Moved from the Streetcar thread
http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/threads/ttc-streetcar-network.27667/unread to here:
↑ @steveintoronto
Edit to Add: If GO won't run connecting buses from Sq One to Port Credit where one can continue heading east on the Lakeshore West service, at least inform Presto that if a passenger is using Presto to connect on Miway to PC, to allow the trip to be one continuous one on GO, plus the co-fare on Miway. I don't mind paying the co-fare if it saves over half an hour or more.
@jys replied:
As you say, a solution would be to extend the Waterloo/Guelph bus to Port Credit GO to connect to the frequent LSW Train. I could also see an extension to Kipling via Transitway once the hub there opens.
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Long story short (and I still have the letter) it hit the National Post, and suddenly I had the head of GO bus operations phoning me to apologize profusely, straighten out his department, sent me the letter of apology, and $100 of Presto card time for my hassles.
@jys:
Do you still have the link to the article?
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I am going to challenge Metrolinx on their bylaw (2A IIRC) that indicates they have to honour GO bus transfers through Pearson. I've posted the issue in another string at this site, with the applicable clause and reference.
Not allowing a transfer is an absurdity...and I'm being diplomatic. It's not only allowed from the Union end, but since it's actually backtracking, there's no additional charge Union to Bloor....but they do charge you for the added distance to Union! I also have an issue with that too according to their fare schedule, ("cheapest fare from point to point") but I digress...
@jys
Yeah that doesn't make any sense. Especially since the UP Express have more capacity at the airport than Union.
Have you ever tried going to Union from SQ1 via GO bus and then back tracking along UP? If so, what what the the cost of that v.s. Miway + TTC?
If you want to go via Renforth which seems to be the cheapest option at this point, you can always take 112 + subway or Eglinton bus + Weston bus.
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As you say, a solution would be to extend the Waterloo/Guelph bus to Port Credit GO to connect to the frequent LSW Train. I could also see an extension to Kipling via Transitway once the hub there opens.
Initially the Guelph 29 was touted to run through from Sq One to Renforth, since an earlier iteration of the 29 used to run down to Cooksville GO, and ostensibly there was enough pad in the timetable to allow it. The K/W 25 was too tight. In the end, it must have been reconsidered and now the 40 is the only GO bus connecting Sq One and Renforth. If I implied running the 29 down to Port Credit GO, it wasn't my intention, albeit if they added a bus, that might be possible. What I'd suggest is the 34 being run through Sq One and down to PC, or an arrangement with Miway for one continuous fare.
@jys:
Do you still have the link to the article?
NatPost never took it to publication, just started investigating the story, and verifying my account. The Ont Transport Min had been contacted through Liz Sandals office in Guelph, where I was living at the time, and went straight to the top of Metrolinx to the bus operations manager. I'd provided all my research on the HTA and the load provisions annex. I forget the name of the reporter, she was amazingly thorough for the NatPost. I still have the correspondence. Sometimes it's just the threat of a story going public that gets the action.
@jys:
Yeah that doesn't make any sense. Especially since the UP Express have more capacity at the airport than Union.
Have you ever tried going to Union from SQ1 via GO bus and then back tracking along UP? If so, what what the the cost of that v.s. Miway + TTC?
Done many tedious times. It can take up to an hour longer, depending on time of day. It's the dreaded 21 bus, which often lives on the QEW for long stretches of time. Any bus that uses the QEW is prone to erratic run-time. It is the cheapest way, doubtless, but even though I shouldn't have to pay more, it's worth it to shorten the trip. I live steps from Bloor Station and Dundas West TTC.
@jys:
If you want to go via Renforth which seems to be the cheapest option at this point, you can always take 112 + subway or Eglinton bus + Weston bus.
lol...that's exactly the point! It would be *four* changes at that point, and take forever, let alone being stuck out in the elements, albeit I haven't been in the new Renforth Station, just through it on the 109 Express, which really moves, btw. Eglinton takes me to the Spadina subway to the Bloor Subway only to backtrack to Dundas West.
The solution is eminently simple: Either GO connects Sq One down to Kipling, which I believe is a theory of theirs, or allow transfer from the GO 40 to UPX at Pearson. Any semblance of an excuse otherwise disappeared when they merged (still not fully complete) UPX and GO ticketing and the Metrolinx Bylaw which covers them both.
Quick Google to make part of my case:
https://www.gotransit.com/static_files/gotransit/assets/pdf/Policies/By-Law_No2A.pdf
See also:
https://www.gotransit.com/static_files/gotransit/assets/pdf/Policies/By-Law_No2.pdf
Note para 4 above and the sub-clause. "the fare payable for each transit service shall be the lowest fare available for the trip, regardless of which transit service the passenger actually takes."
Since UPE as well as GO now come under this Bylaw, I'm being overcharged in two ways: Being charged for going to Union to get back to Bloor (at Dundas West), and/or not being allowed to travel through Pearson onto UPE to Bloor without paying an additional and new premium fare on UPE to Bloor, all the while being allowed to transfer to UPE from Union.
It's ludicrous...
Addendum:
The second GO route that connects Sq One with Renforth along the transitway that I couldn't think of in prior posts is 19:
https://www.gotransit.com/static_fi...ipPlanning/FullSchedules/01092018/Table19.pdf
This would be an opportune route to extend down to PC.