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YRT readies for next generation
Big changes are in store for York Region Transit in the coming years, as the system matures with the coming of rapid transit and a new subway.
The region has unveiled its 2012 YRT/Viva service plan and the document that will guide the system for the next five years.
In 2015, the Spadina subway extension will open and the first of Viva’s rapidways will see buses running in their own lanes and out of mixed traffic. That means YRT is going through a transition period as it realigns ahead of those fundamental changes, general manager Rick Leary said.
Since taking over the position in 2009, he has moved to improve on-time performance and streamline the system into something that will lure a population used to favouring cars over transit.
“It’s an exciting problem to help overcome,†he said.
The two main thrusts of the five-year plan are providing truth in advertising when it comes to travel times and dealing with heavily subsidized routes, some of which cost more than $25 every time someone boards a bus.
For one thing, the amount of time between buses will increase in many areas.
Mid-day routes that run every 30 minutes will shift to every 45 minutes and routes that may run every hour will change to every 80 or 90 minutes.
At first glance, that seems to be a service reduction, but it’s really about meeting rider needs and improving efficiency, Mr. Leary said.
And it’s something customers get when it’s explained.
It’s better (and cheaper) to have three buses running full and on-time than four running off-schedule and largely empty.
By more accurately meeting demand and providing a schedule it knows it can meet, YRT aims to give customers a reliable service that has been lacking, he said.
The alternative, he explained to the transportation committee this week, would be spending another $10 million to try meeting advertised times.
As transportation commissioner Kathleen Lewellyn-Thomas told the committee, “We publish the schedule we know we can make.â€
The changes will also save money as the region purchases 58 fewer buses than previously anticipated during the next five years.
It’s a philosophy that’s already in play on several routes and Mr. Leary credits it for the increase in ridership seen in recent months.
Despite a strike that shut down 60 per cent of service as of Oct. 24, the region still looks set to hit a ridership record for 2011, even if it’s short of the 21.8 million riders it eyed before the strike.
With numbers in for November, overall ridership was down just 35 per cent, with riders flocking to those routes still in operation.
Acknowledging hardships continue for many riders, Mr. Leary said he was encouraged to see riders sticking with the system.
Despite the challenges of getting suburbanites onto buses, Mr. Leary pointed out with 25,000 to 30,000 new people moving in every year, there won’t be a thriving region if everyone keeps opting for cars.
Work will soon begin on the specifics of the 2013 service plan, with public information centres and other efforts taking place in the coming months.
http://www.yorkregion.com/news/article/1278873--yrt-readies-for-next-generation
Shame too, since my local bus (86 Weldrick-Newkirk) is having its route streamlined to make it far more usable rather than twisting through as many cul-du-sacs as possible. Of course, reducing the already pitiful frequency from 60 to 90 minutes will make the route practically useless, no matter how streamlined the line becomes.
This is of course assuming that the various contractors ever finish their strike, since as of now there is no service at all on the 86.