Why is YRT's Advertising Budget higher than its Service Budget?

Earlier today, I headed to Markville Mall, in Markham to run some errands. On my way back, I caught YRT's VIVA Purple bus from the stop at Bullock. While I was waiting, I saw a notice posted on the shelter from YRT related to service changes that took effect on October 31st. A picture of it is below.

I could not help but notice the bottom part. It suggests that "Don't worry, if you can't get a ride, YRT will be there for you." Frankly, that is a blatant lie. The route changes listed above tend to be cuts. Oh, your 56 Gorham-Eagle bus used to be rush hours only, every 60 minutes? Don't fret, it will now operate every 64 minutes. As the title of this article suggests, advertisements like this everywhere are quite funny when you consider that the service provided by York Region Transit is, at best, minimal. Realistically, if mom can't pick you up, may of as well wait for her to be able to, you'll get home faster.

    

It reminded me of something YRT had done a few years back. VIVA and YRT were branded as different, and YRT made a whole big deal that VIVA was now being re-branded as being under the YRT umbrella. The functional difference was none, service was not increased, and connectivity was not improved at all. 

I guess this blog post is kind of a hit piece on YRT. If it is, consider it to be part 1? I think I do want to do an in-depth analysis of YRT's many problems, and how they can fix them, so this should be a relatively brief summary.

The YRT Contradiction

So, apart from the advertising budget, YRT seems to spend swaths of money on infrastructure. I'm sure if you're reading this blog, you are at least somewhat familiar with the VIVA busways along Highway 7, Enterprise, Yonge, and Davis. While they have their issues, they do speed up service significantly, and traffic is very easily bypassed, particularly during the afternoon peak periods. However, while the infrastructure is there, the service is not. A quick glance at the VIVA Orange bus schedule in the midday at Creditstone VIVAstation, heading eastbound, immediately raises red flags. See below:

• 10:35am towards Richmond Hill Centre
• 10:57am towards Richmond Hill Centre
• 11:20am towards Richmond Hill Centre
• 11:42am towards Richmond Hill Centre
• 12:04am towards Richmond Hill Centre

Hold on. Dedicated middle-of-road bus lanes, with huge stations, and midday service is every 22:30 during the midday on a weekday? Some TTC routes without any infrastructure operate more frequently during Sunday evenings. Clearly, there is some sort of mismatch between what is built, and what actually runs.

This is only the start of the problem. I have selected two routes in particular to identify some of the other issues with YRT. The issues are similar, but the routes are far apart, and reflect a system-wide failure.

The first selection is route 56 Gorham-Eagle, which operates from the 404 Town Centre to Newmarket Bus Terminal via Ringwell. Glancing at the schedule facing eastbound on Eagle Street at Yonge, connecting to VIVA Blue at Eagle VIVAstation, a problem should jump out:

• 6:04am towards 404 Town Centre
• 7:04am towards 404 Town Centre
• 8:04am towards 404 Town Centre
• 9:08am towards 404 Town Centre
• 2:08pm towards 404 Town Centre
• 3:12pm towards 404 Town Centre

So, not only does this route operate rush-only, it is a massive headway during these periods. Essentially, while VIVA Blue can bring you close to your destination, this 'closeness' may be more than two kilometres away. At this point, it isn't even a question of first-mile/last-mile connections: a significant amount of the trip is missing. 

The 13 Islington shows similar concerns. The route operates approximately half-hourly during peak periods, hourly in the midday, and every fifty minutes in the evening, which is an improvement. Waits are long, but at least the service functions. However, on weekends, there is no service at all. As can be seen from the below screenshot of Google Maps, little is within walking distance from the VIVAstation, which is centred in the picture:

So areas physically north, like Napa Valley near Rutherford, find no use in VIVA Orange. Even when the service is running, there isn't really anywhere to spend time while waiting, like a Tim Hortons. How is this a functional system? Can you really get anywhere whenever you want with service like this? Imagine your trip involves multiple routes like this. A short trip (say 3km) may involve more than an hour or two of waiting around. Sure, you could walk, but the environment does not facilitate this, and you physically may be unable to do so.

Toronto's subway ridership is so high because of connecting bus routes that feed into the system. If Toronto opened a new line, ran trains at 15 minute headways, and had no bus connections on weekends, would that be acceptable? Absolutely not, it would entirely useless except for a few particular trips. There is a plan to extend Line 1 to Richmond Hill Centre. Currently, only routes 1, 99, VIVA Blue, VIVA Purple and VIVA Orange operate at all hours. Trips to areas close-by are difficult, considering that local routes 83, 86, 97, and 91B do not have full hours of service. The relatively-new Vaughan Metropolitan Centre station, in York Region, has only the 20 and VIVA Orange run at all hours. The 26 is rush only, and that's it for connections in Vaughan's new downtown core. If YRT does not commit to working towards Toronto's network model (I do acknowledge some issues), why should they be rewarded with another subway extension?

So, What can be Done?

This piece may have come off as very pessimistic. I do think YRT has opportunities to improve themselves. The first and foremost solution is to cut the advertising. Frequent service speaks for itself. If service actually takes people where they go when they want, commit to it. York Region wants to be less suburban and more urban. I don't think its crazy to consider that those in an urban area would want 24/7 service, but YRT currently struggles past 11pm. Work must be done.

TTC has a set of service standards that maintain a minimal level of service. Across the whole network, this is only broken three times, all relatively minor. YRT can become a functional system by committing to a similar set of standards in terms of span of service and headway that allow for ridership to build. I have constructed a set of standards that should fit suburban areas relatively well, and would significantly improve access in the region. I have outlined these below.

• BRT (i.e. VIVA) routes
• 15 minutes max, 5am-12am
• Major corridors
• 15 minutes max, peak periods
• 30 minutes max, off peak periods, until 12am, including weekends
• 30 minutes max overnight service, including weekends, on the most major corridors (Highway 7, Jane, Major Mackenzie, Yonge)
• Less major routes
• 30 minutes max, peak periods
• 60 minutes max, weekday off peak periods, until 12am
• 60 minutes max, weekends, until 7pm
• More particular services
• 30 minutes max, even if peak-only

These standards may be hard to apply to the current network. That's okay! Redesigning the network is an important step towards making it useful, especially considering that travel patterns have changed significantly since many routings were implemented in the 1970s and 1980s.

Drop the lies, YRT, and make a network that actually works.