There is no doubt that Durham Region is growing. We are welcoming tens of thousands of new people to our communities. Families, students, seniors and newcomers call Durham Region home because of our economic success, job opportunities and community amenities. Knowing this, services and infrastructure must keep pace with the growth across our cities and towns. Essential services such as fire, police, paramedics, schools and healthcare need to support the unprecedented demand we see. 

One service that should be remembered is public transit. In 2023, Durham Region Transit (DRT) achieved record-level ridership despite having the lowest scheduled service hours in all of the GTHA. Over 1.5 million monthly riders rode DRT in 2023, meaning around 67,000 people per day are riding the system. 

In January, DRT was forced to reallocate service from several bus routes to deal with reliability and overcrowding on other routes. Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa and Bowmanville routes had service either completely cut or substantially reduced. People must walk further to their bus stop or are forced to use other methods of transportation.  

With high ridership that is expected to continue into 2024, it would be reasonable to assume that service improvements are coming. Despite this, the Region is proposing over $8 million in service improvements for DRT to be cut for the upcoming 2024 budget. This means zero increase in service at a time when we are experiencing huge overcrowding in transit. The routes that had service suspended or reduced will not be reinstated. Riders would experience longer wait times and be left behind at bus stops more often. Users of On Demand services would have to wait longer and have less timely access to it. 

Please sign this petition, to support investment into our transit system for more frequent, reliable service and restoring routes cut this January. It would transform the way people in Durham move, and make public transit a viable option. It is an essential service just like fire, police and ambulance. Increasing funding for transit means more service, more ridership and less congestion on our streets for everyone.