GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

[mdrejhon]

Last week I was on a LSW train that was all new livery except the cab car. I suspect that set will get the first.

I'm trying to catch one of the new trains to check out the new commute.

Has any Lakeshore West user here got to sit in the new cab yet?

 

[robmausser]

It could have been photographed as the bell was ringing, the headlights alternately flash on and off, do they not?

Yes it's an oscillating ditch light

 

[mdrejhon]

Yep.

Saw one at Aldershot departing 630pm towards Union. Could not resist hopping onto the cab to do a one-stop ride backwards to Burlington.

And yes, it seems easier to fall asleep on this train -- my head seemed stable -- headrest prevents my head from falling. Set your alarm to 5 minutes before Union arrival.

#NewGOride.

 

[TOareaFan]

Yep.

Saw one at Aldershot departing 630pm towards Union. Hopped on the cab to do a one-stop ride back to Burlington.

View attachment 56979

Now I know why there is no off peak service on the other lines....no other line could get that many people on a 6:30 pm train to Toronto!

 

[mdrejhon]

Naturally, first distant stop during offpeak is (relatively speaking) empty. That said, many people boarded the cab at Burlington.

This car became half full by the time it was all said and done. Maybe #JAYS?

 

[TOareaFan]

^I was joking...doubt it is #jays...unless Kansas got offpeak GO service before, say, Markham and Richmond Hill

Although I am not sure why it is "natural" that the first stop be empty? If "no one" (in the common vernacular usage of no one) gets on at a stop, perhaps they have extended the off peak too far?

 

[mdrejhon]

Although I am not sure why it is "natural" that the first stop be empty? If "no one" (in the common vernacular usage of no one) gets on at a stop, perhaps they have extended the off peak too far?

Ooops, I meant "closer to empty".
(Which you already know....It always happens on all transit lines that ends at suburban stops with a downtown core at the other end -- the remote stops have the least people onboard, and as we get closer to the downtown, the vehicle fills and fills.... If the train became full at Aldershot then Oakville will be mad!)

 

[TOareaFan]

Ooops, I meant "closer to empty".
(Which you already know....It always happens on all transit lines that ends at suburban stops with a downtown core at the other end -- the remote stops have the least people onboard, and as we get closer to the downtown, the vehicle fills and fills.... If the train became full at Aldershot then Oakville will be mad!)

no doubt....but (and again this started with me kidding) there is a difference between leaving seats for Oakville and leaving all seats for Oakville

 

[mdrejhon]

no doubt....but (and again this started with me kidding) there is a difference between leaving seats for Oakville and leaving all seats for Oakville

No doubt. Burlington is busier than Aldershot most of the time by approximately 25 percent at the times I usually board (Aldershot is busier than both Appleby and Bronte!) but the boarding differences were more dramatic due to the large Burlington GO garage that happens to be located at the cab end. I do notice more people at Aldershot board closer to the middle or locomotive end.

Legitimate observation though, but Aldershot is more than a justified stop, even if I wish it made it all the way to Hamilton!

This new train was a peak period train that left Union before my 5:37 train, packed full. So it did a full train deed, and now had to do the indignity of being empty at Aldershot

 

[vegeta_skyline]

Although I am not sure why it is "natural" that the first stop be empty? If "no one" (in the common vernacular usage of no one) gets on at a stop, perhaps they have extended the off peak too far?

Not at all, they would extend the off peak service much farther if they could(and indeed soon will). As is, Aldershot is far more easier for bus routes to access then Burlington station.

 

[drum118]

Not at all, they would extend the off peak service much farther if they could(and indeed soon will). As is, Aldershot is far more easier for bus routes to access then Burlington station.

Disagree and it depends on which bus routes you are talking about.

Total waste for Burlington Transit to service Aldershot for zero or the odd rider. It waste 10 minutes of BT riders time to service Aldershot to the point express buses had to be put on the route to deal with the complaints. I was one of those odd riders.

GO gets more riders at Burlington than Aldershot since most of the BT routes service the station there. A lot faster to use Burlington than Aldershot for service to Niagara Falls.

Faster to McMaster from Aldershot than Burlington.

 

[vegeta_skyline]

Disagree and it depends on which bus routes you are talking about.

Was referring to GO bus routes to McMaster & Hamilton and future routes further west or north west. Easier and quicker to connect to the GO rail network at Aldershot with the highway ramps practically next to the station itself at and less local congestion on nearby roads.

 

[BurlingtonJames]

Was referring to GO bus routes to McMaster & Hamilton and future routes further west or north west. Easier and quicker to connect to the GO rail network at Aldershot with the highway ramps practically next to the station itself at and less local congestion on nearby roads.

It would be nice to have some rationalization of the bus routes in the Hamilton/Burlington area. As it stands, we've got:
Hamilton GO Centre: Pearson Express, QEW Express, 407 Service, Aldershot connector (+ HSR)
Aldershot GO: McMaster and Hamilton GO connectors (+ limited Burlington Transit)
Burlington GO: Niagara Service (+ BT hub)
Burlington 407 P+R: Niagara Service, 407 Service (+ limited BT)

This makes for awkward and poorly timed connections such as:
Niagara Falls to Hamilton = Niagara Falls - (bus) - Burlington GO - (train) - Aldershot GO - (bus) - Hamilton GO
Burlington GO to Pearson = Burlington GO - (Niagara bus) - Burlington P+R - (407 bus) - Square One - (Pearson bus) - Pearson

I don't have a great solution. The geography is tricky. But the situation is typical of GO's approach to viewing routes in isolation and not looking at the connectivity of the network as a whole.

 

[TOareaFan]

Had one of those rough commute days (self inflicted) where I had a bit of trouble getting motivated to leave the house......finally did and got stopped by a red light as I was about to cross the street....missing my bus in the process.....after waiting the 7 minutes (not a horrible time in the burbs I will say) for the next bus traffic was a bit heavy and it got to my transfer point about a minute late.....and just missed my connection...then the next bus didn't arrive in 3 minutes like I expected...it was 4 minutes.....and I got to the GO station just as the 8:25 to Union was pulling out of the station......so I went and grabbed a coffee from the little local place about a 1 minute walk from the platform and settled in to wait for my first ever trial of the new mid day service on the 9:09 (which is funny only because on Saturday night I saw Sir Paul McCartney at the ACC and one of the early songs he sang was the first song he and John Lennon wrote together...."One After 909")....anyway during the 44 minutes I had to wait I was futzing around with my phone and assumed I would be one of only a few folks on this train....I board at the far west end of the platform and when I heard the train coming I looked up from my phone and down the platform to see way (way) more people than I could ever have imagined......I don' think it was as many as 200 but certainly looked like more than 100 and (if you know the parking situation at Brampton GO) what is really encouraging is that none of these people could have driven and parked (in other words, I had expected Brampton GO to have the weakest ridership for these off peak trains because the few people who would want them would favour Bramalea or Mt. Pleasant since there is parking there)....so a combination of public transit, walking and people getting dropped off is how people got there.

Along the way there were decent amounts of people getting on but with my vantage point it was hard to tell "how many"......upon arriving at Union it was clear that this was a very well used train. Now this one gets in just before 10 so people working a flexy 10 - 6 or so would see the appeal and I doubt the others are as well used.....but it was a pleasant surprise none-the-less to see so many people on this service that is only a few weeks in.

 

[Filip]

GO Transit is turning into a bonafide S-Bahn or RER.

By 2025, we will ask ourselves how did we live with only peak trains.