Durham Region Transit / Pulse

[Coolibop]

If I am not mistaken, does the Pulse bus not already go from Oshawa to Toronto?

The 920 is only express in Toronto. DRT does not have express bus service like Toronto within the regions' limits. To me, the way it was presented suggested they are adding express service to help with the demands (get people to the major hubs so you don't have a slow full bus stopping frequently). If I'm wrong, they are simply adding more service but that doesn't sound like it would help balance the network which is what they are trying to do with what they've got.

I presume this would be express to STC rather than U of T. Occasionally I take the 900 to Military Trail and transfer to the 95 heading to STC but it would be so much easier if they had 7 day service to STC from Durham.

It's still in draft and destinations haven't been announced, but the fact they explicitly mentioned 920 (express), suggests the route would generally stay they same.

 

[APTA-2048]

13 replacement busses of the 19 lost in the fire arrive in May, and they have other lease agreements in place; essentially lack of busses are not an issue to meet demands

DRT also has 15 diesel and 6 electric buses on order.

 

[Coolibop]

DRT also has 15 diesel and 6 electric buses on order.

From what I understand, they are waiting for infrastructure Canada funds (announcement) for (those?) electrics.

 

[APTA-2048]

From what I understand, they are waiting for infrastructure Canada funds (announcement) for (those?) electrics.

I’m thinking the funding has come through since they were able to award the contract to Nova Bus at the end of last year or earlier this year.

 

[Coolibop]

As per the meeting above, they were waiting on IC for funds(42:30 mark). So unless something has happened since Nov 8, or these could be for additional ones?

 

[APTA-2048]

As per the meeting above, they were waiting on IC for funds. So unless something has happened since Nov 8, or these could be for additional ones?

Oh I didn’t realize that was in the meeting. I wonder if that’s funding for the up to 100 buses for the future they want to purchase by 2027 mentioned here.

 

[Coolibop]

The way Bill Holmes mentioned it made it seem like the first order of zero emission busses pending funding. I edited timestamp above if you wanted to hear.

 

[APTA-2048]

The way Bill Holmes mentioned it made it seem like the first order of zero emission busses pending funding. I edited timestamp above if you wanted to hear.

Thanks for that. Yeah, you’re right. It does sound like he’s referring to the first order. That’s strange. All the press releases and news reports made it sound like a done deal.

 

[Coolibop]

Minutes are up for the Dec meeting which list the January service cuts and changes to service as expected.

I was suprised to see the express route (discussed in previous posts) will not stop between Brock (Rd) and Conlin which is quite the distance! Not what I'm used to when comparing against express routes on the TTC.

Also, the fall service review numbers are in, showing how many routes require cutting headways in half for many routes to meet ongoing needs (some as low as 5 min). It'll be interesting to see in the new year what DRTs budget will look like to address.

 

[Northern Light]

Also, the fall service review numbers are in, showing how many routes require cutting headways in half for many routes to meet ongoing needs (some as low as 5 min). It'll be interesting to see in the new year what DRTs budget will look like to address.

Lets look at DRT's wish list from that agenda:

That's just fascinating to see all this latent demand come to the fore.

 

[tmustudent9]

Minutes are up for the Dec meeting which list the January service cuts and changes to service as expected.

I was suprised to see the express route (discussed in previous posts) will not stop between Brock (Rd) and Conlin which is quite the distance! Not what I'm used to when comparing against express routes on the TTC.

View attachment 524176

Also, the fall service review numbers are in, showing how many routes require cutting headways in half for many routes to meet ongoing needs (some as low as 5 min). It'll be interesting to see in the new year what DRTs budget will look like to address.

I'm surprised at how far the express service will travel within the region without stopping. I'm assuming a lot of the demand is coming from students from Ontario Tech/DC and Amazon workers travelling to Scarborough and vice versa to Whitby/Oshawa.

 

[Haydenpoon]

I'm surprised at how far the express service will travel within the region without stopping. I'm assuming a lot of the demand is coming from students from Ontario Tech/DC and Amazon workers travelling to Scarborough and vice versa to Whitby/Oshawa.

I can think of two possibilities for the express 921:

1. After Brock Rd/Kingston Rd, north on Brock Rd, east on Hwy 407, south on Thickson Rd, east on Conlin Rd and continues to Harmony Terminal.
2. After Brock Rd/Kingston Rd, south on Brock Rd, east on Hwy 401, north on Hwy 412, east on Hwy 407, south on Thickson Rd, east on Conlin Rd and continues to Harmony Terminal.

 

[APTA-2048]

The first long term lease bus has arrived at Westney Division. Still probably a while before it goes into service. Though I don’t know what they plan on installing yet or if it gets the full DRT livery.

 

[tmustudent9]

The first long term lease bus has arrived at Westney Division. Still probably a while before it goes into service. Though I don’t know what they plan on installing yet or if it gets the full DRT livery.

Do you know what model it is?

 

[APTA-2048]

Do you know what model it is?

It’s a New Flyer D40LF, all white. Apparently they will all be D40LFs from London, Mississauga, and Hamilton.