DRT has now updated their site with the information for their upcoming service changes, including the new 915 Taunton, 916 Rossland, 302 Brock/Brooklin, and 308 Whitby Shores routes, as well as the service changes to R20/M20 Westney, R20/M20 Applecroft, and the discontinuing of R23 Nottingham (merged into Westney and Applecroft). If you expect to be taking any of these routes, you may want to check out the information as soon as possible.
DRT has provided updated schedules and municipality / individual route maps. They are available at:
http://www.durhamregiontransit.com/durham/index_e.aspx?DetailID=384
Note that they have now officially confirmed their route renumbering program:
100 – Pickering
200 – Ajax
300 – Whitby
400 – Oshawa
500 – Clarington
900 – Cross-municipality routes
Routes will be renumbered into this scheme gradually, as new routes are introduced and existing routes are changed. I’d like to see a faster implementation, but I’m happy to see this happen at all. It will greatly simplify things for users when there are no duplicate route numbers within the system.
Also, DRT has stated that a full system-wide route map will be available in September. Given that some of the upcoming route changes won’t be in place until September, I suspect that DRT has simply decided to wait until them. Hopefully this will be the map that is available in print form. If so, it’ll be a good step forward for the usability of the system, since it will make it easier to plan trips from one community to another.
Filed under: Communications, Service
As a Durham Region Transit rider myself, I’m quite excited that these new routes will be coming into play.
I’m talking about the new 915 Taunton and 916 Rossland routes. I understand that the 915 Taunton will start off from the Pickering GO station and terminate at Durham College/UOIT. Will the 915 route serve the Pickering Flea Market (opens every weekend) just like the 10 (or unofficially the 110) Ajax?
Usually when I want to go to the flea market, I took the 10 Ajax to the Pickering Flea Market. If I want to go back to Ajax, I have these options:
1) Take the 1 (or 101) Industrial route from the intersection of Bayly and Squires Beach and get off at the stop on Hwy. 2 and Glennana. Take the Oshawa Hwy. 2 GO Bus Route to Ajax (this option requires a DRT ticket, transfer or pass to use the GO bus service – within Durham only).
2) Take the 1 (or 101) Industrial route from the intersection of Bayly and Squires Beach and get off at the Pickering Town Centre. Board the 110 Ajax and get off at Westney Road in Ajax.
3) Take the 1 (or 101) Industrial route from the intersection of Bayly and Squires Beach and get off at the Pickering Town Centre. Take the Flag Bus 1 (community bus) and get off at Ritchie/Chapman and Hwy. 2.
I usually take the first option because of the time savings that I have. In the past, I used to stop off at the Ajax GO station and wait for the 40 (or 240 unofficially) Applecroft and then get off at Chapman and walk south (I live near where Lord Elgin public school is).
Back to the 915 situation, if I want to go to Durham College/UOIT (no, I don’t have a dorm there) from the Pickering Flea Market, then I have to take the long way (since in my humble opinion, it would be illogical and silly to put a stop on Bayly and Squires Beach in Pickering for the 915 heading eastbound):
Board the 101 Industrial route from Squires Beach and then drop off at Pickering GO station and transfer to the 915 Taunton East route from there.
It doesn’t hurt if I ask the driver if he/she is heading back east towards Oshawa, in my humble opinion.
The 915 route on the otherhand will be very useful for Flea Market goers – especially on Sundays. In the past they have to take the 183 every Sunday just to go to the Flea Market (in Pickering). Sometimes that route can be a little confusing, though. As for the 180, it passes by the flea market, but it doesn’t stop………
Any views on the information that I gave out to you?
How are these new routes doing?
I only see them empty as they had not gone to the GO yet.
Karem, it sometimes takes years to establish a bus route. We are now into the summer months and ridership drops in July and August. People still have to get used to new routes.
I realize that, I was just wondering how the first few days are going, lots of confusion or just regular new route stuff.
Karem, I will be making a post at the end of the week on my blog about the first few days of the new routes.
Simon,I notice last Friday that there is a lack of an eastbound bus stop at Squires Beach. I pointed it out to two of my supervisors. Regrettable, DRT is not know for it’s speed to rectify defects. After 14 months they just fixed all of the bus at the Pickering Go Station.
Why do they take so long to do stuff?
With the new Walmart open what bus es will go to it. I live in the Cedar and Philip Murray area
I’m not an Oshawa rider, but from the route map it looks like Oshawa routes 13 or 19B will go to it.
i would like to know if there is bus routes from 3800 brock street north to the whitby go station