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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

EnviroTO said:
I think another important thing to note besides GO's often car centric focus, is that GO hasn't figured out in many locations that Canadian weather exists. The vast majority of bus transfers in the TTC network allow for people to stay indoors from the station to the platform and decide to step outside when the bus is visible, or not step outside at all because the bus entered a fully covered station.

Most of GO's bus loops are exposed to the elements and if there is a shelter you need to run through the weather to get to it or the shelter isn't really protecting you from the elements much at all unless the goal was to protect you from the sun.

They have a lot to do to catch up to the setup that made TTC successful. It will be hard for Metrolinx to get rid of the car dependent model without a lot of focus on making local transit or the pedestrian experience around the station more inviting.

I would like Metrolinx to employ test passengers really, similar to how GTAA tested the opening of T1, and similar to how some retailers and hotels test their product. It would give them feedback on wayfinding, the condition and emotion of passengers as they arrive at their destination, things that annoyed then along the route, etc.

To significantly improve isn't always expensive, it really relies on being very open to hearing and understanding as much feedback as possible. Planning and executive staff that take the rainy day transit challenge, or the coldest day of the winter transit challenge. Gather insights and improve.
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I actually think Montreal does this even better, this almost airport like style of Bus terminal as seen at the Yellow Line Terminus would be amazing for some large suburban GO Stations.
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Northern Light said:
There is some merit in that contention..................but just to get the scale correct...........The Pickering Station parking garage alone takes up 2 acres, and total parking there is 3,600 spaces.

Oakville's garage is 1.7 acres; the surface parking is another ~17+ acres on top! Over, 2,700 spaces total.

***

I'm not opposed to providing parking at GO Stations, but it does need to paid parking.

Garages, where it make sense, need to support development over the top.

Surface spaces should be kept to a minimum and meet sound principles of ecological design (permeable paving, bio-retention etc.)
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These surface parking lots are a potential gold mine for GO and the closer we get to try suburban rail, their value is going to grow exponentially. They are ripe for development and they will have no problem getting takers. The only surface parking space in front of the station should be reserved for disabled, buses, and kiss n rides.

I do agree with you that these should be paid parking spots. They should not be expensive and even a token $1/day would pay for the upkeep and labour costs of the whole station or polled and would pay for a whole plethora of key grade separation further enhancing it's speed and frequency potential making the system truly a "subway lite" one and adding to GO's appeal and hence ridership.

As far as connecting bus service to GO, I think that will increase dramatically as the service improves and {hopefully} the fares drop due to fare integration. Despite the increase in service, GO is still an essentially a commuter service and people still generally see it that way.
 
ssiguy2 said:
We have to remember, when talking about these huge parking garages, that GO is transforming from just a standard commuter rail system to a real suburban rapid transit one. These huge garages may seem odd when trying to entice people to switch to transit but I I think where they will become far more palatable is during off-peak periods that GO is expanding service on.

GO wants to entice riders onto the system all day, all the time and these garages can help that. This is because local transit service off peak/weekend is always much worse {or even non-existent} than during regular hours so people may want to take GO at these times but are greatly inhibited by the fact that to get to the station by bus may not be an option. It helps get rid of the "last mile" problem in off-peak periods. Not getting drenched or having to clear the snow off your car adds to GO's appeal.

It is also far better for the urban landscape to have a 300 car parking garage built on a half acre than a 200 car surface parking lot on 2 acres. Not only is this more physically appealing and less of a blight on the urban landscape but also frees up huge amounts of land around the stations for residential development or civic infrastructure like schools, libraries, community centres etc.
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I see these parking garages as not only a use for GO but also local transit as well. If you don't wanna deal with parking at Yorkdale or Square One or Eaton Centre for example, then parking at Bramalea GO could be a great use and we're lucky there are pretty good direct connections to those places already. If you want to head to Humber/Sheridan College, Shoppers World or BCC on a busy day, there's also a use of the parking garage as well. You could also park here for free and take the airport bus, and keep in mind that its FREE. I think some people forget that the parking garage could also be used for other aspects as well and stations like Bramalea and Rutherford benefit from the location and connections they have, unlike Bloomington which is not a good example at all.

In other news, if they do end up charging for these parking garages, incorporating Presto as a payment would be a good option. It could even cut into the current fare (like 30-50%) that you pay on the train and the tap on and off feature could be well integrated. That way, transit users, bikers and pedestrians can benefit from paying lower fares and overall this does encourage people to take these options more than driving.
 
ARG1 said:
A shuttle between Exhibition and Union? I mean sure but, is that really that useful?
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It's just extending the Lakeshore East trains a couple of stops, while they've got the Lakeshore West service cuts for construction further west.

Convenient for those that use those stations, heading to Union or towards Oshawa.
 
Kitchener line – GO train pilot to Southwestern Ontario​
Starting October 18, Metrolinx, working with the province, is expanding GO train service to London, improving connections in and to Southwestern Ontario.

