Poll: Students spend more time commuting with TTC in Vaughan (yorkregion.com)

May 13, 2019
Dina Al-Shibeeb
Yorkregion.com

A survey conducted by York Federation of Students shows an increased travel time spent for students following the stoppage of direct public transit services to bolster the new TTC lines in Vaughan.

The survey by YFS collected information from about 17,450 respondents in total in less than a month before the complete September stoppage of direct YRT bus services from York Region to York University till April.

In addition to YRT, direct GO buses to York University from York Region were also halted in January, reducing direct travel options for the students.

The survey was part of a YU Ride petition to restore bus services to campus. Keep York Moving, which is trying to help these students get more direct routes under a uniform fare integration, has delved into the figures to make sense of it.

Keep York Moving said the survey gives an overview of some patterns amid the two shifts of GO and YRT buses stoppage. However, respondents may have made their input twice, possibly before and after the shift, but that analysis still has to be done, it added.

Of the 13,056 total respondents to the YU Ride transit survey, about 3,199 are from York Region, based on postal code, with the lion’s share from Vaughan, with 1,332 students, staff and faculty providing input. Richmond Hill comes second at 731, then Markham at 700.

To put these numbers in perspective, according to figures from York University, there is a total of 53,000 undergrad and grad students with an estimate of 12,000 being from York Region.

Back to the survey, about 673 of these 3,199 York Region respondents don’t use any transit.

What they found out is that of the 2,526 who do use transit, 524 use YRT and likely walk in from Steeles, followed by 512 who use YRT and TTC and likely encounter the 2-Fare Wall and the third method is 370 students using YRT, TTC, GO all together taking advantage of the three-hour GO transfer window, earning a total discount of $4.25 off the $6.75 combined TTC/YRT fare.

“Unlike the two-hour transfer window within the YRT system, and an equivalent two-hour transfer window between the YRT and Brampton transit, no agreement exists between the TTC and YRT to respect each other's two-hour transfer windows,” said Fred Winegust, one of the founders of Keep York Moving.

 

“So those taking TTC and YRT spend $6.75 in each direction,” he said. "Who would have thought that the opening of the subway would cost the commuter more time and more money."

But the equation changes when GO enters the mix with its three-hour transfer window.

“Since GO has separate bilateral agreements with the TTC ($1.50 off the $3.00 fare) on YRT ($2.75 off the $3.75 fare), York Region residents who use all three together, spend $2.75 for TTC/YRT plus the GO Fare.”

Meanwhile, the fourth category sees 369 students use YRT and GO, which was an option before YRT left campus on Sep. 5, and 295 use just GO, which was an option before GO buses were shifted off campus, and remains an option for those who use the GO Train to York University GO station and then use the York University shuttle.

It’s unclear how those who use YRT or GO only reach York University. It’s also unclear if it’s GO bus or train.

In addition, about 478 said they used a car as means of transportation, the highest when compared to Toronto 248, Peel 131 and Durham 40.

Of the 478, 58 drive with off-campus parking, and 279 drive with on-campus parking, 127 being dropped off and 14 use taxi, Uber or Lyft.

More YRT use?

When approaching York Region, some figures from YRT analysis “of routes operating to/from the Pioneer Village bus terminal, which previously operated to the York University Campus” were shared. It shows that on average there has been an increase of 7.9 per cent of YRT ridership on routes operating to the Pioneer Village Terminal.

In 2017, the total ridership was 3,165,071 and, in 2018, it increased to 3,414,117.

This could show that with the advent of TTC, more people are using YRT, spending more time and money.