Durham Region Transit / Pulse

[Jonny5]

CityNews now reporting this:

"workers at the scene tell CityNews around two dozen transit buses have been damaged or destroyed."

 

[Northern Light]

CityNews now reporting this:

"workers at the scene tell CityNews around two dozen transit buses have been damaged or destroyed."

First thing I want to hear about.............the fire suppression system.

Second thing, I liked the proposed fall service improvements for DRT, they certainly can't field that w/their fleet issues as they are; the TTC has sufficient spare buses to cover the entire shortfall and should immediately loan DRT the surplus buses and the insurance folks can give TTC some revenue for that on top of things. Though where the buses will be stored nightly and where operators will pick them up may be another challenge.

 

[APTA-2048]

First thing I want to hear about.............the fire suppression system.

Second thing, I liked the proposed fall service improvements for DRT, they certainly can't field that w/their fleet issues as they are; the TTC has sufficient spare buses to cover the entire shortfall and should immediately loan DRT the surplus buses and the insurance folks can give TTC some revenue for that on top of things. Though where the buses will be stored nightly and where operators will pick them up may be another challenge.

Perhaps they’ll follow Brampton and purchase some second hand buses. Quite a few on the market now including the D40LF and LFS which DRT are quite familiar with.

 

[Northern Light]

Perhaps they’ll follow Brampton and purchase some second hand buses. Quite a few on the market now including the D40LF and LFS which DRT are quite familiar with.

Right, the TTC's surplus is not the medium or long term solution. But they appear to need buses today, literally, right now. There's not likely any quicker source of possession than working fleet parked just down the proverbial street.

 

[christiesplits]

CityNews now reporting this:

"workers at the scene tell CityNews around two dozen transit buses have been damaged or destroyed."

Right before the start of the school year, too.

 

[APTA-2048]

Right, the TTC's surplus is not the medium or long term solution. But they appear to need buses today, literally, right now. There's not likely any quicker source of possession than working fleet parked just down the proverbial street.

This is true. A bit of a fun fact: in the early 2000s, Pickering Transit had two buses catch fire. They leased a couple of buses from the TTC’s Malvern Garage while the buses were repaired.

 

[Richard White]

Right, the TTC's surplus is not the medium or long term solution. But they appear to need buses today, literally, right now. There's not likely any quicker source of possession than working fleet parked just down the proverbial street.

The question is though does DRT have the money for new buses and if so, how quickly can they get them?

Likely they have insurance but at the same time they need buses now, not in 3 years when insurance pays out and the buses are produced.

 

[Northern Light]

The question is though does DRT have the money for new buses and if so, how quickly can they get them?

Likely they have insurance but at the same time they need buses now, not in 3 years when insurance pays out and the buses are produced.

I don't know the details of their insurance coverage, but the standard for the industry, just like when your home burns down or your car is stolen is to cover interim mitigation.

 

[tmustudent9]

Right, the TTC's surplus is not the medium or long term solution. But they appear to need buses today, literally, right now. There's not likely any quicker source of possession than working fleet parked just down the proverbial street.

Hopefully, they can get surplus buses from the TTC. If they were able to secure platform access at STC then they must have a good working relationship with them. Route 920 was cancelled today too and is one of the most popular and well-used routes as it runs cross-boundary into Scarborough.

 

[Mind_the_gap]

Kind of sad we don’t have protocols in place where neighbouring TAs help each other out…

 

[Richard White]

Kind of sad we don’t have protocols in place where neighbouring TAs help each other out…

It has been done before for example when the Blizzard of 99 knocked out subway service.

The problem is the behind the scenes administration. It's not like DRT can just drive a TTC bus off the lot whenever they need one.

 

[tmustudent9]

Credits to the people over at CPTDB. Apparently at least 15 buses are destroyed from the fire.

 

[APTA-2048]

There’s also worry many of the high capacity articulated buses were damaged or destroyed as none were apparently in service yesterday or today.

 

[APTA-2048]

Update from DRT.

DRT service update following fire at 710 Raleigh Avenue

www.durhamregiontransit.com

Whitby, Ontario – Following a fire at Durham Region Transit’s (DRT) facility in Oshawa on Wednesday, August 16, service updates have been implemented.

As a result of the fire early Wednesday morning, DRT is currently unable to deliver service from the Raleigh garage in Oshawa. The scheduled service announced on August 16 will remain in place through Wednesday, August 23. We thank our customers for their patience and understanding during this time.

Due to this temporary adjustment to scheduled service, real-time service information for customers is slowly returning and is expected to be fully operational in the coming days. When real-time service information for your trip is not available, please reference schedules posted on DurhamRegionTransit.com and contact our customer service team with questions.

The facility sustained significant damage, but thanks to City of Oshawa fire officials, who responded to the call, the fire was contained and put out promptly. We are relieved to report that no one was harmed in this event.

Based on our current assessment, 19 DRT buses were lost in this event, and we will inspect remaining buses in the following days to ensure they meet service standards.

At this time, we are working to have full DRT service re-instated by Tuesday, September 5, including the planned service enhancements scheduled to take effect.

Again, we thank our community for their patience and support. Customers are asked to follow us on social media and visit our website for the latest DRT updates.

 

[drum118]

I think Mississauga has a fair number of retire buses that will help Durham to deal with the lost of some of their buses as well TTC and other systems. They will require a Presto system installed on them.

It will take Durham a year or 2 to get things back to normal