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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

nfitz said:
And in particular, that it used to be very good.

After VIA took over from CN, VIA would do the run 75-80 minutes. But GO is doing 140 to145 . It was never going to be great at that speed. Also the time of day was absurd. The trains were too early for those who work in KW. And those working in Toronto would be better off taking VIA from London.
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VIA 84 is currently scheduled for 128mins. Is GO to blame for that?
 
mjl08 said:
Not surprising. The trip is way too long. Hearing from a lot of London residents who prefer to drive to Aldershot and take the LW train into Union instead.
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I always thought this was a corridor where VIA actually got most of the ridership already with London to Toronto via Brantford/Hamilton. I have family who would take the train from Hamilton (ok, Aldershot obviously) to London for commuting, and as a corridor it generally seems to have the superior bones to operate a service like what GO wants. Way closer to road travel times and more direct for TO-London anyway.

I would understand if Metrolinx was trying to start a non-Toronto centered service here (‘it’s about London-KW/Guelph, not London-TO!’) but that’s not what they made possible because it was political. I think eventually GO will be in charge of both (HFR and Metrolinx’s evergrowing mandate will phase VIA out in S.ON someday if it doesn’t reinvent itself), but it would be nice if they admitted what that looks like. Either there’s a basis to justify serving London today, perhaps by taking over VIA services in the near term, or it involves a lot of work and needs to be pushed off regardless of the corridor chosen.

Altogether, this was a poor experiment to evaluate any conceptual viability. while it was a top-down decision, Metrolinx could have made a point from the outset to actively learn something. They might have done that, but I doubt it knowing Metrolinx.


Oh, and the renaming of Brampton GO is silly. I get wanting to update nomenclature (there’s a lot of stations in Brampton now, so ‘Brampton GO’ isn’t super clear that it’s downtown) but the chosen name is far too long. Downtown Brampton GO or something like it would go a lot further without disregarding what makes the current name so useful and significant.
 
ericmacm said:
Tragic. I was really hoping the province would make good on their campaign promise to upgrade the corridor. But all in all, this isn’t surprising, especially with the reinstatement of VIA.

Hopefully the province will revisit this idea again in the future.
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It is a tragic, but until the corridor meets ML standards, there will be no service until then. Have ridden the train to London a couple times, it doesn't meet the worst rail trip in Europe and a slow moving train.

If and when that corridor meets ML standards, there will be more service to the point, not all trains are going to Toronto
 
Sunnyside said:
I always thought this was a corridor where VIA actually got most of the ridership already with London to Toronto via Brantford/Hamilton. I have family who would take the train from Hamilton (ok, Aldershot obviously) to London for commuting, and as a corridor it generally seems to have the superior bones to operate a service like what GO wants. Way closer to road travel times and more direct for TO-London anyway.

I would understand if Metrolinx was trying to start a non-Toronto centered service here (‘it’s about London-KW/Guelph, not London-TO!’) but that’s not what they made possible because it was political. I think eventually GO will be in charge of both (HFR and Metrolinx’s evergrowing mandate will phase VIA out in S.ON someday if it doesn’t reinvent itself), but it would be nice if they admitted what that looks like. Either there’s a basis to justify serving London today, perhaps by taking over VIA services in the near term, or it involves a lot of work and needs to be pushed off regardless of the corridor chosen.

Altogether, this was a poor experiment to evaluate any conceptual viability. while it was a top-down decision, Metrolinx could have made a point from the outset to actively learn something. They might have done that, but I doubt it knowing Metrolinx.


Oh, and the renaming of Brampton GO is silly. I get wanting to update nomenclature (there’s a lot of stations in Brampton now, so ‘Brampton GO’ isn’t super clear that it’s downtown) but the chosen name is far too long. Downtown Brampton GO or something like it would go a lot further without disregarding what makes the current name so useful and significant.
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But considering the speeds I think It shows that people need a service like that no matter how bad it is. Imagine it was good how many people would take it.
 
crs1026 said:
I was just responding to @ARG1 who suspected that it was CN blocking extension.

- Paul
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That was not my intention, I was responding to @Bordercollie who seemingly assumed that it was CN blocking extension, and I pointed out that with the information given, Metrolinx just choosing not to extend the pilot was just as likely (if not moreso).
 
denfromoakvillemilton said:
Everyone says it is about London to KW, but on Twitter and the London Free Press, everyone is talking about access to Toronto.
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Shouldn't they be more than pleased though that VIA is at about the same time restoring the express train that leaves London at 6:25 AM, arriving at Union for 8:35 AM? As opposed to the GO train that currently leaves London at 5:15 AM and arrives at Union at 9:14 AM? (3 hours and 59 minutes!).

The only return trip on GO doesn't get there until 8:19 pm (after leaving Union at 4:19 pm).

And if it's about money, I can book a bus ticket for the 5:40 AM Onexbus from VIA London to Toronto Union for $26.63, that takes only 3 hours.

1688178256731.png
 
'Metrolinx is killing the 4.5 hour long, 1 time per day, weekday only GO train from London to Toronto.'

mild-shock-shocked.gif


What a waste. Do it properly next time or better yet give us that high speed rail / bullet train / maglev dammit!
 
Metroscapes said:
I'm also skeptical the infrastructure issue is a cover for poor ridership. This are some close range shots at CN and VIA which they probably wouldn't take kindly to if they actually don't have a hand in it. I'm actually surprised VIA is named specifically, yeah it's their station, but are they really having an active role in not helping GO extend the service? If they aren't, GO isn't being very kind to their partners with their implicit public messaging.
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From what I've been told by people closer to the situation.....

- part of the issue is that VIA is planning some major improvements to London Station. I don't know exactly what they have in mind, but it's enough that they can't allow GO to stable the train at the station overnight after October. And VIA apparently wants to get going on these improvements - thus the timeline.
- CN had originally offered to allow GO to stable the train in London Yard before balking due to Metrolinx's security requirements.
- Metrolinx had original designed a more fullsome schedule that had 3 or 4 departures daily from London, all throughout the day. That was kyboshed close to the actual launch of the service, but there are still some within the organization that are pushing for this.
- there is a feeling that this has been announced at this particular time in order to allow the Province time to make their own plans and to then swoop in much closer to the kill date and "save" the project.

Dan
 
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