Taking Student Voices to the Transit Table

On February 4, I had the opportunity to attend the Durham Region Transit (DRT) Executive Committee alongside a small delegation of student leaders and alumni. Our goal was simple but important: to ensure student voices were accounted for in decisions that directly affect our daily lives.

Thousands of students rely on public transit to get to campus, jobs, placements, and home. So it is no surprise that through the U-Pass, students collectively contribute a significant amount of funding to the transit system, therefore, it is important to raise the following question: are students actually seeing the benefits of what we pay into?

The main issues that we highlighted were overcrowded buses on high-demand routes and safety concerns around poorly lit bus stops, especially for students commuting at night.

Who Was at the Table

Our delegation included two Ontario Tech alumni, Sinthuyan Uthayanan and Manisha Peters, as well as OTSU President Eloghosa Avenbuan, and Prabhmeet Kaur, the Vice President External Affairs of the Trent Durham Student Association.

Alumni being present in the room was impactful, as they are witnesses to the DRT’s evolution. They shared stories of transit advocacy efforts going back to 2016, and underlining the persistence of some challenges nearly a decade later really put things into perspective. It showed me that advocacy isn’t a one-time conversation, it’s long-term, often lengthy, and built on persistence.

What We Asked For and Why

We focused on two tangible requests:

• Articulated buses on high-demand routes that students heavily rely on, especially during peak class times.
• Improved street lighting around bus stops, to support safety for late-night riders.

These requests came directly from student concerns we hear regularly: overcrowding, missed buses, and feeling unsafe while commuting after dark. Our aim wasn’t to demand immediate fixes, but to clearly communicate that these historical issues are ongoing and meaningful to students.

What It Was Like in the Room

This experience taught me that advocacy isn’t just about immediate wins. It’s about keeping student perspectives visible, especially in spaces where decisions are shaped by budgets, timelines, and long-term planning.

By showing up, we helped ensure that when transit decisions are made, whether next year or ten years from now, students are part of the conversation.

An encouraging development following the meeting is that Durham Region Transit has begun expanding solar lighting at bus stops. According to DRT’s February 2026 Transit Executive Committee update, the agency is expanding solar lighting after a successful pilot at stops without shelters or nearby streetlights. This aligns closely with the safety concerns our delegation raised about poorly lit bus stops affecting students commuting at night. While this initiative is still being rolled out gradually, it represents a meaningful step toward improving rider safety and shows how student advocacy can help bring attention to issues that matter to our community.

While this change will take time to scale across the region, it is a powerful example of how advocacy can translate into tangible improvements for riders, reinforcing one of my takeaways from this meeting: that progress in public policy often happens gradually, but it starts with people continuing to show up and speak up.

We also learned that if we want to push for real change, our next step is shifting advocacy toward Durham Region’s Finance and Administration Committee, where funding decisions are ultimately made.

The Big Takeaways

One of the biggest takeaways from the meeting was learning that DRT operates at a significant daily loss, estimated at around $50 million annually. Because of this, many of the improvements we advocated for aren’t feasible in the short term.

• Street lighting is something DRT is willing to incorporate into its 10-year strategic plan.
• Articulated buses depend on the construction of a new bus storage facility, which is still in progress.

While that wasn’t the outcome we hoped for, it was still an important step. Our concerns were formally recorded, discussed, and acknowledged, which I feel, now looking back, matters just as much as getting what we asked for.

Why This Still Counts as a Win

This experience taught me that advocacy isn’t just about immediate wins. It’s about keeping student perspectives visible, especially in spaces where decisions are shaped by budgets, timelines, and long-term planning.

By showing up, we helped ensure that when transit decisions are made, whether next year or ten years from now, students are part of the conversation.

We also learned that if we want to push for real change, our next step is shifting advocacy toward Durham Region’s Finance and Administration Committee, where funding decisions are ultimately made.

What Comes Next, and How Students Can Help

We’ll keep advocating and championing your voices so that student needs are considered in transit planning.

If you rely on transit, have concerns about safety or service, or want to see improvements, share your experiences, participate in consultations when they come up, and stay engaged. Advocacy works best when it’s backed by real stories and collective voices.

Showing up to that committee taught me one thing clearly: student voices belong at decision-making tables. And they make a difference simply by being there.

If you have any questions about the delegation, our advocacy efforts, or would like to get involved in some small way, please reach out to me anytime. My door is always open.

Anwoy Barua,

VP Student Affairs