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Brampton Transit/Zum

ShonTron said:
There is one benefit of a shorter route 77. The route was so long that it was notoriously unreliable,and I would hope a somewhat shorter route would be more manageable. If you are traveling from BCC east, yes, there will be an extra transfer, but from points between BCC and Downtown Brampton, the number of transfers to go to Finch are the same, or to Sheppard-Yonge, transfer to the 196A at York. It isn't a big deal, especially when the rush hour crowd heading to the subway will benefit from the rare counter-peak bus crowds on the 196.

The 101/192 is a good combo as well. I've tried that route before.
Click to expand...

I get what you are saying but since a great deal of the trip between York and the subway would be in a busway....how unreliable could it be? I just think that establishing the Zum service as a direct connection to the subway in advance of the York U subway station would have been a good idea.

Not a huge deal but I think it would have made sense.
 
Those buses look great inside and out. The investment in the exterior graphics gives it a European look of attention to detail for the sake of beauty and function (visibility).
 
I rode the 177 and 177A buses today after work.

This is the first day of operation, but ridership isn't too shabby for the all-day York U-Bramalea service, though I heard some people complaining about the forced transfer at York U because they thought they were on the 77 and wanted to go towards Finch and directed to the Purple Viva bus. Though the driver on the 177A made an interesting detour via the IKEA parking lot after forgetting the turn onto the 407 West from Jane (the old 77A did serve Highway 7 in Vaughan between Interchange Way and Weston Road before going on the 407).

On the way back, a supervisor boarded the bus at Highway 50 and told everyone to stay on the bus and get off anywhere on Highway 7 past the 427 to transfer to the YRT 77 if they were headed that way. That was a very nice touch, and the passengers on the 177 westbound seemed to appreciate that.

The 177 and 177A will last a total of 13 days before being replaced by the 501 Queen Zum.
 
This morning myself and @mfac19 were the third and fourth passengers on the first ever Züm departure from Brampton Terminal to York University at 4:45am. There was much fanfare and we all got swag. Here are a few or my thoughts on the service, presented in no particular order:

  • Until non-TTC buses start using the busway, there is no point in running to Downsview. The 196 on the busway is so much faster than VIVA Orange in mixed traffic that it more than makes up for the transfer. Yeah, transfers suck, but I'd rather do it at York U than at the corner of Deserted Industrial Area Blvd and Shady Truck Stop Drive. Coincidentally, this was my first time using the busway.
  • Züm buses don't show up on the next-bus displays on VIVA stations, but I suppose this will offer a pleasant surprise for anyone waiting for VIVA Orange since the actual wait will be less than half what is displayed. Likely this won't change unless the systems are fully amalgamated because of the back-end technology at play.
  • Buses running before 5:00 am in Brampton become standing room only with actual people going to actual places. Who knew?
  • The vehicles have stop strips instead of cords and yet another style of door opening mechanism, so this might confuse some riders.
  • A lady wanted to alight at a non-Züm stop, and the driver was nice enough to comply. He did remind her that it wasn't a regular stop, and he told the same to the lady who asked to board at that same location. This is an issue for the first few weeks of any new express service, but I'm glad to see that good customer service is prevailing.
  • The new terminal at Bramalea City Centre is spacious and it appears that each route will get its own platform. It's much brighter at 5:00 than the old one was at any time of day.
  • Keeping in mind that I've only experienced pre-dawn and counter-peak service, the route feels faster than the old 1 + 77 combo. Granted, it is faster, but it also *feels* faster. I don't know how to actually quantify this.

Time will tell how successful the service will become, but I think they've succeeded in putting in a fast, frequent and comfortable service. There's plenty of finishing touches left, but the product they've delivered is great.
 
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Every intersection that has a stop appears to have a queue jump lane, although some construction remains to be completed on the section that the Region of Peel was responsible for (Airport to 50). Also, buses have a dedicated signal for movements out of the Bramalea City Centre terminal onto Central Park Drive.
 
I wonder why they didn't place the Bramalea terminal a little further west so that buses could use that offramp that passes under Queen St? Or do they?
 
They don't use those ramps, but operations are pretty simple from Queen Street:

Left or right onto Central Park, then right into the terminal. Leaving, they use a dedicated signal to go left onto Central Park and then another left or a right onto Queen. I believe these signals are coordinated to eliminate waiting for the second left.
 
I rode the 501A after work from York U to Bramalea to Downtown Terminal, and back to York U, partially on the old Route 1 and on 501 in the evening.

The buses are very quiet, except the ventilation can be loud. The seats are quite comfortable and a bit softer than the Viva seats. Except at the front (the accessible seats) and a few at the rear, all seats face forward in 2s.

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I took this picture at night. The interior LED lights are bright (door and headlights are also LED), but they give off surprisingly little glare, it was easy to look out the window at night, unlike say a GO train coach.

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When I got to York U, one of the buses was having mechanical problems. This is the first day the New Flyer Xcelsior model has been in revenue service anywhere, so I hope the kinks are worked out.

Luckily, three buses (two 501As, one 501) show up and scoop up the passengers. Buses were busy, but not packed, from York U, even in the mid evening. This route will be a big success.

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At Bramalea Terminal. The terminal isn't done yet. The Zum buses are tracked by GPS and there's real-time displays for the 501/501A and departure times for all other routes scrolled on several monitors. The washrooms are much nicer than the dives at the old BCC terminal, and there's a large info/ticket counter and lots of interior waiting area. It's a huge improvement, though it's a longer walk to the mall, and without shelter part of the way.

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You can see the dual left turn lanes in the background here, though the right left turn lane from Queen to Central Park and Central Park to Queen are buses-only, which seems to work well.

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And yes, the ramp out of the terminal leads right to the Central Park/Peel Centre intersection, with a dedicated light that works quite well in getting the buses out of there quickly, which I saw work very efficiently.

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I took the route 1 to see what the old terminal looked like on the way back from downtown (the downtown terminal also has new bus departure screens inside). The shelters were all removed, and it was blocked off by tape and concrete blocks. A sole security guard was sitting there, I guess redirecting passengers and keeping the site secure.

The Zum buses all have digital next stop displays, and scroll times and dates as well as the next stops. The voice is soft in volume, though it's a very mechanical fembot voice like that of YRT/Viva, and does not say the street generics. (ie: "Next Stop: Torbram") A few conventional buses now are equipped too.

I'm impressed for how this worked on the first day, where there bound to be hiccups. The 501 is fast, the queue jumps do work, and the buses are quiet and comfy.
 
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Though somewhat hidden, Brampton Transit has a Next Bus information page. It lets you know the estimated time of arrival of the bus at the stop, you can track a certain vehicle, and lets you know how early of late that vehicle is.
 
Lots of reports of reliability issues for Zum: lots of late buses, lots of bunching. It can be seen in ShonTron's photos as well. I guess this is not surprising considering the length of the route.
 
I rod Zum again today in the early afternoon rush hours. There's still some bunching and reliability issues, but I think it is slowly getting better as drivers and supervisors get used to the route. I noticed several green lights held today, turning amber and red as the bus enters the intersection, and the pedestrian countdowns already beyond zero (Brampton/Peel isn't bad for not cheating pedestrians by having it count down to zero when a green light remains, I find only York Region bad for this in the GTA), so signal priority seems to be functioning on Queen.
 
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