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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

crs1026 said:
Depends what one's definition of "very significant announcement" is. I'm very dubious that this will be anything more than a repeat of past promises, with the same vague and very long timeline.

If Toronto had one new Flexity streetcar for every photo op Del Duca has held to say nothing, we'd be bumper to bumper with transit.

- Paul
Click to expand...
Weren't they expanding the overnight storage tracks in Kitchener to hold 4 trains rather than 2? Is that done? If so, this could just be an extension of two more runs in each direction to Kitchener.....surely a "100% increase in service" would be viewed as a significant announcement :)
 
The new layover is not really phot0-op ready. Unless they're going for a "construction going busily in the background" kind of photo-op. I was on a GO train through there a week ago, and they've graded the site, have a lot of half-constructed buildings,and have a big stack of rails waiting, but things are still a while away from being finished.
 
crs1026 said:
Depends what one's definition of "very significant announcement" is. I'm very dubious that this will be anything more than a repeat of past promises, with the same vague and very long timeline.
Click to expand...
Presumably it's the extra 2 trains from Kitchener in the morning, that have long been promised, and can now be done with the new signalling system.

Perhaps tied into the already announced off-peak evening and weekend service between Union and Brampton on the same line.

Both are significant. But nothing new for those paying attention.

A surprise would be a reverse commute all the way to Kitchener.
 
nfitz said:
Presumably it's the extra 2 trains from Kitchener in the morning, that have long been promised, and can now be done with the new signalling system.

Perhaps tied into the already announced off-peak evening and weekend service between Union and Brampton on the same line.

Both are significant. But nothing new for those paying attention.

A surprise would be a reverse commute all the way to Kitchener.
Click to expand...

A good start would be reverse-commute trains to Bramalea (it should be possible now), with express buses to Kitchener/Waterloo and/or Guelph via Highway 407 and Highway 401.
 
nfitz said:
Presumably it's the extra 2 trains from Kitchener in the morning, that have long been promised, and can now be done with the new signalling system.

Perhaps tied into the already announced off-peak evening and weekend service between Union and Brampton on the same line.

Both are significant. But nothing new for those paying attention.

A surprise would be a reverse commute all the way to Kitchener.
Click to expand...

It shows what a lousy politician I'd make. Yeah, they will undoubtedly observe the actual start of additional service. It's an accomplishment that the average voter would give them credit for.

Reverse direction service is physically impossible until they add a little more siding capacity, but it would be nice if they announced a start to work on this.

- Paul
 
nfitz said:
Presumably it's the extra 2 trains from Kitchener in the morning, that have long been promised, and can now be done with the new signalling system.
Click to expand...

It's almost certainly the 2 additional trains to Kitchener. The schedule that I was given projects them starting in September.

The remainder of the midday, evening and weekend service to Mount Pleasant is now projected to start in April.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
 
A broken promise, and another failure to extract value from the $1.7 Billion that was spent on GTS (minus the $456 M that was the on time on budget contribution of UPX)

Dan, any idea why the delay? Is it lack of trained crews? (If so, that's a failure to plan that ought to be better known)

- Paul​
 
I've heard lower ridership growth at GO Transit is to blame. Though that doesn't explain a new bus route to Brantford or the Downtown Cambridge train-meet. Politics is everything, and Brampton Council has been too busy fighting with each other to push for the promised GO improvements.
 
nfitz said:
That's unfortunate - another broken promise, if it is now going to be in fiscal 2017-18 rather than 2016-17 as promised.
Click to expand...

So what you're saying is that even though 2016 Budget said that evening and weekend service would start in "2015-2017" for the Kitchener Corridor, if it is implemented in April 2017 it's a broken promise because the 2016-2017 fiscal year ends on March 31, 2017? Do I have that correct? Further, the reason it's happening so late (and one month after the time range Budget 2016 said it would) is because of the apparent lack of ridership? Has anyone asked for the ridership numbers? Does GO publish them by time period per line?
 
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Allandale25 said:
So what you're saying is that even though 2016 Budget said that evening and weekend service would start in "2015-2017" for the Kitchener Corridor, if it is implemented in April 2017 it's a broken promise because the 2016-2017 fiscal year ends on March 31, 2017? Do I have that correct? Further, the reason it's happening so late (and one month after the time range Budget 2016 said it would) is because of the apparent lack of ridership? Has anyone asked for the ridership numbers? Does GO publish them by time period per line?
Click to expand...
who could have predicted that mid week mid day trains was not going to produce the ridership that weekend and evening trains would?....oh wait, I think i and others did just that :)

And, yes, April 2017 is fiscal 2018.
 
Allandale25 said:
So what you're saying is that even though 2016 Budget said that evening and weekend service would start in "2015-2017" for the Kitchener Corridor, if it is implemented in April 2017 it's a broken promise because the 2016-2017 fiscal year ends on March 31, 2017? Do I have that correct?
Click to expand...
No you don't - I haven't looked at the 2016 budget.

I'm looking at the April 17, 2015 announcement by Minister of Transportation Steven Del Duca.
 
Markster said:
Which said what, precisely?

There's a lot of archived news coverage of that event, but nothing gives Kitchener line service a date.
The closest is The Star: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/tr...0-per-cent-more-trains-in-next-5-years-s.html
Which gives some dates for Barrie line service.
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A quick search found this

https://stevemunro.ca/2015/04/17/go-transit-rerelectrification-plans-announced/

wherein it is stated that
One important aspect of the line-by-line chart of service improvements is that there will be substantially more trips (most in the offpeak) before electrification is completed. This allows GO to “show the flag” as an all-day provider and build into a role as a regional rapid transit service, not just a collection of peak period commuter lines. This will also give local transit a chance to build up to improved GO service over time rather than a “big bang” with all of the changes awaiting electrification.

Over the five years 2015-2020, the Kitchener corridor will see the greatest increase in number of trains, although many of these will not actually run through all the way to Kitchener. The service build-up will finish in 2017.
Click to expand...
....maybe somewhere else there is a differentiation between calender 2017 and fiscal 2017 or, maybe, the gov't was intentionally vague to give themselves a 9 month cushion.
 
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