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Grand River Transit
(12-08-2018, 03:14 PM)Pheidippides Wrote: Also, service delivery, measured by the percentage of scheduled service hours that are operated, was 99.91% in October 2018. While that seems high consider that GRT offers about 68,000 hours of service in a month. So even not delivering 0.09% of service means that more than 6,100 hours of service were lost. "Missed service can occur due to traffic, weather, mechanical breakdowns, collisions and the lack of resources assigned to a route."

0.09% of 68,000 is 61.2 hours, not 6,100 hours.
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Whoops!
Everyone move to the back of the bus and we all get home faster.
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Canard, I apologize for the personal remarks I directed toward you in my earlier response.

My words were unkind, not productive, and irrelevant to current discussion and for that I am truly sorry.

You were asking a simple question and instead of simply answering your question I let my frustration with your lack of empathy on another issue affect my response.

In the future I will try remain on topic, walk away, ignore, or talk it out privately.

Again, Canard, I apologize to you for my poor behaviour. I appreciate all that you bring to this forum and hope that my poor choice does not affect your contributions and participation in this forum.

And to all forum users, I apologize for not living to the high community standards and expectations that we have all grown to appreciate.

I will try to be better.

Have a good day.
Everyone move to the back of the bus and we all get home faster.
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With the Regional population growth trending at 1.51%, a 5% in ridership increase sounds good.
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GRT will be ordering up to 122 buses over the next five years, with 27 to be delivered in 2019. This includes plans for up to 9 articulated buses between 2021-23, as well as 6 hybrids for 2023.

The bid for all these was won by Quebec-based Nova Bus, moving our supplier back to them from Manitoba-based New Flyer. Details in the regional agenda. https://calendar.regionofwaterloo.ca/Cou...d200fca357
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(01-11-2019, 09:37 PM)KevinL Wrote: GRT will be ordering up to 122 buses over the next five years, with 27 to be delivered in 2019. This includes plans for up to 9 articulated buses between 2021-23, as well as 6 hybrids for 2023.

The bid for all these was won by Quebec-based Nova Bus, moving our supplier back to them from Manitoba-based New Flyer. Details in the regional agenda. https://calendar.regionofwaterloo.ca/Cou...d200fca357

Figured it would have been either Nova or NF.

I wonder what routes they will run the atticulated busses on.
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Yay, I'm so glad they're going back to Nova's!
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Too bad. IMO the New Flyer buses are more comfortable than the Nova's and I find them quieter inside and out.
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Articulated buses will be on heavy-traffic routes with mostly straight routing, like the 20xes and the 7. We'll see if any other new routes get particularly busy, post Ion launch.
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I generally preferred the Nova's, and so did the drivers.

The greater comfort was probably the seating configuration, which I assume is an option on the Novas (plenty of new flyer also had 2 by 2 seating).

I do wonder how ordering NF for a few years has and will for 10 years or so impact our maintenance programs...having to manage two different manufacturers.

Pretty sad that electric buses aren't even on our radar though.
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From what I've heard, every manufacturer offering electric busses is backlogged with several years' worth of orders. I believe it was Toronto that was recently bumped back several years with their order for some reason.
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(01-11-2019, 11:32 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: I generally preferred the Nova's, and so did the drivers.

The greater comfort was probably the seating configuration, which I assume is an option on the Novas (plenty of new flyer also had 2 by 2 seating).

I do wonder how ordering NF for a few years has and will for 10 years or so impact our maintenance programs...having to manage two different manufacturers.

Pretty sad that electric buses aren't even on our radar though.

I agree. The Region uses the word "innovative" when describing itself. We wouldn't be ahead of the curve if we started to incorporate electric buses into our fleet now- many other cities of all sizes have done it or have placed orders. We'll be well behind if we're not even thinking of placing orders for another five years.
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Why so long for the Artic’s to come into service? Order backlog at Nova?

Aren’t there lots of super-crowded routes that could make use of them?
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(01-12-2019, 08:06 AM)Canard Wrote: Why so long for the Artic’s to come into service? Order backlog at Nova?

Aren’t there lots of super-crowded routes that could make use of them?

Articulated buses don't fit at the stations we have, I am guessing they didn't want to order them too soon. But yeah, they definitely seem far off, given how crowded our routes are today and how close LRT is to launching.  There could be facility limitations (arent they building a new storage facility too?). That being said I'm happy if crowding continues to force increases in frequency instead of larger vehicles.

As for electric, we have got to at least be planning to get some, this is a five year order.  There are places which plan to have transitioned entirely by then I believe and we won't even have considered ordering one.
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(01-11-2019, 11:32 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: I generally preferred the Nova's, and so did the drivers.

The greater comfort was probably the seating configuration, which I assume is an option on the Novas (plenty of new flyer also had 2 by 2 seating).

I do wonder how ordering NF for a few years has and will for 10 years or so impact our maintenance programs...having to manage two different manufacturers.

Pretty sad that electric buses aren't even on our radar though.

Blame the Ford Government for this. The cancellation of Cap and Trade resulted in the cancellation of the Region's plans for 2 pilot buses and the required infrastructure for the time being. 
Quote:It is noted that in 2018, the Region applied for funding to the provincial Municipal Greenhouse Gas Challenge program for a project which included two pilot electric buses and the required infrastructure to support these buses. While the provincial program did not continue, staff are monitoring the development and evolution of fully electric bus technology. The acceptance of this proposal does not restrict the Region from acquiring electric buses through a subsequent procurement initiative.
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