2001 – Ajax-Pickering Transit Authority
SIMON: Today, you can board a bus and travel all over the Durham Region with one fare. In 2001, the transit authorities of Ajax and Pickering Transit decided to form one seamless and inter-connected transit system. As our Sophie Davidson reports back in September 2001, the two municipalities are getting ready to provide an integrated transit system.
[Cut to ribbon cutting ceremony]
SOPHIE DAVIDSON: Pickering Mayor Wayne Arthurs and Ajax Mayor Steve Parrish joined together to cut the ribbon on the newly formed Ajax-Pickering Transit Authority. Originally introduced back in June 2000, it was almost 15 months in the making for the two municipalities on making a first milestone of transit systems in the Greater Toronto Area.
STEVE PARRISH: By combining the two transit systems in the area, many riders will be impressed on what they can expect in a system. Better service, closer connections and accessible to all people from seniors to little ones with their parents.
SOPHIE DAVIDSON: Wayne Arthurs, the mayor of the newly formed City of Pickering told NewsWatch that he is really impressed on what the new transit system will benefit commuters.
WAYNE ARTHURS: It’s all coming into play together. You can take bus in Pickering and transfer another in Ajax. As always, many of our bus routes connect with the Pickering and Ajax GO stations respectively.
SOPHIE DAVIDSON: Andy, one of the bus drivers in the newly minted transit system has his say about its’ inception and how it will change the way he drives buses. Originally worked for the TTC, he explains what is to be like on running a merged system.
ANDY: You have to face many challenges on operating one. You have to ensure that you get the message right to all the people informing that a newly minted system is in operation. Although this plan is quite effective at some cases, it costs a lot of money on having aggressive promotion through the print publications, flyers and so on.
SOPHIE DAVIDSON: A representative told Newswatch that there won’t be any changes to its scheduling and services – not in the short-term to medium term.
APTA REPRESENTATIVE: There won’t be any changes to our service, but we are in the works on establishing new routes and enhanced services for all of our customers. We do want to make sure that all people who usually get used to two transit systems to know that we don’t have any plans to harmonize fares at this time. You can still continue to use the same services as you do right now. We are still operating the combocard smart card program and we won’t have any changes with that program in the short-term.
SOPHIE DAVIDSON: We asked commuters on how they will cope with the new system. These were the responses on them have to say:
COMMUTER #1: I believe someday, all the communities in the Durham Region will be merged into one system so I can travel from Ajax all the way to Oshawa.
SENIOR #1 (FEMALE): I really want the new system to have better service for us seniors. We frequently use transit for shopping and meeting our young ones.
SENIOR #2: (MALE): This is a historic moment for our two municipalities. Better service means more riders in the years to come.
COMMUTER #2: Perhaps they should introduce a one-centralized telephone number for transit scheduling and many other services.
COMMUTER #3: As our population grow and grow every year, more transit service should be introduced to serve those new areas.
SOPHIE DAVIDSON: But that would cost a lot of money.
COMMUTER #3: Either way, yes. Transit should be a vital component on newly established neighbourhoods.
SOPHIE DAVIDSON: Sophie Davision, NewsWatch, Ajax.
SIMON: The Ajax-Pickering Transit Authority was in operation for 5 years until a new law has been passed by the Regional Municipality of Durham back in 2005 on combining all transit systems in the region to form Durham Region Transit. As a result, The Ajax-Pickering Transit Authority was eventually merged into the new system. The new system stretches from Pickering in the West to Clarington in the East and through the Northern municipalities of Uxbridge, Scugog and Brock. Many new services were later added over time with the biggest milestones of the system – three new inter-municipality routes across the region and the ability to board on GO buses within the region for just one fare. Next week on Flashback, a tribute to a popular Hong Kong personality who dominated the entire Asian world with humour. See you then.
