Changes are coming this summer to Durham Region Transit’s routes along with a few major changes on GO Transit’s services within the Durham Region. To coincide with Durham Region Transit’s “soft launch” of its new DRT Pulse Bus Rapid Transit service, some of the GO bus routes that normally operate within the Durham Region will be overhauled. These changes are the following:
Go bus route 94 Oshawa/Yorkdale will be discontinued. This is to avoid “duplication” with the DRT Pulse service that operates along certain parts of Highway 2 in which GO currently operates.
*NEW* GO bus route 92 Oshawa/Yorkdale (the newly revised GO bus route 95 that operates from the Oshawa Bus Terminal in downtown Oshawa to Finch Terminal during the weekdays. This new route is to ensure a smooth transition to maintain connections to major hubs such as the Scarborough Centre bus terminal, York Mills GO bus terminal, the Finch GO Terminal and the Yorkdale GO bus terminal)
GO bus route 98: This new bus route will operate from the Pickering GO Station to the Finch GO bus terminal. This new route will supplement GO’s newly revised Route 92.
In addition with the newly revised GO bus routes, The “One Fare Anywhere” agreement between Durham Region Transit and GO Transit (in which you can use your DRT Monthly Pass, Ticket or DRT transfer) will be discontinued – on certain GO bus routes. These GO bus routes are the following:
51 Pickering/York University
52 Oshawa/York University
92 Oshawa/Yorkdale (newly revised route 95)
93 Durham College/UOIT to Scarborough
94 Oshawa/Yorkdale (This bus route will be discontinued)
96 Oshawa/ Finch Express
98 Pickering / Finch (new GO bus route)
The only GO bus routes that the “One Fare Anywhere” service that continues to be maintained are the following:
71 Stouffville (in the Township of Uxbridge)
81 Beaverton/Port Perry/Whitby
88 Peterborough/Oshawa (within Durham Region only)
90 Newcastle/Oshawa
91 Newcastle/Oshawa
These figures were from Durham Region Transit’s transport report for 2013. You can read the full report on this here (Be Warned! The report is very long!). It’s quite really early to tell about what will happen in the months ahead, but I’ll keep you posted for further details. While I’m quite sad to see the “One-Fare Anywhere” agreement coming to an end for one of the GO bus routes in the Durham Region, it seems that has finally served its purpose. With the new Highway 2 BRT service coming this summer, this will translate some “cost savings” for not only Durham Region Transit – but everyone who is used on using DRT’s services.
But not everyone isn’t impressed about the changes. Many students who attend Durham College, UOIT and Trent University’s Oshawa Campus are going to be shocked to see that the UPASS won’t be covered on GO bus routes 51, 52, 92, 93, 96 and 98. When I attended Durham College a couple years ago, I often get accustomed (Get used) on how the UPASS works. But, some of the new students and the ones that are currently attending will have to get used to the new changes!
First we saw GO Transit discontinuing the 2-rides and 10-ride tickets. Then we saw GO Transit taking the monthly passes off the road – in favour of the PRESTO Card. Now we see, GO “dissolving” the One Fare Anywhere agreement with DRT on “some” of its bus routes. As for UPASS, you can still utilize the UPASS on Durham Region Transit routes as you would before – even the new DRT Pulse Bus Rapid Transit route (which will operate from Downtown Oshawa to the U of T Scarborough Campus).
Currently, the 923 Bayly bus route operates from Audley and Bayly in Ajax and it serves the Ajax GO station, Pickering GO station and terminating at the U of T Scarborough Campus. Once DRT Pulse is deployed, the 923 will be curtailed to Pickering. We finally saw GO Transit beginning to “offload” local services. First it discontinued the local service in York Region in stages (the first stage took place in August 2003 and ended in July 2010), now the same situation will happen in Durham Region. Then again, it’ll be months until there will be some announcements made about transit changes in the Durham Region.
Transferring routes now (so to speak) from bus service to bullying, during my last blog posting I had mentioned about Saidat – the FREE2LUV advocate and an inspirational singer who wanted to raise awareness about bullying. Well, recently – there was a music video being filmed at a high school in London, Ontario, Canada. This particular music video is called “What have we done”. I’ve watched this video and by reviewing this particular music video, it really symbolizes on how bullying affects everyone and we must learn how to love each one another. That’s what FREE2LUV’s motto is, “Love is stronger than hate”.
To finish this blog posting off, I’m leaving you with two music videos: “What have we done” by Saidat (as promised) and “Courage” by The Tragically Hip. The reason that I choosed “What have we done” by Saidat is that we have to stop bullying in its tracks. I was pretty shocked to see in that video on how this particular depicts. It really explains itself why. As for “Courage” by The Tragically Hip, while it doesn’t make sense to have a “link” between these two songs, these videos “mirror” a purpose: “we must be strong and take the risks on loving one another in today’s society – no matter how young or old”. Enjoy the music videos.
Just an fyi your post has been mentioned in my petition http://www.change.org/en-CA/petitions/metrolinx-stop-the-cut-of-the-94-go-bus-in-durham-region#
Thanks for your kind contribution, I’ll probably mention you on my next blog posting.
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