GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

[timio]

View attachment 339246
Also note the desire line toward the intersection, since there's no direct pedestrian path from the station toward downtown Kitchener.

A few years ago, I was running along this path to catch a train with the ridiculously short connection time provided by GRT (4 minutes if the stars aligned, typically much less) and ripped my jeans jumping the barrier in the parking lot. Not a great experience overall.

 

[reaperexpress]

A few years ago, I was running along this path to catch a train with the ridiculously short connection time provided by GRT (4 minutes if the stars aligned, typically much less) and ripped my jeans jumping the barrier in the parking lot. Not a great experience overall.

That reminds me of the time I tried to take the bus to the Home Depot next to Richmond Hill Centre / Langstaff Station. Turns out they built a fence all the way around the Home Depot parking lot to prevent people from walking between it and RHC or Langstaff stations (fence outlined in red below):

So I jumped the fence both ways, and on the way back I cut my leg. So I got on the Viva bus with a leg bleeding, and I asked the driver if he had a tissue or something, but he didn't, and I think the best he had on hand was a piece of paper or something. So that's what I used to try to clean up a bit on the ride home.

 

[lenaitch]

That reminds me of the time I tried to take the bus to the Home Depot next to Richmond Hill Centre / Langstaff Station. Turns out they built a fence all the way around the Home Depot parking lot to prevent people from walking between it and RHC or Langstaff stations (fence outlined in red below):
View attachment 339320

So I jumped the fence both ways, and on the way back I cut my leg. So I got on the Viva bus with a leg bleeding, and I asked the driver if he had a tissue or something, but he didn't, and I think the best he had on hand was a piece of paper or something. So that's what I used to try to clean up a bit on the ride home.

I was initially surprised that the bus didn't have a first aid kit, but it seems that 'urban or suburban route' buses are exempt.

 

[robmausser]

That reminds me of the time I tried to take the bus to the Home Depot next to Richmond Hill Centre / Langstaff Station. Turns out they built a fence all the way around the Home Depot parking lot to prevent people from walking between it and RHC or Langstaff stations (fence outlined in red below):
View attachment 339320

So I jumped the fence both ways, and on the way back I cut my leg. So I got on the Viva bus with a leg bleeding, and I asked the driver if he had a tissue or something, but he didn't, and I think the best he had on hand was a piece of paper or something. So that's what I used to try to clean up a bit on the ride home.

It makes my blood boil stuff like this. I'm sorry that you hurt yourself on what is a stupid unnecessary fence. The suburbs are full of stuff like this, even when im driving the amount of medians that are a barrier to turning left out of parking lots, and even medians in parking lots themselves.

 

[reaperexpress]

It makes my blood boil stuff like this. I'm sorry that you hurt yourself on what is a stupid unnecessary fence. The suburbs are full of stuff like this, even when im driving the amount of medians that are a barrier to turning left out of parking lots, and even medians in parking lots themselves.

I guess it serves me right for trying to access a business in York Region using public transit. /s

Medians banning left turns out of parking lots do have a measureable safety benefit by reducing chaotic movements across busy arterial roads. This fence does not improve safety in any way. It was erected to prevent people using the Home Depot lot as an extension of the RHC and Langstaff park-and-ride lots. But they also could have addressed that concern in a way which doesn't physically prevent people from accessing their store using public transit. Putting a 1 hour limit on parking also would have worked, since hardly any park-and-riders would be back within an hour. Or two hours. Image recognition cameras are easily cheap and reliable to monitor the parking lot automatically, and identify the cars which have sat there all day.

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

I guess it serves me right for trying to access a business in York Region using public transit. /s

Medians banning left turns out of parking lots do have a measureable safety benefit by reducing chaotic movements across busy arterial roads. This fence does not improve safety in any way. It was erected to prevent people using the Home Depot lot as an extension of the RHC and Langstaff park-and-ride lots. But they also could have addressed that concern in a way which doesn't physically prevent people from accessing their store using public transit. Putting a 1 hour limit on parking also would have worked, since hardly any park-and-riders would be back within an hour. Or two hours. Image recognition cameras are easily cheap and reliable to monitor the parking lot automatically, and identify the cars which have sat there all day.

That continues with fences between parking lots or big box store entrances. They want to discourage people parking their vehicles or using public transit to walk from one store to another. They want they only to use their parking lot for their store, and only their store. They end up forcing the customers to drive from one store to another, else you'll get towed.

From link.

Wonder how many got tickets or towed when they parked at a store parking lot, when they went next door for a COVID-19 vaccine, because of the crowded parking lot at the site?

