The Royal Island Transit Authority (RITA) is the largest transit authority on Royal Island. It operates bus, subway and streetcar service in Royal Island City.
HISTORY
The Royal Island Transit Authority started out as the Royal Island Tramroad. On May 18, 1892, horse-drawn tram services commenced for the first time, on the Burlington, 8th Avenue, and Warden Grove routes. At this time the transit agency was known as the privately run Royal Island Tramroad. The tram services proved to be very popular with the public and in 1897 two more services were introduced: Richborough and Sunnyside.
In 1907, the city took over the routes and made them part of the newly formed Royal Island Transit Authority. At this time, it was running buses and horse drawn trams.
The first subway line was opened in 1911. The Broadview/Bay Street line first opened to passengers on May 22 of that year, running from Canarsie Beach to the village of North Bay. Ten years later, in 1921, the horse-drawn trams were phased out with the introduction of electrically operated Peter Witt streetcars, which first ran in revenue service on May 17, 1922.
In May 1922, the routes operating the new Peter Witt cars were the 8th Avenue, Sunnyside, Sunnyside and Burlington routes; Warden Grove had been taken over by buses in 1919. The Richborough streetcar was introduced in January 1924, after being out of operation for almost a year while the line was electrified. Over time, these routes have been extended, and the 8th Avenue route, now numbered 204, is the longest route operated by the Royal Island Transit Authority.
FLEET ROSTER
As of May 2013, the RITA has roughly 1240 buses, 258 streetcars and 1280 subway cars in its fleet. The entire surface fleet is equipped with automatic stop announcements and CCTV cameras. All subway cars have automatic stop announcements - CCTV cameras are expected to debut on the T2 (as this is not Toronto, they will not be referred to as Toronto Rockets, but it's the same type of car) in November 2013.
BUSES
STREETCARS
| Fleet number(s) | Year | Manufacturer | Model | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1000-1199 | 1978-1981 | Hawker-Siddeley/UTDC | CLRV | -1021 equipped with air conditioning in 2003 |
| 1200-1259 | 1987-1989 | UTDC/Can-Car Rail | ALRV | -1239 equipped with experimental A/C unit in 1995; removed 1996 |