Councillor unhappy with YRT service

Stouffville to Yonge St. route going on demand during weekends

Yorkregion.com
Dec. 7, 2015
By Sandra Bolan

York Region Transit’s weekend service in Stouffville is going on-demand.

Starting in June, Route 15 will only be available through dial-a-ride.

It is not a taxi service, but a “more intimate, interactive service for the customers,” said Adrian Kawun, manager of service planning for YRT.

Dial-a-ride works like this: riders call for a bus to pick them up at a regular Route 15 stop 60 minutes before they want to leave. The dispatcher lets the rider know when a bus will be there - it could be as quickly as 10 minutes or as long as 60 minutes, based on demand. The rider takes the bus to the destination, which again, must be a regular stop.

Moving to this type of service for the route, which goes along Millard Street and Main Street/Stouffville Road to Yonge Street, is not about saving money but using resources better, according to Kawun.

Route 15 was also chosen because it is among the most expensive for YRT to operate, according to Kawun who said it costs the transit company $40 per passenger per trip. The fair is $4.

Despite the high cost to operate the route, YRT currently does not have any plans to cut the service because “we realize there should be connections” to Yonge Street and GO Transit would be the only other option, Kawun said.

Dial-a-ride already exists in Oak Ridges, Richmond Hill and Markham and has been “received quite well,” according to Kawun.

The switch to route 15 will be made in June because ridership is lower over the summer.

“When we implement it and if something goes wrong, we have time to fix it before the big push” in the fall, he said.

Councillor Iain Lovatt is not happy with the change.

“You’re moving us in the wrong direction,” he told Kawun during the Dec. 1 council meeting, which was when Kawun announced the dial-a-ride program was coming to Whitchurch-Stouffville.

“Dial-a-ride doesn't address the poor routes available to our kids to get to Markville (Mall) for example, or the time it takes to connect with TTC. TTC routes come as far north as Major Mackenzie in Markham but no YRT bus will get you close! My son regularly takes the GO bus to get downtown. He pays double for the convenience of saving time and a direct route. YRT reducing service levels for residents in Stouffville is unacceptable,” Lovatt told The Sun-Tribune.

The councillor also noted, during the meeting, it takes his 14-year-old daughter 76 minutes to get to Markville Shopping Centre during the week and two hours on the weekend.

“That makes no sense to me,” Lovatt said during the council meeting.