Lakeridge Transit Centre

DurhamRegion.com is having a good day covering transportation-related stories today. Today, they ran a story covering discussions between Ajax and Whitby on the 407-401 connector highway currently being studied as part of the 407 East Environmental Assessment. This highway long been a part of the 407 plans, and is generally expected to be [...]

DRT Year 1- Fares

Next up in my DRT year 1 series, I am looking at fares. With DRT’s coming, new fares were inevitable since the predecessor systems had fare systems that did not match up. One municipality had a higher senior fare than another but a lower adult fare. Hard decisions were inevitable, and it [...]

I wonder what this is?

In a new story covering road work in Whitby this year, Durhamregion.com included the following comment:
The push is on to convince the federal and provincial governments to share in a $150-million transit strategy for Durham Region. The year 2007 is “brimming with opportunity” with the possibility of provincial and federal elections, the “so-called perfect [...]

2007 Transit Budget

Durham Region’s preliminary budget targets state the following:
Durham Region Transit Commission
d) THAT the Durham Region Transit Commission Operating
Business Plans and Budget not exceed an increase of 0.5% on the
2007 Regional Property Tax Rate, after consideration of assessment
growth;
e) THAT based upon previous Regional Council direction to phase in
the allocation of Durham Regional Transit Property Tax
requirements [...]

Real Life Intrudes

Blog updates may be thin on the ground over the next few weeks, as my twin babies have decided to show up a month early. They are boy and girl, and are healthy, but will be in the neonatal ICU for about three weeks, so I doubt I will have any spare time for [...]

DRT Year 1 – Equipment

Next up, we look at equipment changes for DRT during its first year. DRT inherited a really mixed bag of equipment. There are some nice new low floor buses and there are some old equipment. Ajax and Pickering are particularly behind with the times, since APTA had only acquired a grand total [...]

DRT Year 1 – Branding

One of the most important tasks in creating a new organization is to create a branding for the new entity, to make it memorable in the public’s eye. Transit systems need branding to, although the reasons are a bit different than for companies that must attract sales. After all, transit systems don’t [...]

DRT Year 1 – Introduction

On January 1, Durham Region Transit quietly celebrated its first birthday. This is a time of year when looking back and looking forward is popular, so let’s look back and take a look at what happened a year ago, and review the year that DRT has had. This will be a multi-part [...]

Thoughts on 2007 Service Changes

Yesterday I provided some details on what DRT is tentatively planning for 2007. Having had some time to think about things, here are my thoughts.
Overall, I am thrilled to see a major service expansion and reorganization. The creation of true grid routes on Rossland and Taunton, with service also provided on Harwood [...]

New buses

Thirty brand-new New Flyer D40LF low floor buses should finally arrive within the next month or two, after being delayed for several months. In addition, seven used 1999 Nova LFS low floor buses have just arrived and should be entering service in Whitby and Oshawa soon.
These buses will help DRT implement its service plans [...]