Brampton Transit/Zum

[zoomzoom1010]

Probably not the best time for new Zum... over ambitious Viva held back YRT many years too... If anything maybe better to take a bus off 505 to put onto 5 because 50 minute headway after 8PM on Saturday might be entering the "death spiral" territory. 51 minute long route with potential 50 minute wait. The headway matches the run time that is the edge of the death spiral.


2020 to 2026 numbers on Brampton Transit's web site. I was just comparing recent losses to pre-pandemic so I didn't put those years.

Ridership

Yearly ridership statistics.

www.brampton.ca

The thing is, the 505 doesn’t run after 7 pm on weekends, so it really is just a terrible situation all around

Word on the street is late October/November of this year. There are a few Zum stations that have popped up along Chinguacousy, but many of them including the main stations at Sandalwood/Chinguacousy and Chinguacousy / Steeles still are not up. I believe I counted 4 stations last I checked.

Is this the only true “route increase” anticipated for this year? I haven’t seen any info about the PICs which tend to happen around this time of year

 

[APTA-2048]

Did you ever end up seeing the conventional artics? I got a peek at one via photos and really enjoyed it.

I was never lucky haha I think it might be done for good though. The photos I mentioned above were of a brand new New Flyer artic for conventional service.

 

[anb]

Great post! Honestly insane that Bovaird is being gutted like this. Service was already questionable before, but this is honestly a lot. Since the local route splits off at Airport Road, it’s going to be quite inconvenient especially on Goreway during the midday waiting 54 minutes (midday service was also reduced to 27 minutes combinded) for a bus. So to me, the sensible option would be to suspend the 5A Bovaird (at least until further notice) and reallocate all remaining resources to the 5 Bovaird since as Airport Road service is feels redundant in the grand scheme of things currently. Similarly with the 561, I feel like reallocating all resources into running the main branch 1 more frequently would be most ideal in the situation, (since as service currently trends upwards of 50 minutes during the midday).

Its sad to see Bovaird get this bad, and its every single branch that they run on it too. What makes them want to still run the 5A despite the 30 and 505 running sufficient enough service on Airport Rd with or without it. Why do they treat Goreway like an afterthought despite it being a high traffic route for employment and buses get overcrowded on this part of the route? I know people prefer using the 5 over 5A to get to Westwood its more faster.

Why is the 505 not running until 12am like all the other Zum routes, or not using artics, or not running at least 10 mins peak and 15 mins off peak? They promised the Pearson Airport extension, then they half assed it and gave us the 505A which barely runs at all. For a Zum route that services 2 separate corridors, and is a vital route to connect the GO train at Malton and Mount Pleasant, this is actually one plain ridiculous. Bovaird deserves much more better, its just as important as Steeles and Queen, and i’m tired of seeing it getting more worse every year.

 

[ShonTron]

I have some thoughts about Brampton Transit's sudden decline and Caledon's on-demand plans.

Caledon rethinks its transit as Brampton retrenches

As Brampton Transit cuts service in response to ridership drops and budget restraints, the Town of Caledon is looking to go on-demand.

seanmarshall.ca

 

[JJTheJetPln]

With permission from Adonis Foster (instagram handle BramptonTransitFan84), here's a photo of the one of many up and coming conventional artics. You can check out his Instagram for more photos.

 

[RapidTransit]

With permission from Adonis Foster (instagram handle BramptonTransitFan84), here's a photo of the one of many up and coming conventional artics. You can check out his Instagram for more photos.

View attachment 729345

Cheaper and more reliable than a hybrid and EV option. Good purchase for Brampton Transit. And with the service cuts , they can save even more money with their conventional routes with reduce frequency, and artics.

Hopefully TTC can go back to cheaper reliable clean diesel buses for their next bus order.

 

[doady]

I said in the MiWay thread I don't like EVs. But with the ongoing Trump and Iran thing, I don't know anymore...

Even diesel artics got their own reliability issues. Troubles operating during winter, high maintenance costs, shorter lifespan..

 

[Bordercollie]

Cheaper and more reliable than a hybrid and EV option. Good purchase for Brampton Transit. And with the service cuts , they can save even more money with their conventional routes with reduce frequency, and artics.

Hopefully TTC can go back to cheaper reliable clean diesel buses for their next bus order.

I dont know about cheaper, hybrids have about a 20% fuel savings, on a vehicle of that size that's a lot. Also newer hybrids have been proven to be very reliable.

