GO Train Fares To Increase

[TOareaFan]

I believe that the Milton line has the potential to be the busiest GO line per kilometre of track. The fact that many of GO's busiest stations are on the line, with only 6 rush-hour direction trains a day, is extremely telling.

and I happen to believe that no line has anywhere near the potential that Georgetown has.

For one, it is the only line that serves Brampton....a city of nearly 500,000 people...scheduled to grow (unlike Mississauga) by another 200k or so.....largely a bedroom/commuter city (although it does have a decent employment base). Add in that it also serves North Mississauga, North Etobicoke and Weston...and you have an above average (by GO standards) population base and density (I think in the Metrolinx report only Bloor Danforth subway had higher average densities...might be wrong there but it was near the top)

For 2.....with new stations at, say, Black Creek & Eglinton (+/-)...Woodbine...Liberty Village.....it has the potential to be poster boy for Transit integration in the GTA....and can improve even further on those average densities.

For 3......aside from the obvious downtown Toronto (which all GO lines serve)...this is the line that will hit the most "drivers" with serious two way potential.......@ Woodbine it reaches a racetrack/slots facility (that few doubt will one day be a full fledged Casino) and that whole new massive Woodbine Live development.....@, both, Woodbine and Malton you have potential for very easy links to Pearson Airport.....@Liberty Village you have the Ex, BMO Field and Ontario Place......

If the GTA was a blank slate with the current populations in place but no commuter rail line and someone was asked to design just one line.....it might not be exactly the Georgetown line but it would be closer to that line than any other.

 

[canarob]

2010 will see hourly service on to ... at least Markham.

Redrocket, what is your source for this? I'm not doubting you, I just find it very difficult to find information about the timing of service improvements beyond the various 15-year plans, etc. At one point we were promised all-day service to Unionville by the end of 2008, etc., and there isn't much communication by GO with respect to specific plans. I know they need to build passing track first, and work on increasing parking capacity is currently underway, so 2010 sounds achievable, I guess.

 

[RedRocket191]

Redrocket, what is your source for this? I'm not doubting you, I just find it very difficult to find information about the timing of service improvements beyond the various 15-year plans, etc. At one point we were promised all-day service to Unionville by the end of 2008, etc., and there isn't much communication by GO with respect to specific plans. I know they need to build passing track first, and work on increasing parking capacity is currently underway, so 2010 sounds achievable, I guess.

Not the first person to ask me this in the last week, actually... This was funded in the Quick Wins as "New passing-track sections for the GO Bradford and GO Stouffville corridors." The details were filled in through conversations with people at Metrolinx.

 

[canarob]

Great, thanks for the information.

I will be very, very happy when this happens. No more sitting in a bus that's stuck on the DVP.

 

[nfitz]

Here we go again. GO fares to increase another 25¢ for all trips on March 20th:

http://www.metrolinx.com/Docs/Agend..._Amendment_to_By-law_2A_Fare_Increase_FNL.pdf

This would increase many trips within Toronto by 6% ... yet trips from Durham to downtown are only up 3%, and trips from Kitchener to downtown are up less than 2%.

I'm tired of subsidizing people in 905 to ride GO.

I've already written to a couple of board members to complain. Anyone got the e-mails for the rest of the board? It's a bit tougher now that they are appointed, and are not responsible to anyone.

 

[kEiThZ]

^ To be fair, we do get nice provincial subsidies for the TTC. I figure this kind of a payoff. They do this to incentivize Torontonians to stay off GO and make space for the 905ers who have no other way of getting downtown. This is exactly why I have long maintainted tha the TTC an GO rail networks need to be merged into one operation and run on a fare by distance basis.

 

[nfitz]

To be fair, we do get nice provincial subsidies for the TTC.

TTC has some of the lowest subsidies per rider than any other system in North America!

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

Here we go again. GO fares to increase another 25¢ for all trips on March 20th:

http://www.metrolinx.com/Docs/Agend..._Amendment_to_By-law_2A_Fare_Increase_FNL.pdf

This would increase many trips within Toronto by 6% ... yet trips from Durham to downtown are only up 3%, and trips from Kitchener to downtown are up less than 2%.

