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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

I can already picture the turf wars over bike share integration a la fare integration.
 
Did someone say Dial a Bus?

https://transit.toronto.on.ca/regional/2112.shtml

go-dial-a-bus-03.jpg
 
Neutrino said:
I can already picture the turf wars over bike share integration a la fare integration.
Click to expand...

I don't think it would be nearly as big of a battle as fare integration. Many municipalities don't even have Bike Share services, and those that do may be willing to just get their expense off their books and let someone else deal with it. Even Toronto's service flopped the first time.

If I were Metrolinx though I'd start with places that have nothing, and then move on to merging with existing systems.
 
The old pre-1987 Brampton Transit logo and pink colour scheme came from the original Bramalea Dial-a-Bus service. While Brampton was amalgamated with the south half of Chinguacousy Township (including Bramalea) and parts of the Town of Mississauga and Toronto Gore Township in 1974, the old Brampton bus system (a privately operated system under contract) and the Bramalea dial a bus weren't merged until 1976 and fixed routes introduced in Bramalea.

The "lazy-b" logo (retained in red and blue colours until 2000 or so) was meant to resemble a rotary phone dial.
 
hw621 said:
Not really golden days for transit, but true for Canada as a whole...
Click to expand...
Dial-a-bus was an interesting experiment in Bramalea to get youth interested in using transit (neat that the buses all met/trsf at the Bramalea City Centre and right outside the cinemas)........it established transit in what is now east Brampton and there may be a whole generation of folk who grew up there knowing that the bus is not an evil or uncool way to get around....heck, it may even be a contributing factor to why Brampton people seem much more ok with the bus than other suburbs.....who knows.

but because it was a good thing in the 70s does not make it a good thing for now.........speaking solely about Brampton, if the sort of bus service we have now is not enough to have a major impact on the modal share in how people arrive at GO stations......a dial-a-bus/shuttle type service does not have a snowflake's chance in hell of doing that.
 
TOareaFan said:
but because it was a good thing in the 70s does not make it a good thing for now.........speaking solely about Brampton, if the sort of bus service we have now is not enough to have a major impact on the modal share in how people arrive at GO stations......a dial-a-bus/shuttle type service does not have a snowflake's chance in hell of doing that.
Click to expand...

I won’t analyze Brampton, but it’s my impression that in some other places around the GTA there is a dearth of bus routes that penetrate those sprawly curvy-streeted residential enclaves that the cars come out of. Many routes stick to the grid, meaning while there may be frequent buses in the area, the walking distance to the bus is (seen as) substantial, and the perceived risk of missing the bus and thus missing the GO is subjectively large. GO parkers seem to have their drive timed to the second, and not necessarily lots of buffer time at the GO built into the schedule. Not to mention it’s no fun to plod to the bus stop and wait in the cold/rain/heat. (I have done just that for decades, and enjoy the walk, so I don’t understand the mentality, but it does seem to be common!)

My hypotheses is that a service that comes to you at your home, and that collects you at the GO and promptly takes you directly to your neighbourhood, if not your door, may be needed to pry many out of their car. Sounds precious, but that may also be the prerequisite before pay for parking is politically sellable.

- Paul
 
crs1026 said:
I won’t analyze Brampton, but it’s my impression that in some other places around the GTA there is a dearth of bus routes that penetrate those sprawly curvy-streeted residential enclaves that the cars come out of. Many routes stick to the grid, meaning while there may be frequent buses in the area, the walking distance to the bus is (seen as) substantial, and the perceived risk of missing the bus and thus missing the GO is subjectively large. GO parkers seem to have their drive timed to the second, and not necessarily lots of buffer time at the GO built into the schedule. Not to mention it’s no fun to plod to the bus stop and wait in the cold/rain/heat. (I have done just that for decades, and enjoy the walk, so I don’t understand the mentality, but it does seem to be common!)

My hypotheses is that a service that comes to you at your home, and that collects you at the GO and promptly takes you directly to your neighbourhood, if not your door, may be needed to pry many out of their car. Sounds precious, but that may also be the prerequisite before pay for parking is politically sellable.

- Paul
Click to expand...
Brampton is no different.....they moved to a, mostly, grid system a long time ago.....and, yes, there is a walk out of the curvy streets to the more main roads........and, yes, I fully understand that people use that as an excuse for not using the bus.....the one area that is different in Brampton (from what I read about other suburbs) is that we have increased bus frequency more than most (i have used the example that at the end of my 400m walk from my golf course home to the bus stop is a bus that runs every 7 - 8 minutes in peak) so the "missed the train" risk is much lower....I would also ad that if we are talking about getting ready for a ReR world of trains all day every day 15 minutes apart (or less) the "missed the GO" factor will diminish in importance anyway......

....but the problem with dial-a-bus type services is that they end up not solving the problems they were designed for......people in the suburbs may not be as open to the 400m walk to the bus as I am and they may prefer the solitary drive to the GO instead....but they are gonna hate the concept of being the 8th stop in that shuttles trip home.....it is the same reason people take cabs from airports to hotels rather than the free bus shuttle that airports have....they hate that "it always seems" my hotel is the last stop.......winding through curvy streets to see other people's houses while on a bus is not going to be an attractive option either....


....when I pointed that out in the past people came back with "well it would not have to go to every house.....each house would have a gathering/pickup spot nearby and people would be dropped off there".....in the old days we used to call those gathering/pick up spots "bus stops" ;)

Maybe it's because my life has spanned both systems (a dial-a-bus/shuttle system and a grid(ish) suburban bus system) but I know which one I prefer and I can tell you that if BT announced tomorrow they were going to the shuttle system I would face the decision of "do i reserve a parking spot at Brampton GO or do I just convert to driving to work every day".
 
hw621 said:
^reality is Canada has long and bitter winters. Compared with waiting for buses in the cold car is by far the preferred transportation mode.
Click to expand...
Hmm really?

I just wait until I can see that the bus is coming, and walk quickly to the stop in the cold, before jumping into the warm vehicle.

On the rare occasion I take my car instead, I really curse up a storm, as it's still freezing when I get in the car ... and discover I need to scrape the windows.

Besides, Toronto - bitterly cold? Last winter was a tad chillier than often, but the winter below, the lowest it ever got was only -14.2°C (January 7, 2017) - which must have been very brief, as the hourly data shows only -13.9°C.
 
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