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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

In my opinion, when the lease with GEXR runs out GO needs to just buy (or lease) the entire line to Kitchener so it is within their mandate to upgrade the track and improve the level and quality of service. A few DMUs zipping back and forth wouldn't hurt either. This is one of those corridors that lacks a good paralell highway service due to the route monopolies that Greyhound holds.
 
To Toronto

GO: 5:52-7:53
VIA: 6:29-8:20
GO: 7:10-9:08
VIA: 9:10-10:50
VIA: 21:35-23:20

To Kitchener

VIA: 10:55-12:36
GO: 16:45-18:42
VIA: 17:40-19:20
GO: 17:45-19:42
VIA: 22:10-23:57
 
People (non transit followers) think all GO lines are like the Lakeshore with two way all day every day service......when new communities get go service this is what they think they are getting. When they find ou that most GO services are limited, one direction, weekdays only they say "what good is that".

On the one hand I want these newbies to be successful as all those trains will serve my station too....on the other hand I want to say "welcome to the world of GO train service...if you want more trains the line forms over there...wait your turn.". There are lots of people living in Toronto reverse commuting to other places a lot closer than KW that have been waiting a lot longer for all day two way service!
 
andrewpmk said:
GO ought to at least add a Friday night run eastbound, and a Sunday night run in both directions to capture the student market. The Waterloo to Square One bus is very well used during these times.
Click to expand...

Not a bad idea at all. GO only seems to have done Friday-specific variations on their schedule with buses rather than with trains, as far as I know. I wonder if the single-track GEXR tracks are a problem, though, with Via runs potentially preventing bidirectional at that time of day.

Also, quick suggestion to the modmins.... can we consolidate all this extension discussion over in the service thread? This one should be more bricks and mortar stuff.
 
The people that I've been talking to have been curious as to why GO is only running 2 inbound and outbound trains each day from/to Kitchener. It'll take some time explaining to people the restrictions that GO is facing (funding, GEXR issues, Junction Diamond Construction...) with regards to increasing service.
 
TOareaFan said:
People (non transit followers) think all GO lines are like the Lakeshore with two way all day every day service......when new communities get go service this is what they think they are getting. When they find ou that most GO services are limited, one direction, weekdays only they say "what good is that".

On the one hand I want these newbies to be successful as all those trains will serve my station too....on the other hand I want to say "welcome to the world of GO train service...if you want more trains the line forms over there...wait your turn.". There are lots of people living in Toronto reverse commuting to other places a lot closer than KW that have been waiting a lot longer for all day two way service!
Click to expand...

I know what you mean. I'm sure there are FAR more reserve commuters going to Markham and Richmond Hill who should get reverse trains first.
 
The GO Trains are already in Kitchener. Two train sets were sitting on siding track east of the station. I took this picture from the Margaret Street bridge Saturday:



And work is well underway to extend the VIA station's platform. It's hard to see things being ready in just two weeks. The announcement was really rushed.

 
I would hope they spoke to the contractors before making the announcement. It wont take much to lay the asphalt but it will be a dark early morning without the lights and the concrete bases the lighting would attach to don't seem to be there yet. Looks like the framing concrete for the accessible ramp might be on site but definitely are not in place. They haven't even taken the Ahrens street signals out yet. It would be interesting to see what they accomplish in the next week.
 
andrewpmk said:
GO ought to at least add a Friday night run eastbound, and a Sunday night run in both directions to capture the student market. The Waterloo to Square One bus is very well used during these times.
Click to expand...
In the future, when the trip time can be reduced to 90min from Kitchener to Union. They should run an eastbound train at say 17:00 from Kitchener, arriving at Union at around 18:30; thus allowing people to catch another outbound train from Union. Imagine going from Kitchener to Unionville, the entire route on GO trains.
 
11th said:
In the future, when the trip time can be reduced to 90min from Kitchener to Union. They should run an eastbound train at say 17:00 from Kitchener, arriving at Union at around 18:30; thus allowing people to catch another outbound train from Union. Imagine going from Kitchener to Unionville, the entire route on GO trains.
Click to expand...

Is there so much traffic at 5 pm between Kitchener and Unionville (or anywhere really) to justify running a GO train for? Since VIA trains already make the trip to Union in about 1:45....maybe we should just add a trip that passes through Kitchener at 5 p.m.
 
GO already runs 8 buses between 410 and 530 (10 minute average headway) on friday evenings for students going home for the weekend, and more on the fridays before long weekends. But those are mostly serving the campuses, which are a fair distance from the train station in Kitchener.
 
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