GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

[Woodbridge_Heights]

My own rattling-around-the-back-of-my-head trial balloon would be coming up with some sort of a train schedule serving those who quasi-relocate to cottage country over the summer, especially those who leave one spouse and the kids at the lake while they driving into Toronto on Monday morning and out on Thursday or Friday afternoon. You could push Richmond Hill trains further up along the the Bala sub to the ONR station in Gravenhurst on a couple of runs, and turn that into a transfer point for car journeys onwards to the cottage on Rabid Dog Lake ~40 km away.

Being able to circumvent that hellish cottage-rush traffic on the 400 would be a huge selling point, but admittedly the whole thing only works if there's a car waiting at the northern end. Some kind of partnership with a rental car agency might be worth pursuing to make it more useful.

That's an interesting idea, and actually a winter route could be run up to Collingwood (and even Barrie) for Skiiers/winter cottagers. It would actually kick start a taxi industry in these towns.

As with any Go proposal, though, I have to ask does this fall into the realm of GO's core operations? I.e. Go is a commuter rail network. Or should this be something that is run by VIA, for example, which is more of a passenger system.

 

[Second_in_pie]

^^ I think it's more of a question that Go is supposed to start providing a true Regional Rail network, more like a Metro than anything else.
VIA could do well to take some of those lines in, but maybe a totally new rail company could be made to manage those kind of trips? Kind of a new GO transit, but with more focus on interurban and inter-Ontario transit, rather than just the GTA/GGH.

 

[BMO]

That's an interesting idea, and actually a winter route could be run up to Collingwood (and even Barrie) for Skiiers/winter cottagers. It would actually kick start a taxi industry in these towns.

As with any Go proposal, though, I have to ask does this fall into the realm of GO's core operations? I.e. Go is a commuter rail network. Or should this be something that is run by VIA, for example, which is more of a passenger system.

I've always thought that a summer service extending past Barrie to Wasaga beach would create a lot of ridership, obviously this route would not be viable all year around but from late June to early September it could very well work, and would help alleviate the traffic on the 400 considerably.

 

[CodeMonkey]

I've always thought that a summer service extending past Barrie to Wasaga beach would create a lot of ridership, obviously this route would not be viable all year around but from late June to early September it could very well work, and would help alleviate the traffic on the 400 considerably.

I really like that idea, but Greyhound and friends may cry over expansion into their territory

 

[lead82]

Greyhound does a shitty job of servicing Wasaga in the summer. I think they just have 1 bus per day!

Now if GO was able to offer a bus or a train/bus mix (train to Barrie and then bus), that was fairly frequent, say every 2 hours on summer weekends, then that would be fantastic, especially for day-trippers from Toronto.

 

[elitehollywood]

Greyhound does a shitty job of servicing Wasaga in the summer. I think they just have 1 bus per day!

Now if GO was able to offer a bus or a train/bus mix (train to Barrie and then bus), that was fairly frequent, say every 2 hours on summer weekends, then that would be fantastic, especially for day-trippers from Toronto.

yeah. there is only two buses everyday. one bus each way and one return bus bus in each direction. there used to be 3 three buses when there was pmcl. but greyhound sucks balls and cut it down.

 

[DavidH]

^^ I think it's more of a question that Go is supposed to start providing a true Regional Rail network, more like a Metro than anything else.

Bingo. The idea of GO being just commuter service is going to die over the next decade with all day service on all lines. These extended bus services are harbingers of that.

Granted that there is political motivation behind some of these - but can Greyhound or anyone else legitimately make a case that the regional bus service owned by the public should NOT serve certain destinations in order to maintain private sector profitability?

 

[jwill]

Greyhound may have to shift its focus in order to survive, but there is plenty left to serve in southern Ontario.

GO has only threatened the Toronto bound services, and even then only to a certain distance out from the city. The two newest long distance GO bus routes (Pickering to Oshawa and Kitchener/Waterloo to Mississauga) don't replace Greyhound service, but rather augment it.

 

[RedRocket191]

I wouldn't mind seeing the government bringing Greyhound or Coach Canada on board as a contractor. Rider pays the GO fare and the government subsidizes the rest. We get instant service improvements on the long-distance routes and can re-deploy GO buses to the core network.

 

[Dan416]

Next week I'm going to be in Boston, and the commuter trains and subway are both part of the MBTA. It really makes no sense for GO to be run by Metrolinx/the Province and the TTC to be run by the City of Toronto.

 

[Second_in_pie]

And thankfully, it seems that the TTC will soon be amalgamated into Metrolinx, so we'll have one big GTA transit agency, with a lot of co-operation with the other GGH transit agencies and maybe even VIA.

I hope that they'll all keep their own distinctness though. I'd be kinda sad if they stopped being YRT/Viva busses and instead just bland Metrolinx busses ): That said, the TTC could use a logo modernization and I suppose they'll all end up being YRT/Metrolinx, TTC/Metrolinx, MT/Metrolinx, etc.

 

[CodeMonkey]

And thankfully, it seems that the TTC will soon be amalgamated into Metrolinx, so we'll have one big GTA transit agency, with a lot of co-operation with the other GGH transit agencies and maybe even VIA.

City Council has been blocking such a move by the Province. Their argument is that if Metrolinx takes over the TTC there will be service cuts on bus and streetcar routes. One less problem for them to deal with and their willing not to give it up.

 

[unimaginative2]

I don't think there's any fundamental reason why we can't have a "tariff union" approach like in Germany. That would allow for the preservation of some local control while retaining full interoperability.

 

[DavidH]

City Council has been blocking such a move by the Province. Their argument is that if Metrolinx takes over the TTC there will be service cuts on bus and streetcar routes. One less problem for them to deal with and their willing not to give it up.

Is there any firm evidence that Metrolinx/the province are considering a takeover of the TTC, or that Council has actually done anything to express displeasure?

It's worth noting that a takeover would require *either* Council's consent or a change to the Metrolinx Act. The latter is hardly a serious roadblock.

 

[ShonTron]

I don't think there's any fundamental reason why we can't have a "tariff union" approach like in Germany. That would allow for the preservation of some local control while retaining full interoperability.

An interesting example is located on the other side of this country, Translink in Vancouver. The program was easy enough to implement because with a few exceptions, BC Hydro operated most of the urban transit systems (it taken over the private streetcar networks). That got devolved into BC Transit, which, like New Jersey and Rhode Island and Delaware, was the province/state-wide the transit operator. Translink was devolved to the regional level with the rise of the GVRD, though service levels generally are geared to demand, with routes much more frequent within Vancouver itself, and a three-zone fare structure with a premium (but excellent fare-coordination with) the commuter trains.

Yet one municipality still owns and operates its own bus system, but is fare and route co-ordinated with Translink's bus subsidiary, Coast Mountain Bus, West Vancouver. West Van's buses are very distinctive, with a front ornament off the roof with the municipal coat of arms. But to the average passenger, there's no difference.

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