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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

crs1026 said:
Until the Acton and Guelph sidings are done, we won’t see much improvement. Hard to understand why these are progressing so slowly. I suspect the Brampton and Norval-Silver pieces will have to be finished first. CN is procuring design work on these, but no contract tendered for the actual construction. It will be a while yet, unfortunately.
I find that really frustratung.

- Paul
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The Acton and Guelph sidings are currently under construction, but the CN segment is not. It is therefore safe to assume that the Breslau, Guelph and Acton sidings will be activated long before CN expands the trackage east of Georgetown.

So I think that as soon as Metrolinx's sidings are active, they should introduce hourly service between Kitchener and Guelph, even if CN doesn't allow them to run it all the way to Toronto yet. Given the travel time is 17 minutes each way, it only takes a single trainset to run the off-peak service. The capacity of the Kitchener yards is already fully occupied by the peak-period trains to Toronto, so a train would need to be sent to Kitchener from Toronto to run the midday service, arriving in Guelph by 09:00. Once the Breslau, Guelph and Acton sidings are active this would be possible as long as CN grants a slot for it through their segment. Given that it's only one additional round trip per day on CN's line, it shouldn't need to wait until CN's construction is done.

The counter-peak trips to Kitchener from Guelph in the morning could be provided using the existing trainsets that overnight in Kitchener. Some trains would depart Shirley Yard in Kitchener (between Kitchener and Guelph) eastbound towards Guelph shortly ahead of an eastbound train from Kitchener, and sit in the second platform in Guelph until that train leaves. Then it would head westbound, meeting the following eastbound train in Breslau, before arriving in Kitchener and starting an existing eastbound service.

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I was messing around with Google maps. I wanted to see what was the best route for transit to get to work. I live in Oakville and work in Brampton. I always drive to work, never taken transit.

I've come to the conclusion that it only makes sense for me to take transit if I drive to the Trafalgar road, 407 park & ride and grab the 47 GO bus. If I park at the Oakville GO station (which is closer to where I live) I have to get on the 21A GO bus and transfer at the Trafalgar, 407 park & ride. Seems unnecessarily pointless to take a bus that adds roughly 20 minutes to my travel time just to get me up Trafalgar Rd. Plus by parking at the 407 park & ride I get to bypass Sheridan College.

The 47 GO bus essentially travels along the same route I take to work in my car. 403 > 410 > Steeles Rd. > Airport rd. I drive past Bramalea GO station almost everyday, unless I decide to take QEW > 427 to work.

Nearly 6 years I've worked at my job, I've always driven to work. Never taken transit. Never considered the GO buses until recently. I'm going to try this out sometime soon.

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Bojaxs said:
I was messing around with Google maps. I wanted to see what was the best route for transit to get to work. I live in Oakville and work in Brampton. I always drive to work, never taken transit.

I've come to the conclusion that it only makes sense for me to take transit if I drive to the Trafalgar road, 407 park & ride and grab the 47 GO bus. If I park at the Oakville GO station (which is closer to where I live) I have to get on the 21A GO bus and transfer at the Trafalgar, 407 park & ride. Seems unnecessarily pointless to take a bus that adds roughly 20 minutes to my travel time just to get me up Trafalgar Rd. Plus by parking at the 407 park & ride I get to bypass Sheridan College.

The 47 GO bus essentially travels along the same route I take to work in my car. 403 > 410 > Steeles Rd. > Airport rd. I drive past Bramalea GO station almost everyday, unless I decide to take QEW > 427 to work.

Nearly 6 years I've worked at my job, I've always driven to work. Never taken transit. Never considered the GO buses until recently. I'm going to try this out sometime soon.

View attachment 556103View attachment 556106
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You’re looking at the weekend schedule on Google Maps. During weekdays, you have another potential route that could simplify your commute. Route 56 service actually starts at Oakville GO and goes to Bramalea GO. This could offer you a more direct and potentially faster option for getting to work, without the need to drive to or transfer at the Trafalgar park & ride. It might be worth checking out the weekday schedule for this route to see if it aligns better with your needs
 
Amike_416 said:
You’re looking at the weekend schedule on Google Maps. During weekdays, you have another potential route that could simplify your commute. Route 56 service actually starts at Oakville GO and goes to Bramalea GO. This could offer you a more direct and potentially faster option for getting to work, without the need to drive to or transfer at the Trafalgar park & ride. It might be worth checking out the weekday schedule for this route to see if it aligns better with your needs
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Yeah, I actually work on weekends. I work Wednesday-Sunday with Mon/Tuesdays off. So on Wednesday-Fridays I would need to catch the 41 GO bus, and on weekends the 47 GO bus.

The 56 doesn't seem to work for me. The scheduling of the bus doesn't line up with my shift ending at 8:00pm. The 56 arrives at Oakville GO at 10:25pm, while the 21A would arrive at Oakville GO by 9:50pm. I would get home sooner by taking the 41 & 21A transfer vs taking just the 56.

After getting off the 511 Zum, I could mill about at Bramalea GO for almost an hour while waiting for the 56 to arrive, or I can hop on the 41 that's about to leave.
 
Haydenpoon said:
But why would they choose Milton to make the announcement? The Milton Line is only getting 2 extra trips per day.
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I'd assume there'll be another announcement elsewhere for the Lakeshore trips - so they can focus on Milton with this.

Perhaps there'll be further commitments about Milton all-day service.
 
Haydenpoon said:
But why would they choose Milton to make the announcement? The Milton Line is only getting 2 extra trips per day.
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Most people don’t follow details closely, so, when the Premier announces a “massive increase in GO trips” in Milton, they’ll make assumptions as to how much that impacts Milton - regardless of reality.

We also know nothing significant is happening to the Milton line because there’s no federal presence here. Ford and gang have already only committed money iff the feds come to the table.
 
Allandale25 said:
I assume tomorrow will be when the April 28th changes are announced.

Press conference with the Premier and Minister of Transportation in Milton.

Ontario Newsroom

news.ontario.ca news.ontario.ca
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I'll say this for the Ford government, they may be wildly inconsistent on any number of policy positions, projects or laws; but there is one thing they are rock solid consistent on.........

They never start a press conference on time!
 
crs1026 said:
I wonder what the voters of Lambton-Kent-Middlesex will think, perhaps a few will remember that Ford has walked back his promise to bring GO trains to London.

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The NDP won all three ridings in London with a fairly large margin so maybe they have given up on trying to buy votes there.

St Marys is in Lambton-Kent-Middlesex, and they may be annoyed that they lost half of their train service. Prior to the pandemic and during the pilot they had two round trips per day (2 Via, and 1 Via + 1 GO, respectively) but now they only have one. The Town of St Mary's has invested a lot in their station - they purchased it from CN, renovated it and pay to staff it. It's one of the only staffed Via stations in a small town. Even St Catharines doesn't have a staffed station.

I've been meaning to email the province to ask for an update on this promise. Who would be the right place to direct the question to? Office of the Minister of Transport?
 
This morning's announcement is indeed the April 28 service improvements of which we were previously aware.

Press Release here:

Ontario Newsroom

news.ontario.ca news.ontario.ca

From the above:

The last paragraph may foreshadow something else:

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