GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

[Adjei]

Found these comments interesting, seems Metrolinx might want to charge for parking...


In lieu of any real plans for the town, Metrolinx is toying with the idea of charging for parking to entice people to take alternate ways to the GO station. Considering it costs $5,000 to $10,000 for a spot to be built, McCuaig said parking fees are a real possibility.

“For neighbours who drive, they pay the same fare as those who walk. Is this fair, considering the cost to provide parking?”

http://www.insidehalton.com/news-st...nsit-initiatives-at-milton-chamber-breakfast/

 

[TOareaFan]

Found these comments interesting, seems Metrolinx might want to charge for parking...


In lieu of any real plans for the town, Metrolinx is toying with the idea of charging for parking to entice people to take alternate ways to the GO station. Considering it costs $5,000 to $10,000 for a spot to be built, McCuaig said parking fees are a real possibility.

“For neighbours who drive, they pay the same fare as those who walk. Is this fair, considering the cost to provide parking?”

http://www.insidehalton.com/news-st...nsit-initiatives-at-milton-chamber-breakfast/

They will still have to wrestle with the whole issue about not wanting to discourage people from using the service in the first place...it is a tough question and a real dilemma for them to wrestle with.

Personally I like their current model......charge for reserved parking...increase service which increases demand and then increases demand for those reserved spots and generates revenue. Leave it to the market to decide and, eventually, they end up generating revenue commensurate with the value of the parking spots....look at Long Branch and see how high a percentage of their spots are reserved and generating a decent chunk of change.

 

[crs1026]

Found these comments interesting, seems Metrolinx might want to charge for parking...

“For neighbours who drive, they pay the same fare as those who walk. Is this fair, considering the cost to provide parking?”

http://www.insidehalton.com/news-st...nsit-initiatives-at-milton-chamber-breakfast/

The business case for those big new parking garages was always a bit iffy. If you took the capital cost of the parking garage (amortised) and compared it to the net present value of a permanent subsidy to the local transit agencies, there was a good case that for the same money, better transit could have been brought closer to many of the garage users' doorsteps and this would have been cheaper than providing parking at all.

At the end of the day, 905 commuters expect the convenience of using their car to get to and from GO, so the garages are getting built....but densification is coming to the suburbs too, and this may be one of its first signs. Suburban roads will fill up in many places eventually. Availability of parking will cease to be a God-given right (as it has become in big city centers, including Toronto) and people may have to find a different way to get around...ie local transit. I'm not sure that our suburbanites are quite ready for this...yet.

- Paul

 

[wopchop]

The business case for those big new parking garages was always a bit iffy. If you took the capital cost of the parking garage (amortised) and compared it to the net present value of a permanent subsidy to the local transit agencies, there was a good case that for the same money, better transit could have been brought closer to many of the garage users' doorsteps and this would have been cheaper than providing parking at all.

At the end of the day, 905 commuters expect the convenience of using their car to get to and from GO, so the garages are getting built....but densification is coming to the suburbs too, and this may be one of its first signs. Suburban roads will fill up in many places eventually. Availability of parking will cease to be a God-given right (as it has become in big city centers, including Toronto) and people may have to find a different way to get around...ie local transit. I'm not sure that our suburbanites are quite ready for this...yet.

- Paul

I'm not sure about other garages, but at Oakville, the lower two levels of the parking garage are essentially all reserved spaces. I wish it was more, but it isn't all free.

Mind you, this isn't a majority of space in the garage, but like TOAreaFan said, expanding reserved parking in garages could be a way to generate the revenue that McCuaig is talking about.

 

[Jonny5]

Found these comments interesting, seems Metrolinx might want to charge for parking...


In lieu of any real plans for the town, Metrolinx is toying with the idea of charging for parking to entice people to take alternate ways to the GO station. Considering it costs $5,000 to $10,000 for a spot to be built, McCuaig said parking fees are a real possibility.

“For neighbours who drive, they pay the same fare as those who walk. Is this fair, considering the cost to provide parking?”

http://www.insidehalton.com/news-st...nsit-initiatives-at-milton-chamber-breakfast/

The idea of charging for parking has been floated like this for more than a decade. If they want to charge for parking, they can just do it. Until that day they really don't want to charge for parking.

 

[mdrejhon]

They already are....at some GO stations.

There exists some GO stations where they turned the last free parking spot into a Reserved spot (paid parking spot), making it a defacto paid GO station.

My prediction is nothing is going to change....status quo.....except slow increase of more Reserved spots at the stations that keep getting full parking lots. Free parking will still continue to exist 10 years from now, albeit at a smaller percentage of GO stations.

 

[nfitz]

That seems odd, given how many GO travellers only travel 2-3 times a week or on weekends. Which stations no longer have parking available?

