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Durham Region Transit / Pulse

Those future growth areas aren't in the greenbelt. They go to the edge of the greenbelt. It's easy for a Torontonian to say all growth should be infill, but that's not realistic in outer regions. There will be a lot more infill and growth will be denser as per Places to Grow, but development on the fringe still has its place.

Anyway, that's definitely an ambitious transit plan. Probably the most obvious rapid transit corridor to me is north-south through Oshawa, connecting the GO station through downtown to Durham College. Moving the GO trains to the CP line makes a lot of sense. That line is almost entirely grade separated already.
 
Of course, what we don't know yet is what technology recommendations will be in place for each corridor. Separated BRT lanes is most likely, I suspect.

I'm also happy to see the emphasis on a supporting network to surround the RT routes.

Now if they can just tell DRT how to get some money to pay for this. DRT keeps having to push off significant service expansion for lack of dollars.
 
Of all the north-south corridors, only the one in Oshawa can support rapid transit. The rest don't evne come close.

And I hope all the circles along Highway 2 are not rapid transit stops, otherwise the service will be not so "rapid."
 
There are a few too many Highway 2 stops, where in parts of Whitby, and in Pickering Village and East Rouge, the stops are as close together as the local stops. Cut even five or six stops off of Highway 2 and you've got something at least closer to Viva-style BRT-lite.

Simcoe Street Oshawa is the only route needing any real north-south "rapid transit" in the short to medium term but there's nothing wrong with enhancing service on the other key N-S corridors like Brock and Brock or even Harwood. As well, there needs to be some complete E-W routes like Bayly/Bloor.

Pickering and Ajax, in the short term (i.e. in 2005) really need to reorganize the route structure. DRT has not done the route restructuring that APTA left as its unmissed legacy, with confusing R and M deviations and no direct service. Even YRT started tinkering within the first year it was formed.
 
Pickering and Ajax, in the short term (i.e. in 2005) really need to reorganize the route structure. DRT has not done the route restructuring that APTA left as its unmissed legacy, with confusing R and M deviations and no direct service. Even YRT started tinkering within the first year it was formed.
I have it on good authority that DRT was targetting this for 2010. We'll see next month whether it will happen, but the recommended DRT budget increase is a fraction of what DRT was asking for, and it's unlikely that anything more than minimal service improvements will happen next year. Again. Sigh.
 
R and M routes?

Unless I've been seriously drugged when boarding DRT buses and haven't noticed, those route designations have been gone since the re-numbering of last year at least, but I think even longer.


I'm very excited to see some semblance of normalcy brought about to the route structure in Pickering-Ajax. I lose track of which side of the road I'm supposed to be waiting for the bus on at what time of day. Lame doesn't even beging to describe it. It's like they're trying to discourage people from using public transit.
I first moved here nine years ago and have been waiting for it since. (though, I've actually only lived here for five of the last nine years)
 
I also wanted to ask you, DavidH, since you're likely to know at least a bit about this: why is it that DRT is constantly being short-changed by the region?
 
Anyway, that's definitely an ambitious transit plan. Probably the most obvious rapid transit corridor to me is north-south through Oshawa, connecting the GO station through downtown to Durham College. Moving the GO trains to the CP line makes a lot of sense. That line is almost entirely grade separated already.

I don't think they should abandon using the GO ROW. If electrification is going to happen then GO will have to buy the land and still use it with CN/CP and VIA with still no cost savings in the end. The benefits of having the GO ROW is not only that most of the Lakeshore East line in Durham was built to be electrification ready, but they don't have to worrie about delays of CN/CP Trains that are loading/unloading cargo.
 
I also wanted to ask you, DavidH, since you're likely to know at least a bit about this: why is it that DRT is constantly being short-changed by the region?

The politicians in Durham answer only to their masters: big developers. Citizens are an afterthought.
 
I also wanted to ask you, DavidH, since you're likely to know at least a bit about this: why is it that DRT is constantly being short-changed by the region?

I can't speak for DavidH, but my sense that there are people at DRT chomping at the bit to restructure their system, but Durham Region Council is hardly the most transit-friendly and pro-urban group of pols. We can start with Roger Anderson. This does though negate the few pols who get it, like Ajax's Steve Parrish.

As much as Susan Fennell is a old-school suburban, old-time Brampton Tory, development friendly mayor of Brampton, she has - to her immense credit - finally delivered on downtown revitalization and major transit projects now under way (with constant transit improvements since 2004), as well as some interesting and bold civic spaces.
 
R and M routes?

Unless I've been seriously drugged when boarding DRT buses and haven't noticed, those route designations have been gone since the re-numbering of last year at least, but I think even longer.


I'm very excited to see some semblance of normalcy brought about to the route structure in Pickering-Ajax. I lose track of which side of the road I'm supposed to be waiting for the bus on at what time of day. Lame doesn't even beging to describe it. It's like they're trying to discourage people from using public transit.
I first moved here nine years ago and have been waiting for it since. (though, I've actually only lived here for five of the last nine years)

The R and M prefixes have been replaced, but for the most part by the B sufix (ie. M-7 becomes 107B) or the combination of the two route merged during midday (ie. M-6/5 becomes 165). Service has also changed very little, and almost all that was done was the number change.
 
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I don't think they should abandon using the GO ROW. If electrification is going to happen then GO will have to buy the land and still use it with CN/CP and VIA with still no cost savings in the end. The benefits of having the GO ROW is not only that most of the Lakeshore East line in Durham was built to be electrification ready, but they don't have to worrie about delays of CN/CP Trains that are loading/unloading cargo.
I'm not quite sure what you're saying. The lakeshore line beyond Oshawa is owned by CN, not GO. Under this plan, GO trains would continue to use all the track that they currently use, but the extension beyond Oshawa station would be on CP track. The fact that the existing track was built to be electrification ready isn't relevant because service will continue on that section.
 
I'm not quite sure what you're saying. The lakeshore line beyond Oshawa is owned by CN, not GO. Under this plan, GO trains would continue to use all the track that they currently use, but the extension beyond Oshawa station would be on CP track. The fact that the existing track was built to be electrification ready isn't relevant because service will continue on that section.

What i'm saying is that they should extend the existing GO ROW as they expand into Oshawa and Bowmanville without using CP or CN track, maybe run along side it, but not use it. It's stupid idea to reconnected it at Oshawa when they have to end up having to buy the line from CN/CP and still have to share if the line becomes electrify. This way we don't have to worrie about traffic on the line from CP/CN.
 

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