As regular readers will know, I’ve tried to avoid getting into the cycle of critical posts on DRT lately, instead preferring to focus on positive developments, principally at Metrolinx. But sometimes, DRT makes it so hard to resist. This is one of those times.
Yesterday I purchased more co-fare tickets for my trip to the GO Station. This was my first purchase since DRT increased its ticket size to massive proportions. The co-fare tickets are now 4” by 1.75”. Other ticket sizes have also changed.
The core reason for this is that DRT wants use their high-tech fareboxes to gather more information on what types of riders are taking which routes. Traditionally, this kind of information was gathered by having a “counter” ride the bus and count people boarding the bus. The newer fareboxes can provide this information but can only distinguish between different types of riders (adult, students, etc) when the physical fare media are different sizes. The result of this is the new extra-large tickets we are now dealing with.
DRT has solved an internal problem quite nicely, to be sure, but at the expense of riders. For many years I have carried DRT tickets and TTC tokens in a small little spring-loaded change “purse”, for lack of a better term, which I keep in my backpack. It does a good job of keeping the fare media nice and secure. These new DRT tickets, however, are far too large to fit in it. The result is that I know have to embark on a hunt for a new means of securing my tickets so that they don’t disappear on me.
True, DRT will be a participant in the Presto fare card system in two or three years, but until then, tickets will remain in use, and DRT needs to make sure that tickets are actually practical for customers. The new ticket formats simply aren’t.
Another problem is that DRT has released its holiday schedule information for Canada Day, and once again, we are informed that routes in Ajax, Pickering, and Whitby are on “holiday schedule”. True, routes in Oshawa are listed as being on Sunday schedule, but that doesn’t help those of us trying to determine exactly what “holiday” schedule means when it is not clearly listed anywhere in the DRT schedules, at least not that I can find it. The end result is that if I wanted to take the bus on Tuesday, I have absolutely no idea what routes are operating and what schedules are being followed.
These are just two examples of how DRT not only struggles to do the big things well (like actually continuing to improve service from the routes they inherited 2.5 years ago) but even has trouble doing the small things, like actually informing the customer when the buses are running, or providing tickets that meet the customer’s needs as well as DRT’s needs.
Surely after 2.5 years we should be seeing signs of real improvement by now, and we’re not. When will DRT have the resources to truly become a useful system, instead of continuing to be one of the least useful transit systems in the Greater Toronto Area?
Filed under: Service
Regarding the tickets, I am a driver at DRT and I agree, the size of these tickets make them a nuisance. So much so that I had a lady on the bus the other day and she keeps the new co-fare tickets folded somewhere on her person and that is the way she put her fare into the fare box before I could stop her. This will cause problems in the future.
I also wonder why they took the ticket that is used most often and made it the largest. Why not make it the smallest. Surely this would result in a savings in dollars and trees.
I did a post on my blog about the new size tickets. http://busdriverofdurham.blogspot.com/2008/05/land-of-giants.html
I am truly amazed at the size. Another thing that amazes me are the number of different fares that are needed. DRT on their web page list 19 various forms of fares. That includes Specialized Services with only one fare.
Customers that use Specialized Services have option only to pay the full adult fare that will rise to $2.85 July 1.
i’m not quite sure what the real issue is with the size of the tickets. Is it just the fact that they’ve drastically changed and are therefore, somewhat of a shock to the system, or is it more a case of trying to manage an obstruction.
As for the lack of communication between DRT and their loyal riders when it comes to holiday scheduling; I completely agree. I think its ridiculous that the riders are left to seek information on their own; and to think they charge around the same amount as transportaion from port union rd to as far as mississauga. It’s laughable.
If you think that’s bad, i’ll share a quick little story. About a year and a half ago, I was starting a new job in Ajax.
Being that i reside in Oshawa, and am not to familiar with the Ajax routes and schedules, I made sure (as you do) that I checked, double checked, and checked some more before the first day came.
Well, I ended up being late. Turns out that, even though I was at the stop for a good 10 minutes before it was scheduled to arrive at the go station, I had missed the bus that I needed to catch.
As the station cleared out, I noticed that there were a few other people standing close by and as I casually started conversation to help pass the time, I discovered that they too were also on their first day of the same job that I was going to.
So after about 10 minutes of waiting beyond the scheduled ETA. I gave the Ajax department a call. The recipient also couldn’t put their finger on the problem and further stated that everything was running according to schedule. Once I stated that there were about 7 of us waiting for this particular bus, she kindly and promptly handled the situation by immediately sending out another bus strictly for our benifit so we could get to work.
It wasn’t until the next few days in a row that I realised what the issue was, and why all 7 of us had missed the bus.
Well, the bus was on time. However, the bus had absoutely no form of indication on the front display or side display of the route it were about to do. The regular bus that was used for this route was just blank. Of course, the local regulars all new which one it was, but for us new riders within the city, we had absolutely no clue.
I did address the issue, stating that it doesn’t really work well for those who are unfamiliar with the system. However, whether it was sorted or not is still yet to be revealed, because a few days later I found a few people who live within close proximity of my home and began to drive to and fro with them.
Although the issue was dealt with effectively, we were still late and it could, should have been avoided.