Durham Region Transit – Freeze the Fares and Improve Service!

Durham Region Transit (DRT) provides public transportation for riders across Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa, Bowmanville, Clarington, Uxbridge, Brock and Port Perry.  For years, DRT has been increasing fares steadily and squeezing riders who rely on this essential public service.  Furthermore, service has remained inadequate for regular riders who struggle with increasing fares, long waits between transfers, limited service outside of rush hour, lack of service in northern municipalities, late or early buses, and a lack of customer complaint solutions. 

Public transit is absolutely essential for people living with disabilities, the working class, students, and seniors.  Insufficient public transit also tends to impact women and people of colour disproportionately.  Additionally, public transit is essential for reducing emissions from personal vehicles and should be critical to the Region’s environmental imperatives. 

We are asking that Durham Region Transit and the elected officials of the Region of Durham acknowledge that the services of DRT are lacking and the fare hikes place an undue strain on those who already are otherwise unable, for either physical or financial constraints, to use a personal vehicle as their main source of transit.  The fare hike represents a 7% increase where wages have been stagnating, the cost of living in the Durham Region has skyrocketed, and youth unemployment rates are among the highest in the province.  Moreover, with such low quality services currently available, many drivers who would otherwise be willing to use DRT choose not to because of the aforementioned service issues.  What we are asking is for:

1.       An Immediate freeze in DRT fare hikes

• We would like to encourage consultations and research into creating a zero-fare system
• We encourage consultation with provincial and federal governments to ensure that public services in the Region of Durham are adequately funded and functioning

2.       An increase in evening, weekend, and early morning service

• People who rely on DRT are not using it for the sole purpose of travelling at rush hour.  Additionally, part time and shift workers are not serviced by DRT if they need to travel during off peak hours

3.       Expanded service to northern communities in the region

• Recognizing that the region’s population is growing, we encourage DRT to work with municipal planning authorities to coordinate service to match anticipated growth

4.       Improve customer service, ridership consultations, and transparency

• Increase complaint resolution mechanisms for people who are negatively impacted by late or early buses who face penalties at work and school due to DRT errors
• Encourage DRT to be transparent with their finances as a public service to ensure accountability to ridership

5.       Remedy common ridership problems

• Many riders of DRT suffer from late or early buses, excessively long transfers, and lack of integration with the TTC Bus trackers while they are helpful in keeping riders informed, do not aid riders who are penalized at work or school because of late buses or account for hundreds of hours in wasted time from excessive transfers

Please sign and share this petition to bring attention to the issue and compel Durham Region Transit to address these concerns!