GO Transit: Construction Projects (Metrolinx, various)

[Garuda]

True, they have cut a few things. Hamilton LRT being the biggest example. And bus routes. But.....capital spending towards Kitchener GO? Bowmanville? Niagara? Davenport Diamond? Barrie GO? Bayview area GO ? Confederation GO? Finch LRT? Hurontario LRT? 15 minute LSE/LSW?

When Ford was first elected, many believed that all of these were dead.

Maybe I should say it differently.....the current government halted a long list of capital projects (which the previous government had claimed to be advancing, but were showing no progress towards) and reviewed them. Then they allowed some to proceed, and some not. The projects they allowed to proceed are reaching construction phase.

From my perspective, concrete progress on 50% of the promise list is better than continued inaction on the full 100% of 2016.

Believe me, I’m holding my nose as I say it....but there is a lot more underway today than Del Duca ever actually took action on. He was all talk.

- Paul

I completely agree. It’s great to see the incremental and less sexy construction work happening on the Kitchener in Guelph were I live. They’re upgrading crossings and improving railway quality all without the Minister coming over for a photo op every month.

 

[sche]

Drove past the Bloomington Garage Mahal today on the 404:

 

[Garuda]

End of an era. Once there were 6 and there are 5. Dublin Street cross in Guelph has finally closed leaving 5 at grade crossings within the city (Watson Road, Glasgow, Yorkshire, Edinburgh, and Alma.

i noticed a GO special constable parked at the former crossing. Probably to ward off anyone trying to cross and keep an eye on a protest.

 

[Garuda]

A few more developments since my last post at the former Dublin Street crossing. Jersey barriers have gone up and metal poles are being installed into the asphalt and concrete base for a permanent solution. It’s interesting to see the orange spray painted lines leading to the crossing arms. Yes I know it’s for underground cables.

 

[Kitsune]

.. reminds me of a recent railway crossing on a major road in Calgary getting shutdown due to the end of a 100 year lease .. and later the reasoning was changed due to a land use agreement with CP due to the new Green LRT line.

 

[rbt]

Looks like the downtown Barrie bus terminal is moving to Allandale station. Funding announcement below:

Ontario Newsroom

news.ontario.ca

Study: http://barrie.ca.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=5678180&GUID=02C5BB71-F477-4A66-929F-97F93009968E

 

[Allandale25]

^ Isn't the current terminal location a little more centrally located in downtown Barrie?

 

[daniel_kryz]

Makes complete sense, but Allandale Waterfront is far away from downtown (in terms of walking distance).

 

[jje1000]

^ Isn't the current terminal location a little more centrally located in downtown Barrie?

No train access though I think- it's just a bus terminal.

 

[rbt]

^ Isn't the current terminal location a little more centrally located in downtown Barrie?

Absolutely. This whole thing started at least 8 years ago with a plan to revitalize downtown Barrie by creating a farmers market; they somehow ended up selecting the current bus terminal location for that type of market instead of any of the vacant parking lots. Connecting bus passengers being considered riff-raff seemed to make the project more appealing to downtown businesses (and thus council).

 

[Northern Light]

More on the terminal project; from this:

Barrie Transit receives $30M in ‘transformational’ funding from province, feds

Read the full story and comment on BarrieToday.

www.barrietoday.com

Includes funding for 30 new buses for the regular transit fleet and 21 for para-transit.

 

[gweed123]

Looks like the downtown Barrie bus terminal is moving to Allandale station. Funding announcement below:

Ontario Newsroom

news.ontario.ca

Study: http://barrie.ca.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=5678180&GUID=02C5BB71-F477-4A66-929F-97F93009968E

I wonder if GO is looking to position itself for more Cottage Country/north of Barrie bus connections. With some improvements to the Barrie Line already having taken place, and quite a few more underway or on the horizon, Allandale Station could very well become the transit gateway to Central Ontario.

Train up to Barrie, and then take a bus from there. Not very useful for taking the whole family to the cottage, but if someone is already up there and someone else wants to join (ex: a parent had some meetings so had to stay behind while the rest of the family went up), that could be a popular option.

I could see bus connections to Blue Mountain/Collingwood, Wasaga Beach, and Orillia being quite popular.

 

[rbt]

I could see bus connections to Blue Mountain/Collingwood, Wasaga Beach, and Orillia being quite popular.

The Linx routes Simcoe County started deploying (Route 2 to Wasaga beach starts from Allandale GO) in 2018 have had ridership well above what was expected; to the point where they're going to add an additional 2 routes.

Routes/Schedule - Transit

Official site for the County of Simcoe

www.simcoe.ca

Projections were for about 2500 trips per month and they've been seeing 7000, which for smaller buses running every 2 hours seems pretty good; particularly considering they're not in any of the mainstream transit apps or mapping services.

LINX ridership numbers speed past county expectations

'The response has been overwhelmingly positive,' says official, noting first year of transit program exceeded county forecasts by 29.9 per cent

www.barrietoday.com

 

[smallspy]

I wonder if GO is looking to position itself for more Cottage Country/north of Barrie bus connections.

No. They are not.

Dan

 

[ShonTron]

There will still be several major bus routes that will run between the terminal and Downtown Barrie at least, but the current terminal isn't even that old.

This is in line with the signs placed around Downtown Barrie, though.