More on March route changes

Fellow blogger Simon Tonekham has pointed out that an article in Durham College’s campus newspaper “Chronicle” states that the following changes are coming:

916 Rossland will run every 30 minutes off peak, and every hour after 7:30. Rush hour service will remain every 20 minutes
915 Taunton will run every 30 minutes off [...]

Ajax fights back

Ajax Councillor Dies will be presenting a motion at Monday’s meeting requesting DRT to restore midday service on 24 Duffins, which was eliminated last month.
I certainly applaud the sentiments of council. While the midday 24 Harwood route was extended to cover some of the area served by Duffins many longtime residents are further from [...]

915 Taunton Service Increase

I was just reviewing DRT Executive committee meeting minutes for their January 9 meeting, and I noticed something that I had previously missed. On March 2, 2008, service increases will be made to 915 Taunton. No details are provided, but 915 can be crowded during rush hour and this is presumably in response [...]

New Buses

DRT’s 2007 order of 15 New Flyer D40LF buses has now arrived and are no in service.  These are most notable by the fact that the DRT web site is address is in the lower green stripe above the rear windows.  I’m gratified to see DRT take this step to increase the visibility of their [...]

Metrolinx gets going

Metrolinx’s public process for the Regional Transportation Plan is quickly coming to life. An agenda has been posted for their Friday Board meeting containing the following items:

An Investment strategy report designed to determine financing schemes for transit projects in general – including the suggestion of such means as sales taxes, road tolls, congestion charges, [...]

Andy Grant’s take…

Fellow Durham Transit blogger Andy Grant (aka The Retired Bus Driver of Durham) has an interesting take on DRT’s failure to effectively communicate information about its service cuts at the beginning of this month.
Andy’s absolutely right; there was no formal onsite communication at the GO stations that anything had changed; riders of the former 10 [...]

December 13 Transit funding announcement

On December 13, Ontario’s Treasurer announced $500 million for Ontario transit systems. I haven’t posted on this yet as I’d been somewhat unclear as to whether this represented new money or a reannouncement of the existing gas tax under another name, but I’ve finally found the detailed description I’d been looking for:
The [...]

Roger Anderson’s 2008 comments

In an interview with Regional Chair Roger Anderson covering his expectations for 2008, Metroland’s Erin Hatfield wrote the following:
Thirdly, MetroLinx (formerly the Greater Toronto Transit Authority) has come forward with a funding request for about $80 million for Durham. Mr. Anderson said he’s optimistic the Province will approve the request and the Region can get [...]

Sad, just sad…

DRT seems to be a bit confused about their own routes. Their home page currently has the following message for commuters concerned about Monday’s possible GO Bus strike:
The following DRT routes operate parallel to GO Bus Hwy 2 corridor:
915 Taunton frequent service weekday and weekends from Pickering GO Station via Bayly and Westney to [...]