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economist sunsuntribime the great transit challenge saturday june 182005 staff photomike barrett newmarket regional councillor tony van bynen took our transit challenge here he waits for a bus at mulock drive and bayview avenue newmarket regional councillor and transit committee member tony van bynen got out of his car and used york region transit may 17 and 18 following is an edited version of his transit diary my first impression in taking transit was the greeting from the driver on the londonbristol roads route when i boarded the first morning when i missed my connection at main street and davis drive the driver called ahead to the bus i had missed and arranged for him to loop around the block to pick me up on the return trip the bayview avenue bus was already at the stop light and could have left me stand ing but when i waved my transfer from across the street she waited for the light to change so i could cross the road and board the bus on all of my trips there were never more than two or three peo ple on the bus most were students in their late teens or early 20s a worker headed home from an industrial plant a senior coming home from shopping the benefits of transit in york maimiam theatre region are heavily weighted to intermunicipal users like new- market to toronto vaughan and richmond hill but for intown users some things need to change my trips to and from main street and london road to the municipal office on mulock drive were only 45 kilometres each way but the average allin time walk ing waiting for the bus and actual travel time averaged 52 minutes compared to nine minutes by car the walk time and wait time is almost 212 times the actual trav el time and you need to take three tuesday may 17 home to municipal office 16 walking minutes 26 waiting minutes and 10 riding minutes munici pal office to home 10 walking min utes 32 waiting minutes 24 riding minutes wednesday may 18 home to municipal office 16 walking minutes 12 waiting minutes 18 riding minutes municipal office to home 27 walking minutes nine waiting minutes seven riding min utes twoday time total 33 per cent walk ing minutes 38 per pent waiting min utes 29 per cent riding minutes the state of last of a fourpart series discussing public transit in york region visit wwwyorkregioncom to view our state of series on waste education public safety and transit different routes we need to reduce the number of transfers bus schedules and timing seem to be focused on a to work and home framework for midday appointments out of the office i needed to hitch a ride three times on tuesday and four times on wednesday the current framework is not effective for our intown users we need local solutions that focus more directly to our cus tomer needs rather than on gener al traffic patterns or transit princi ples applied on a broader scale i think its great that yrt is initi ating a small bus trial in newmar ket this summer but i want to con tinue to explore the dialabus option where you book your trip and they arrange to send out a bus when needed yes it sounds like a taxi but not when there are six to eight other people on the same route at the same time and i still believe we can replace all of our major newmarket routes with the same number of smaller buses that would take you from origin to destination on the same bus or with only one transfer on an asheeded basis it would eliminate walk time reduce wait times and the need for transfers on the plus side all but one of the buses i rode were clean and modern staff was friendly helpful and courteous and seemed to have a rapport with what appeared to be regular riders it is cumbersome trying to find the routes and coordinating those connections from the bus sched ules the yrt website is littlemore than an electronic version of the printed schedules whats needed and may be under development is software similar to map quest where you give your point of origin your des tination and the time you need to be there so the system can outline the routes it felt good to take transit like i was doing my part for the environ ment and it felt good not having to wrestle with traffic now if we could just figure out a way that it works for me and my schedule i might even use up tire remain ing six tickets this summer when i know the weadier will be right and i will be in the office all day makes sense to ride yrt by roger varley staff writer for jules bedeau of markham taking the bus was a moving expe rience i am changing to the bus mr bedeau said recently after a two day experiment to determine if york region transit services could offer him a viable alternative to using his car until taking the york region newpapers groups transit chal lenge and riding the bus april 21 and 22 mr bedeaus daily trip to work involved riding in a car with his sister terri from their home in the markham roadhwy 7 area to hwy 7 and leslie street he said the trip usually takes about 15 minutes by car because of early morning traffic although he doesnt start work until about 10 am his sister has to travel to wpodbridge arid then on to toronto so she would drop him off at his office taking the bus allowed him to leave his home much later result still a 15iriinute trip but he wasnt fighting traffic in a car it should take less time he reasoned but the roads are congested early in the morn ing by taking the bus im avoid ing me bulk of the traffic it makes more sense for me to take the bus all the time mr bedeau said of his experience its environmentally consci entious i have time to read and possibly meet some people he said the walk from the bus to his office and to his home on the return trip was negligible not that he found transit with out its faults the schedule is sometimes unpredictable and so is the weather he said and because of the infrequen- cy of buses youre up the creek without a paddle if you miss your bus staff photosjoerd witteveen jules bedeau of markham will ride york region transit every morn ing to work- he boards the bus at hwy 7 and windridge drive our createy0ur0wn subscription format offers more choices greater flexibility savings up to 23 off regular ticket prices and outstanding ticket exchange benefits donl miss out on the tremendous savings call today for your free brochure view our flew 905305show v0 ivtheatremarkhamca xwmzzzxi