GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

[Allandale25]

More details on GO train service between Cambridge and Guelph coming this spring
Great to read that progress is being made. Where ever the station goes in Cambridge it needs to be right beside a future LRT station.

The map geek in me notices that the article using a map from the phase 1 report. This map includes a smaller map that looks like the old GO map from the 1990s. I don't think the extension to Kitchener was ever on this version. cc @ShonTron

Anyone have a link to the phase 1 report?

 

[nfitz]

I read the headline as service start this Spring, and here are more details.

A local report about the possibility of doing this - with the details to be provided this spring is great. But could be years away or never.

 

[Allandale25]

^ Good point. Should say "More details in a report coming this spring for GO train service between Cambridge and Guelph"

 

[Garuda]

^ Good point. Should say "More details in a report coming this spring for GO train service between Cambridge and Guelph"

Yes it should. Very click baity of the CBC journalist.

Would this be operated as a seperate go service that doesn't head to union or as a branch of the kitchener line?

I think it would be operated similarly to Lakeshore West branching in Hamilton. Some rush hour trains go to Cambridge.

 

[crs1026]

^When I read the bit about battery trains, I rolled my eyes, A jitney-style service is doable, off peak anyways, but the battery bit would be five years away. The report is no doubt just to keep anyone from expecting anything anytime soon.

Of course, with all the newcomers from overseas at ML, we’d probably have to build a signal box to run the junction ;-)

- Paul

 

[Allandale25]

Yes it should. Very click baity of the CBC journalist.


I think it would be operated similarly to Lakeshore West branching in Hamilton. Some rush hour trains go to Cambridge.

Headline has been updated.

 

[Undead]

^Could pass as a Metrolinx blog title

 

[Allandale25]

The map geek in me notices that the article using a map from the phase 1 report. This map includes a smaller map that looks like the old GO map from the 1990s. I don't think the extension to Kitchener was ever on this version. cc @ShonTron

Anyone have a link to the phase 1 report?

View attachment 306295

I think I found the phase 1 report:

"A report on Phase 1 of the above Study was taken to the Region of Waterloo’s Planning and Works Committee on June 18th, 2019 (see report # TES-TRP-19-09)." Starts at PDF page 113.

 

[Northern Light]

From the Capital Projects section of the Agenda for the next Metrolinx Board Mtg we have an indication that the extension of RH line service to Bloomington is relatively imminent:

Source: http://www.metrolinx.com/en/docs/pd...10325_BoardMtg_Capital_Projects_Quarterly.pdf

 

[innsertnamehere]

Metrolinx was tweeting that the station has reached substantial completion as well, so I imagine opening is any day now.

 

[Islington Express Bus]

Can someone explain the point of Bloomington GO to me? Where is the ridership supposed to come from? I'm not super familiar with the area, but looking at it on google maps it looks like it's in the middle of nowhere between golf courses, farms, and rich-people suburbs.

 

[innsertnamehere]

Can someone explain the point of Bloomington GO to me? Where is the ridership supposed to come from? I'm not super familiar with the area, but looking at it on google maps it looks like it's in the middle of nowhere between golf courses, farms, and rich-people suburbs.

It's mostly intended to pull drivers off the 404, especially from Aurora.

Aurora GO is severely over capacity right now so GO is hoping to pull drivers away from the station and shift them onto the RH line. They are hoping that people in Aurora will be willing to drive a few minutes down the highway so that they don't have to fight for a parking spot at Aurora GO.

The Barrie GO line is about 10 minutes faster though.. so they may not convert as many riders as they hoped.

 

[Islington Express Bus]

It's mostly intended to pull drivers off the 404, especially from Aurora.

Aurora GO is severely over capacity right now so GO is hoping to pull drivers away from the station and shift them onto the RH line. They are hoping that people in Aurora will be willing to drive a few minutes down the highway so that they don't have to fight for a parking spot at Aurora GO.

The Barrie GO line is about 10 minutes faster though.. so they may not convert as many riders as they hoped.

I see. I'm not an expert obviously, but my first reaction to that explanation is "good luck with that". Nothing nearby, much further away from anything than Aurora GO, no local bus connections, and subject to the woeful service pattern of the Richmond Hill line. Doesn't seem likely to attract much ridership.

 

[innsertnamehere]

I see. I'm not an expert obviously, but my first reaction to that explanation is "good luck with that". Nothing nearby, much further away from anything than Aurora GO, no local bus connections, and subject to the woeful service pattern of the Richmond Hill line. Doesn't seem likely to attract much ridership.

A lot of the riders currently living on the west side of Aurora aren't going to shift - but the ones living in the new subdivisions closer to the 404 likely will. A lot of people in southern Newmarket also use Aurora GO may switch too.

This will also attract riders from further upstream who go to East Gwillimbury or Newmarket GO right now as well. It's a far more convenient station if you are coming from Keswick than the existing stations on the Barrie line.

It's going to be very auto focused though, despite the massive bus terminal they built, mostly pulling people driving off the 404. They built a direct access from the end of the 404 off-ramp for a reason.

If I were coming from Keswick I may be temped just to go the extra interchange to Gormley though as it would probably be a few minutes quicker than travelling that distance on the GO train. You can start to hit congestion south of Bloomington though sometimes, which doesn't really happen north of it.

 

[ARG1]

A lot of the riders currently living on the west side of Aurora aren't going to shift - but the ones living in the new subdivisions closer to the 404 likely will. A lot of people in southern Newmarket also use Aurora GO may switch too.

This will also attract riders from further upstream who go to East Gwillimbury or Newmarket GO right now as well. It's a far more convenient station if you are coming from Keswick than the existing stations on the Barrie line.

It's going to be very auto focused though, despite the massive bus terminal they built, mostly pulling people driving off the 404. They built a direct access from the end of the 404 off-ramp for a reason.

If I were coming from Keswick I may be temped just to go the extra interchange to Gormley though as it would probably be a few minutes quicker than travelling that distance on the GO train. You can start to hit congestion south of Bloomington though sometimes, which doesn't really happen north of it.

You're mostly right except for one small detail, that being it doesn't really matter if you go to Bloomington or Gormley. Trains are only every 30 minutes (there are plans to get it down to 15 minutes) so the amount of time you save by driving to Gormley is ultimately, 0 mins. The only time it would save time is if somehow you were going to miss the train from Bloomington so you must drive to Gormley to catch up to it, but if you're in that situation, you have bigger issues to worry about such as fixing your time management skills.