News   Nov 18, 2024
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News   Nov 18, 2024
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News   Nov 18, 2024
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Durham Region Transit / Pulse

Rode DRT 0107 today on route 905 Whitby station from Uxbridge here is my experience

1. Presto readers installed so no free rides like TTC loners.

2. Destination signs not programmed it just said not in service.

3. Not trackable

4. Next stop announcements not present

Rest it get it's job done.
 
Rode DRT 0107 today on route 905 Whitby station from Uxbridge here is my experience

1. Presto readers installed so no free rides like TTC loners.

2. Destination signs not programmed it just said not in service.

3. Not trackable

4. Next stop announcements not present

Rest it get it's job done.
0107 does have the dest program
 
Well we're stuck with 1.6 percent increase in funding (versus 2) for the year. Pickering councillors Brenner and Cook tried to even get it to 3 percent but lost it 26-2. Nice to know there is advocates for good service but they'll have to work to get support.

 
Well we're stuck with 1.6 percent increase in funding (versus 2) for the year. Pickering councillors Brenner and Cook tried to even get it to 3 percent but lost it 26-2. Nice to know there is advocates for good service but they'll have to work to get support.


On the heels of that, some pretty good news, the service cut in January will be mostly restored, and ~85% of the service improvements originally planned for this year are also reinstated.

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From: https://pub-durhamregion.escribemeetings.com/FileStream.ashx?DocumentId=3450

Now when you get into the guts of it, there are some increases in gapping (non-operator staff positions going unfilled) and some deferred capital expenses in order to make that happen, along with a fairly substantial fair hike come July.

Still, that's a fair bit of new service this year, and that's good to see. But more money will be necessary next year, both for service improvement and to fill vacant positions. This is a bit of borrow from Peter to pay Paul budgeting and that can work in the near term, but its not sustainable.
 
Well, just got word all the TTC buses have been returned from Ajax. TTC needed them back. No more free rides haha

Needed? It is my understanding that the TTC still has a very large spare ratio; unless they're about to do a mass retirement.
 
Needed? It is my understanding that the TTC still has a very large spare ratio; unless they're about to do a mass retirement.
It does.....and it doesn't.

One thing pointed out to me by a couple of people in the industry is that the old standard of an 15-18% spare ratio is no longer feasible. Modern buses are far, far more complicated and have far more systems onboard than the buses of old, and many of those systems are required for the vehicle to operate in service. If one of those required systems doesn't work, the bus can't go out. Thus, a lot of transit systems are targeting a 25% spares ratio as ideal because of that - and the early implementation and adoption of electric vehicles is going to push that ratio even higher for now.

The other issue is that, for better or for worse, the TTC is kind of silo'd when it comes to its internal bus requirements. They try not to move buses around willy-nilly, as the different sub-fleets of vehicles - even from the same vendor, and delivered only a year or two apart - have different training and maintenance requirements. So while as a whole 10 buses does not make for a big deal, at the level of the garage that gave up the vehicles (Eglinton, ~235 buses) they are running into issues because they barely have enough vehicles for service.

Dan
 
There are about 6 of them in service. The rest are either being prepared for service or awaiting delivery from the vendor.
That's good to hear. I heard permanent replacement buses are coming in 2025/2026, do you know if there's any truth to it?
 
That's good to hear. I heard permanent replacement buses are coming in 2025/2026, do you know if there's any truth to it?
My understanding is there will be 15 diesel buses due this year, but that was an order placed before the fire. DRT ordered 13 replacements diesel buses last year after the fire. Those are supposed to come this year too. But both orders may be delayed because Nova Bus is very backlogged right now.
 

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