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.