 

[Jonny5]

That seems odd, given how many GO travelers only travel 2-3 times a week or on weekends. Which stations no longer have parking available?

I believe Long Branch and Mimico are nearly 100% reserved spots. You can see the Long Branch parking lot well enough on Google maps to see almost all spaces have the reservation signs, even those furthest from the station building.

 

[mdrejhon]

I believe Long Branch and Mimico are nearly 100% reserved spots. You can see the Long Branch parking lot well enough on Google maps to see almost all spaces have the reservation signs, even those furthest from the station building.

Yes, these stations are the ones I was remembering.
Also, Hamilton downtown GO station is also 100% reserved parking.

There was once upon a time that Mimico and Long Branch wasn't practically taken over by Reserved Parking.

-- I expect this phenomenon to occur (slowly, gradually over a decade) to at least 1 or 2 or more other GO station over the coming years.
-- I also expect that most new GO RER infill stations (helped along by SmartTrack funding) will not have free parking. These will be very small, Reserved Parking Only lots at many of them, because of lack of land space.

So through this stealth, we will see more "paid-only parking" at certain GO stations (mostly the new RER stations built on limited land parcels).

Within 10 years, possibly one of the largest GO parking lots to go mostly reserved-only might even be the downtown Brampton lot -- increased GO service (all-day 2-way) and the Hurontario LRT (if the Brampton leg is not cancelled) will drive parking demand up over the years, especially as people try to use it as a park-n-ride (for either LRT/GO) or free airport parking lot, etc. Unless GO decides to build a Brampton GO parking garage to compensate, in order to keep enough parking free.

It's really a matter of semantics/interpretation about "paid GO parking" -- it's already happened, just by selective stealth. Enough people pay for Reserved, it starts to hit the same number as parking spaces.

 

[DonValleyRainbow]

Don Drummond (former TD Bank Chief Economist) prepared a report for the Ontario government in February 2012, advising on multiple aspects of Ontario's finances. Recommendation 12-4 was charging for GO parking. The fact that it still has not been acted on is bordering on ridiculous.

 

[Filip]

Don Drummond (former TD Bank Chief Economist) prepared a report for the Ontario government in February 2012, advising on multiple aspects of Ontario's finances. Recommendation 12-4 was charging for GO parking. The fact that it still has not been acted on is bordering on ridiculous.

And it shouldn't even be a concern for Metrolinx...

Don't want to pay for parking? Enjoy the 2h commute down a clogged highway. You're welcome.

 

[Napoleon]

I'm not sure about other garages, but at Oakville, the lower two levels of the parking garage are essentially all reserved spaces. I wish it was more, but it isn't all free.

Mind you, this isn't a majority of space in the garage, but like TOAreaFan said, expanding reserved parking in garages could be a way to generate the revenue that McCuaig is talking about.

This is not unusual in the US…many commuter stations are oversubscribed and charge monthly/daily fees. BART, NJ Transit, MBTA, etc., all charge in my experience. Some of them make it free on the weekend which is a nice compromise.

 

[TOareaFan]

I believe Long Branch and Mimico are nearly 100% reserved spots. You can see the Long Branch parking lot well enough on Google maps to see almost all spaces have the reservation signs, even those furthest from the station building.

Yes, these stations are the ones I was remembering.
Also, Hamilton downtown GO station is also 100% reserved parking.

Long Branch is not 100% reserved...quick eyeballing around the lot (ie. not counting spot by spot) I would put it at around 75%.

That seems odd, given how many GO travellers only travel 2-3 times a week or on weekends. Which stations no longer have parking available?

When you reserve a spot from GO it is a M-F reservation only and the signage is quite clear that weekends are not included.....this has worked in my favour at Long Branch on Saturdays as I pull into a near full lot and see people bypassing "reserved spots" because they don't want to get a ticket and I pull in and park......more than once I have stopped and told people "don't worry about the reserved spot sign....that does not apply on weekends.

 

[nfitz]

When you reserve a spot from GO it is a M-F reservation only and the signage is quite clear that weekends are not included.....this has worked in my favour at Long Branch on Saturdays as I pull into a near full lot and see people bypassing "reserved spots" because they don't want to get a ticket and I pull in and park......more than once I have stopped and told people "don't worry about the reserved spot sign....that does not apply on weekends.

Good to know. I've not paid much attention because none of the 3 GO stations I usually frequent have any parking at all.

 

[drum118]

Caught 304 today and rode it to Burlington.

The door to the cab is out in the aisle-way between the last seats.

Maintenance crews on the train with one using his computer to monitor the car from one of the control panels.

A lot of teething problems still showing up and will delay the other cars going into service as plan. 306 is supposed to be the next car to see service. 2 more cars are about ready to be ship from Thunder Bay.

The cars are heavier than the current cars

Arriving at Port Credit

Departing Burlington