 

[RapidTransit]

I dont know about cheaper, hybrids have about a 20% fuel savings, on a vehicle of that size that's a lot. Also newer hybrids have been proven to be very reliable.

The last MDBF for TTC hybrids were still lower than the older diesel buses. So diesel buses still have a better reliability rate than the hybrids. The EVs are the worst.

TTC also mentioned they would need more buses to compensate for the lack operating range of an EV. And charge duration.

TTC EV Flyers even had a stop order on them due to reliability. Most of evaluation buses have been sidelined.

The bar is so low for EV that even with EV in general not performing , Nova manges to secure another 50 buses for 2027.

 

[RapidTransit]

If the fuel cost savings from an EV is so great , TTC wouldn't be going back to hybrid. So there's more to it than fuel savings.

 

[JJTheJetPln]

If the fuel cost savings from an EV is so great , TTC wouldn't be going back to hybrid. So there's more to it than fuel savings.

You seem to be making a lot of references to TTC and not Brampton Transit. The reality is that Brampton Transit's BEV's have been performing well on the routes they're assigned to, and I've been seeing them operate on multiple routes.

They have plenty of hybrids that operate on Zum routes as well as regular routes. They also have plenty of diesels that operate on those same routes too.

Every transit agency is different, and drawing comparisons between them isn't fair when different transit agencies have different ways of operating.

 

[JJTheJetPln]

Is this the only true “route increase” anticipated for this year? I haven’t seen any info about the PICs which tend to happen around this time of year

I don't know for sure. Things change every month, we may see increases or decreases on other routes. I keep hearing that 504 is supposed to launch sometime later this year, but can't find the source I've been hearing it from.

Previously, I had correspondence that the 504 was supposed to launch with HuLRT, but that was back in 2024. I'm not quite sure what the plans are or if those have changed. We have multiple contractors setting up the stations so it remains to be seen when they'll launch.

 

[zoomzoom1010]

March 2026 ridership has been posted. Slight uptick (which is good to see), but seems to be a reoccurring trend year after year as the cold weather dissipates. Curious to see how ridership will change as the year progresses.

 

[doady]

March is actually worse than February. 20% loss in March vs. 18% loss in February compared to 2025. Overall, 21.3% loss so far this year compared to last year.

Historically, Brampton Transit sees an approx 10% dip in ridership in December compared to November and January. However, this January actually saw lower ridership, which might suggest this year's losses will be as bad as last year's, maybe even worse.

Dec 2016: 1816.6k
Jan 2017: 2003.0k (+10.3%)

Dec 2017: 2,170.2k
Jan 2018: 2,394.3k (+10.3%)

Dec 2018: 2,237.1k
Jan 2019: 2,429.0k (+8.5%)

Dec 2019: 2,345.3k
Jan 2020: 2.823.5k (+20.4%)

Dec 2022: 2,725.2k
Jan 2023: 3,082.7k (+13.1%)

Dec 2023: 3,131.0k
Jan 2024: 3,515.3k (+12.3%)

Dec 2024: 3,034.9k
Jan 2025: 3,136.1k (+3.3%)

Dec 2025: 2,520.2k
Jan 2026: 2,420.1k (-4.0%)

Maybe they expected 2.8 million riders in January based on the December numbers, but instead they only got 2.4 million. You can see why they might be panicking.

 

[smallspy]

The last MDBF for TTC hybrids were still lower than the older diesel buses. So diesel buses still have a better reliability rate than the hybrids. The EVs are the worst.

Nitpick: MDBF is just one type of measure of reliability. To get a more fulsome picture, you also need additional stats such as Availability.

TTC also mentioned they would need more buses to compensate for the lack operating range of an EV. And charge duration.

Not the charging duration, because they can charge at any time - but yes, the shorter operating range of EVs today as compared to diesel-powered buses is more problematic with a system such as the TTC's where buses are out in service for long periods of time.

Which is why there had been noises about setting up additional en-route fast chargers at places such as certain stations.

TTC EV Flyers even had a stop order on them due to reliability.

It had nothing to do with reliability. Look up the recall on them.

Most of evaluation buses have been sidelined.

That's because they were built to a different standard than the production batches of buses. It didn't make sense to keep them running, and require different parts, different training, different tools, etc.

The bar is so low for EV that even with EV in general not performing , Nova manges to secure another 50 buses for 2027.

They are performing. The availability of the new buses is very good, and their MTBFs is dropping - as to be expected from a new fleet.

Dan