 

[lenaitch]

I guess it serves me right for trying to access a business in York Region using public transit. /s

Medians banning left turns out of parking lots do have a measureable safety benefit by reducing chaotic movements across busy arterial roads. This fence does not improve safety in any way. It was erected to prevent people using the Home Depot lot as an extension of the RHC and Langstaff park-and-ride lots. But they also could have addressed that concern in a way which doesn't physically prevent people from accessing their store using public transit. Putting a 1 hour limit on parking also would have worked, since hardly any park-and-riders would be back within an hour. Or two hours. Image recognition cameras are easily cheap and reliable to monitor the parking lot automatically, and identify the cars which have sat there all day.

Well. . . it is private property.

 

[reaperexpress]

Well. . . it is private property.

So we should be okay with businesses who actively exclude people who can't afford cars?

 

[lenaitch]

So we should be okay with businesses who actively exclude people who can't afford cars?

It's their property and business to operate as they see fit, within legislation. They own the taxes, construction/maintenance costs, liability, etc. If you live near a subway stop, is your driveway fair game? If the presence of a private parking lot near a transit hub is that publicly important, I'm sure they'd be willing to lease part of it.

 

[Undead]

So we should be okay with businesses who actively exclude people who can't afford cars?

I was with you until that ridiculous strawman.

 

[reaperexpress]

It's their property and business to operate as they see fit, within legislation. They own the taxes, construction/maintenance costs, liability, etc. If you live near a subway stop, is your driveway fair game? If the presence of a private parking lot near a transit hub is that publicly important, I'm sure they'd be willing to lease part of it.

The locations at which a private property is accessed from the public right-of-way is within the jurisdiction of municipalities. It's one of the common areas of disccusion for new planning applications. It's less common to adjust property access after a building is already built, but it is certainly possible. For example, the city may require a driveway to be relocated or even permanently closed as part of a road reconstruction project.

I never suggested that they should allow people to use their parking lot for public transit purposes, in fact I suggested ways of preventing such use.

 

[reaperexpress]

I was with you until that ridiculous strawman.

I suppose it was a bit dramatically worded. Such emotional wording probably cames from how demeaning that incident was. I grew up in Thornhill, and in general getting around by bus was perfectly decent. Certainly not always convenient, but always civilized. There was no noticeable stigma against taking the bus, and there were generally paved and direct walking paths to and from bus stops. Taking the bus always seemed like a normal or reasonable thing to do. But that incident was the first time I felt like taking the bus to the shops was morally wrong, given the barriers that had been deliberately erected to prevent it. Never before had I felt like a criminal just for taking public transit.

In more specific words, I should have said: "Planning applications for new developments should not be approved until they provide a reasonable access to the property for people using public transit, and certainly not access which is orders of magnitude less convenient than by car". To be clear, the blame here falls on the Town of Richmond Hill.

 

[Northern Light]

It's their property and business to operate as they see fit, within legislation. They own the taxes, construction/maintenance costs, liability, etc. If you live near a subway stop, is your driveway fair game? If the presence of a private parking lot near a transit hub is that publicly important, I'm sure they'd be willing to lease part of it.

Well, yes........to a point.

But as @reaperexpress just noted above, municipalities in Ontario do in fact have wide-ranging authority of your or anyone's private property, and that extends well beyond zoning and site plans.
Fence-by laws govern placement and height; rules govern drive way widths and turning radii; and by-laws can require permeable areas and stormwater management etc etc.
Just because one owns property does not give one carte blanche on how to use it or maintain it.

****

Also, merely because one may be permitted to do something, does not mean one ought to do that thing.
Does antagonizing a portion of one's customer base really serve the interest of the retailer? Perhaps, but I would be cautious in drawing that conclusion.
I think the value of being perceived to be a good corporate citizen should likely outweigh any marginal costs associated with greater pedestrian use of their parking lot, in this case.
As also noted, there are other ways to address all-day parking that may pose a challenge to the business.

The town certainly needs to be accorded some blame for what it did not secure in the approvals process.
But it also doesn't look great on the business either.

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

The Crossways, across the street from Dundas West Station and next door to the Bloor GO Station, has for DECADES, not allowed access for a second entrance to the subway station or a more direct access to the GO/UPX station.

From link.

There was "talk" about this back in 2011, but getting...

From link.

From link.

On September 1, 2017, Metrolinx filed an application for approval to expropriate property to move forward with plans for the new connection.

 

[Garuda]

The Crossways, across the street from Dundas West Station and next door to the Bloor GO Station, has for DECADES, not allowed access for a second entrance to the subway station or a more direct access to the GO/UPX station.

From link.

There was "talk" about this back in 2011, but getting...

From link.

From link.

Property expropriation is a 15 month process under the act.
But the fact that the Crossways is not actively pushing for a underground connection shows how poorly run management is. I mean, who doesn’t want plenty of new business to their underground mall?
They’ve gone full faulty towers.