As a pilot, these existing Kitchener line trips will be extended to serve London, St. Marys and Stratford, with stops on the rest of the trip being served at the same times as in the current schedule:

· The weekday eastbound 7:23 a.m. trip from Kitchener GO will now begin at London VIA Station at 5:20 a.m., make stops at St. Marys and Stratford VIA Stations, continue on to make all stops from Kitchener to Bramalea GO stations, and then run express to Union Station, arriving at 9:13 a.m.
· The weekday westbound trip, which departs Union Station at 4:19 p.m., will run express to Bramalea GO, make all stops to Kitchener GO, continue on to Stratford and St. Marys, and then arrive at London VIA Station at 8:17 p.m.

Trips between London and Kitchener will take about two hours.

Trips between London and Toronto will take about four hours.

Get more information about the pilot service including fares, schedules, GO e-tickets and more here.​
 
drum118 said:
​
Kitchener line – GO train pilot to Southwestern Ontario​

​
Starting October 18, Metrolinx, working with the province, is expanding GO train service to London, improving connections in and to Southwestern Ontario.

As a pilot, these existing Kitchener line trips will be extended to serve London, St. Marys and Stratford, with stops on the rest of the trip being served at the same times as in the current schedule:

· The weekday eastbound 7:23 a.m. trip from Kitchener GO will now begin at London VIA Station at 5:20 a.m., make stops at St. Marys and Stratford VIA Stations, continue on to make all stops from Kitchener to Bramalea GO stations, and then run express to Union Station, arriving at 9:13 a.m.
· The weekday westbound trip, which departs Union Station at 4:19 p.m., will run express to Bramalea GO, make all stops to Kitchener GO, continue on to Stratford and St. Marys, and then arrive at London VIA Station at 8:17 p.m.

Trips between London and Kitchener will take about two hours.

Trips between London and Toronto will take about four hours.

Get more information about the pilot service including fares, schedules, GO e-tickets and more here.​
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So if you work 9-5 you can take the GO train to Union in the morning and then ride the VIA home.

The GO train leaves kitchener after 5pm so if you live in St Mary's you can now commute to Kitchener by train. Its not designed for London to Toronto passengers anyways since VIA would be faster using the Dundas sub.
 
I did some playing around with the schedule. The earliest any train could arrive in London would be at 1:30 PM with an extension of the 9:34-11:28 Union Kitchener train. Theoretically if this train left at 1:50-2pm it would get to Kitchener around 4pm and need to get past silver by 4:35 PM for the 3:34 PM-5:28 Union Kitchener Train, which is currently not possible, the trains would theoretically meet between Acton and Georgetown or even Guelpy. The estimated arrival time to union would be at 6:00pm
 
If this is to truly help Londoners, what they should do is have the London route run express from KW to Union with a single stop at Malton for Pearson. Once the upgrades to the line are complete, it would shave a good 45 minutes off the travel time. This would not only make it far more appealing to Londoners but asl KW commuters as well.

Ideally, once Woodbine station is open they could forget Malton and have it stop there for an easy transfer onto the UPX.
 
ssiguy2 said:
If this is to truly help Londoners, what they should do is have the London route run express from KW to Union with a single stop at Malton for Pearson. Once the upgrades to the line are complete, it would shave a good 45 minutes off the travel time. This would not only make it far more appealing to Londoners but asl KW commuters as well.

Ideally, once Woodbine station is open they could forget Malton and have it stop there for an easy transfer onto the UPX.
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I suggest you start negotiating with CN right now and report back to us once you've managed to secure a third slot for the same peak hour through their main Toronto-Chicago Corridor. Also, as someone who's dayjob involves calculating run times for passenger trains, I can assure you that your "would shave a good 45 minutes off the travel time" is as mindlessly over-optimistic* as every single of the countless suggestions you've been sprouting in forums like this...

*Express trains gain currently 9 minutes of travel time by skipping four stops (Bloor, Weston, Etobicoke North and, well, Malton), this a saving of 2:15 minutes per stop. I would expect a similar saving for skipping 6 more stops (Bramalea, Brampton, Mount Pleasant, Georgetown, Acton and Guelph), so maybe 10 minutes in total...
 
Krypto98 said:
I did some playing around with the schedule. The earliest any train could arrive in London would be at 1:30 PM with an extension of the 9:34-11:28 Union Kitchener train. Theoretically if this train left at 1:50-2pm it would get to Kitchener around 4pm and need to get past silver by 4:35 PM for the 3:34 PM-5:28 Union Kitchener Train, which is currently not possible, the trains would theoretically meet between Acton and Georgetown or even Guelpy. The estimated arrival time to union would be at 6:00pm
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I contacted Metrolinx back in the spring and they said that the 2nd platform for Guelph should start construction in fall 2021. So hopefully that starts soon and the Double track work is complete once the bridge work is done. That way we’ll be able to realistically have the service you’re describing.

Also aren’t we supposed to be getting a major service announcement this month?
 
Garuda said:
Also aren’t we supposed to be getting a major service announcement this month?
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The major ones that I'd been told about earlier in the year had been moved to September. And have already happened.

That said, Metrolinx's marketing is portraying this London service as a major service expansion. Whether it actually ends up being useful for anyone remains to be seen.

Dan
 
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