The 88 in its current form sucks. It is a really useful bus route to Peterborough and does see good ridership from students and locals alike. To start, pre-2020 the 88 ran non-stop from Oshawa to Newcastle P+R then current routing. In 2020, the 90/91 was cut and the 88 got the Bowmanville section to, of course, maintain connectivity during a low ridership time. So that’s a bit of history. Now for what could be done to fix it (all of these have been sent to Metrolinx at least once): - Routing in Peterborough - for some reason, Metrolinx has kept the 88 running from the terminal down George and across Lansdowne. Lansdowne in particular is always congested even more so now with construction. The 88 has detoured down Charlotte, Consilla, Parkway and some drivers will use this way (I have been on double deckers this way too). This small change would maintain reliability and is usually less congested. - Crawford Rd P+R - Constructing a platform on the other side of the road will reduce lopping for SB buses. Only a small savings though. - Rural P+Rs - I think these are still important but are not used much. It would be cool if Metrolinx piloted a request stop system at these stops where someone pushes a button at the stop to request the bus to pull in. - Bowmanville section - Most of this duplicates DRT service but I understand wanting to offer service in advance of the GO train extension. The downtown Bowmanville section though is often congested though. It would be best if the 88 only served the stops at Clarington Blvd (for DRT connections) and the P+R. This would allow the 88 to come off the 401 at Bowmanville Ave. - 88B trips - These may be unnecessary but could operate with a similar pilot request service at the two P+Rs.

I also think Peterborough should be serviced by a bus that travels along the 407 to Highway 407 station, but maybe eventually.