009 have been good to you – other than for the snow and cold weather we’ve all endured!

DRT Holiday Service

DRT has posted a page with details of service over the holidays.  Unfortunately, DRT has not linked to this page from their main site page and so some readers may not have been able to find this information.

The page is located here.  I’m not going to post all of the contents directly on my blog in case the details, but some important points follow.

In Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa, and Clarington:

• No service on Christmas Day.  I understand the desire to give DRT staff a well-deserved day with their families.  I’m looking forward to doing the same with my family, after all.  Still, one of these years, it’ll be nice to have normal Sunday service on Christmas Day so that those without cars and unable to pay cab fare will have an option.
• Boxing Day will be Sunday service; New Year’s Day will be Sunday/Holiday service.  There is a difference, so I suggest checking your individual route to see the details.
• DRT will meet early GO trains on December 24th, and – in Whitby and Oshawa only – on December 31.
• Extended service to 2:00 am on New Year’s Eve, and free service from 8:00 pm on New Year’s Eve.
• Please see the link above for details of train meets on December 31.

In Brock, Scugog, and Uxbridge:

• No community bus service on December 24, 25, 26, 31, and January 1, and 2

Durham Region Transit Long Term Study

A long-awaited study into providing a long-term plan for Durham Region Transit is kicking into gear, with extensive work including public meetings planned for 2009 beginning in March. 

The web site is at http://www.durhamlongtermtransitstrategy.ca.  Right now, it’s fairly skeletal but there is promise of newsletters and reports being made available beginning in 2009.

In full disclosure, I’ve been asked to participate on the Community Advisory Committee for this study.  I encourage others to apply for the Committee via their site, as well.  It’s important that there be as much public involvement as possible.

This is a significant study being funded by a $2.5 million federal contribution announced in 2007.  Originally it had seemed targeted at helping refine Durham’s BRT plans in advance of funding it.  Of course, the Metrolinx RTP includes the Hwy 2 corridor, with $88 miilion in funding for the initial Quick Win phase already provided by the province.  The final version of the line, which is likely to include road widening and separation of the route from traffic, will be studied by Metrolinx in a Benefits Case Analysis in 2009, and is included in Metrolinx’s five year list of priorities.

Given this, I’m not entirely clear as to what the long term study will focus on.  The web site indicates that rapid transit will be a priority, so I would assume that they will look at GO and DRT enhancements required to keep up with the region’s growth over their target period of 50 years.  I expect to know more in the new year, of course.