I'm tired of subsidizing people in 905 to ride GO.

I've already written to a couple of board members to complain. Anyone got the e-mails for the rest of the board? It's a bit tougher now that they are appointed, and are not responsible to anyone.

wouldn't a fare increase mean less subsidy is needed?

 

[TOareaFan]

Toronto has some of the lowest subsidies per rider than any other system in North America!

But kEiThZ was replying to a person complaining about Toronto subsidizing 905 fairs by pointing out that Toronto gets transit subsidies which are, in part, funded by people in 905....not sure it is particularly relevant to his point that Toronto has lower subsidies than other North American systems....unless I am missing your point.

 

[TOareaFan]

Here we go again. GO fares to increase another 25¢ for all trips on March 20th:

http://www.metrolinx.com/Docs/Agend..._Amendment_to_By-law_2A_Fare_Increase_FNL.pdf

This would increase many trips within Toronto by 6% ... yet trips from Durham to downtown are only up 3%, and trips from Kitchener to downtown are up less than 2%.

I'm tired of subsidizing people in 905 to ride GO.

I've already written to a couple of board members to complain. Anyone got the e-mails for the rest of the board? It's a bit tougher now that they are appointed, and are not responsible to anyone.

On behalf of all of the 905ers, I would like to point out that KW is not part of the 905 and that collectively the 905 and 416 now seem to be subsidizing the 519ers.

 

[nfitz]

wouldn't a fare increase mean less subsidy is needed?

As a whole the increase is only inflationary ... however the increase for people who travel shorter distances (generally those who live in Toronto) is much higher than those who travel greater distances (typically 905 residents commuting to Toronto). Toronto riders generally pay more per km travelled than 905/519 riders.

 

[TOareaFan]

... uh ... hwo does that make sense, given then provincial subsidies to 905 riders are higher per capita than 416 riders.

maybe I misunderstood his post...but I read it as him saying that to be totally fair in judging whether the 416 riders are subsidizing 905ers you have to consider that the TTC gets a provincial subsidy that is in part funded by 905ers. I may have misrepresented his intention but that is how I read it.

What I don't understand is how the subsidy in any other North American city/region is germane to a comparison of subsidy levels between 905 and 416.

 

[nfitz]

maybe I misunderstood his post...but I read it as him saying that to be totally fair in judging whether the 416 riders are subsidizing 905ers you have to consider that the TTC gets a provincial subsidy that is in part funded by 905ers. I may have misrepresented his intention but that is how I read it.

I actually thought I hadn't posted that ... what I had there didn't make much sense, because it was incomplete ... I must have pressed the return key by accident and posted it. I have no idea what he's trying to say ... sure money from 905 taxpayers goes into the provincial coffers as does that from 416 ... provincial subsidies are no higher for TTC per rider than they are for 905 agencies ... lower I believe ... however the entire subject is off-topic ... so I thought best to leave alone.

 

[TOareaFan]

As a whole the increase is only inflationary ... however the increase for people who travel shorter distances (generally those who live in Toronto) is much higher than those who travel greater distances (typically 905 residents commuting to Toronto). Toronto riders generally pay more per km travelled than 905/519 riders.

I guess it is because of some "minimum cost" being imposed which gets amortized over a greater distance for the longer commuter. If you compare trips of similar distance is it still so?

Mt Pleasant to Brampton ......$3.95 now...add $.25 = 6.3% increase
Bloor to Union (same line).....$3.95 now...add $.25 = 6.3% increase

Seems to be the same thing here!

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

As a whole the increase is only inflationary ... however the increase for people who travel shorter distances (generally those who live in Toronto) is much higher than those who travel greater distances (typically 905 residents commuting to Toronto). Toronto riders generally pay more per km travelled than 905/519 riders.

got ya. it is unfair that someone who only goes to one zone has to pay 25 cents more. why not raise the fare a few cents per zone, rather than per trip? travel on GO transit within toronto should be competive with TTC fares. this way, when all the service increases are in place, one could use it like a subway.