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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

This might be a bit of a long shot, but following on from the train meets discussion a few pages back, would any consideration be given to relocating the Stratford railyard east of Romeo using powers and funding under the Railway Relocation and Crossing Act? Would allow creation of a multiple track station area, free up space for park and ride/bus loops, maybe some light TOD, perhaps some extra street grid connections.

Aside from other negative considerations, it might rip open the same demands in Hamilton, but it seems to me that it would strengthen the urban fabric of that part of Stratford (the TOD adding to the tax roll) and relocate the switching noise/inconvenience to the big box zone to the east away from the bulk of residential use.
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That yard is used by CN and GEXR, mostly to exchange cars destined for GEXR, which continues to use the Stratford station building as its crew office.

Though the yard track certainly can be moved eastward, especially with the removal of the Drumbo and Newton Subdivisions in the 1980s and 1990s, the land will likely need serious soil remediation. It’d be a huge cost to move the yard and clean the old yard lands.
 
dowlingm said:
This might be a bit of a long shot, but following on from the train meets discussion a few pages back, would any consideration be given to relocating the Stratford railyard east of Romeo using powers and funding under the Railway Relocation and Crossing Act? Would allow creation of a multiple track station area, free up space for park and ride/bus loops, maybe some light TOD, perhaps some extra street grid connections.

Aside from other negative considerations, it might rip open the same demands in Hamilton, but it seems to me that it would strengthen the urban fabric of that part of Stratford (the TOD adding to the tax roll) and relocate the switching noise/inconvenience to the big box zone to the east away from the bulk of residential use.
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Interesting idea. Use the funds to fund London GO improvements.

I do question the demand for TOD in Stratford. How many people would move here (probably lots, actually).

It's a chicken/egg situation where you can't really do TOD until there's good service, and you can't really have good service without funding. It's food for thought though.
 
DirectionNorth said:
Interesting idea. Use the funds to fund London GO improvements.

I do question the demand for TOD in Stratford. How many people would move here (probably lots, actually).

It's a chicken/egg situation where you can't really do TOD until there's good service, and you can't really have good service without funding. It's food for thought though.
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https://twitter.com/x/status/1470716580120207361
 
dowlingm said:
This might be a bit of a long shot, but following on from the train meets discussion a few pages back, would any consideration be given to relocating the Stratford railyard east of Romeo using powers and funding under the Railway Relocation and Crossing Act? Would allow creation of a multiple track station area, free up space for park and ride/bus loops, maybe some light TOD, perhaps some extra street grid connections.

Aside from other negative considerations, it might rip open the same demands in Hamilton, but it seems to me that it would strengthen the urban fabric of that part of Stratford (the TOD adding to the tax roll) and relocate the switching noise/inconvenience to the big box zone to the east away from the bulk of residential use.
View attachment 368959
Click to expand...
As for bus loop, unless ML picking up the full cost to move the new transit Hub to the station, its a dead issue for Stratford other than one bus bay.

The rest I will leave to others as I don't follow train movement here other that What I have seen. As for noise, not going to have a great impact on the locals moving it east as well what impact it will have in the new location as noise travels.

As for TOD, low on the list for the city.
 
The driverless shuttle they are testing that connects to the Whitby GO Station crashed into a tree.

image.png


Apparently the only person on board was the attendant. It isn't known yet whether it was operating in autonomous mode, or if the attendant was manually driving it at the time.
 
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Yes, GO expansion will offer more transportation option but for most, not a better one because in order for transit to be successful it must be accessible and in that metric, GO does extremely poorly. The reality is that GO is simply too expensive not only due to it's fares but also {and probably more so} due to having no fare integration. Accessibility is not just physical but also financial.

The whole point of this exercise is to offer more options at non-peak times. GO is successful as a commuter service because it is faster and cheaper than driving due to traffic and high parking rates. In off peak {and especially after 6PM and on weekends} those advantages disappear. Traffic is moving and parking is much cheaper or free.

The reality is that most patrons who use GO already have a car. This means that their car payments and insurance are basically going to have to be paid regardless of transit options. With todays better gas mileage and electric/hybrid vehicles, GO becomes the expensive option. Who in their right mind is going to take GO when they can get to their destination faster, more comfortably, and cheaper by driving? This is especially true if there is more than one person in the car which is far more common outside commuting hours which is exactly the new patrons GO is trying to entice. .

Spending money is the easy part and God knows Metrolinx excels at that but fare integration requires actual planning and political balls and Metrolinx has none. Metrolinx has done absolutely nothing about fare integration and much worse doesn't seem to think it's an issue. Recently the TTC & York Region have proposed very limited fare integration on key boundary routes which is suppose to be the job of Metrolinx............transit coordination across the entire GTAH. It's clear proof that Metrolinx has decided to simply abrogate this responsibility and the long suffering commuters of Toronto are paying the price.
 
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So according to Trainssee and some people in the area, the speed restriction at Shakespeare between Stratford and Kitchener has been lifted and trains can now go 60 mph there. This saves 4-5 minutes. This could possibly put the total travel time at 3hr 43 mins. Still a long way off from the possible 2hr 40 minutes with the 1970s historical speed + Kitchener - Toronto improvements.
 
ssiguy2 said:
Yes, GO expansion will offer more transportation option but for most, not a better one because in order for transit to be successful it must be accessible and in that metric, GO does extremely poorly. The reality is that GO is simply too expensive not only due to it's fares but also {and probably more so} due to having no fare integration. Accessibility is not just physical but also financial.

The whole point of this exercise is to offer more options at non-peak times. GO is successful as a commuter service because it is faster and cheaper than driving due to traffic and high parking rates. In off peak {and especially after 6PM and on weekends} those advantages disappear. Traffic is moving and parking is much cheaper or free.

The reality is that most patrons who use GO already have a car. This means that their car payments and insurance are basically going to have to be paid regardless of transit options. With todays better gas mileage and electric/hybrid vehicles, GO becomes the expensive option. Who in their right mind is going to take GO when they can get to their destination faster, more comfortably, and cheaper by driving? This is especially true if there is more than one person in the car which is far more common outside commuting hours which is exactly the new patrons GO is trying to entice. .

Spending money is the easy part and God knows Metrolinx excels at that but fare integration requires actual planning and political balls and Metrolinx has none. Metrolinx has done absolutely nothing about fare integration and much worse doesn't seem to think it's an issue. Recently the TTC & York Region have proposed very limited fare integration on key boundary routes which is suppose to be the job of Metrolinx............transit coordination across the entire GTAH. It's clear proof that Metrolinx has decided to simply abrogate this responsibility and the long suffering commuters of Toronto are paying the price.
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As previously noted, an announcement is coming in the near future on some form of fare integration.

I don't have any details and can't speak to its quality, but I would expect to hear something before the end of Q1 2022 and maybe sooner (report on future fare structure options is going to the TTC meeting in February)
 
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