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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

which in York Region are essentially regular purpose lanes as there is little enforcement and they require only 2 people in the vehicle to use, unlike Toronto's, which require 3. Plus they are used by right turning traffic. It results in the lanes only having marginally less traffic than the general purpose lanes.

Dufferin has had them for years between Steeles and the 407, the road operates at a far higher capacity than it did with 2 lanes in each direction.
 
which in York Region are essentially regular purpose lanes as there is little enforcement and they require only 2 people in the vehicle to use, unlike Toronto's, which require 3. Plus they are used by right turning traffic. It results in the lanes only having marginally less traffic than the general purpose lanes.

Dufferin has had them for years between Steeles and the 407, the road operates at a far higher capacity than it did with 2 lanes in each direction.

Have you been on Keele between Steeles and 407? I think there may be 4 right hand turns for the entire stretch of construction (if that).

I guess there's an objector to everything including HOV and bike lanes. Can't make everyone happy!
 
Have you been on Keele between Steeles and 407? I think there may be 4 right hand turns for the entire stretch of construction (if that).

I guess there's an objector to everything including HOV and bike lanes. Can't make everyone happy!
I meant more generally across YR, but yes.
My comments about the HOV's really being a significant capacity increase for private vehicles doesn't mean that I don't support them.. just stating what I perceive about them. HOV or General Purpose, they are needed on Keele.
 
GO Niagara update received via email:

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STAY TUNED FOR A DETAILED PROGRAM UPDATE IN 2019
We will be rescheduling our series of public meetings in the Niagara Region into the New Year. This will allow us time to provide the best update on the progress we are making to get improved GO service to the region as soon as possible.

Our objective is to bring you as much positive news as we can at that time and we thank you for your patience during this process.

In the meantime, we will share any developments via email.

You can visit Metrolinx.com/Niagara for the most recent information about the service expansion program.

Please contact us at Niagara@metrolinx.com if you have any questions or to be added to our email distribution list.

UPCOMING METROLINX PUBLIC MEETINGS ON ACCESSIBILITY

As the regional transit authority for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA), Metrolinx is dedicated to making the services it provides fully accessible.

Join us on the dates indicated below as we will be hosting a number of public meetings to discuss the accessibility of local transit.

Visit Metrolinx.com/accessibility for more details​
 
^ I take this as a sign that wheels are turning. There was little confidence in the Wynne promise to begin with. We knew that the change in government would bring a revisit of the supposed RER program.

It may be that there are new snags - redirection by the new government, continued negotiating obstacles with CN, whatever. Or there may have been a more diligent review of what it will take to get things built within a new financial regime.

I would rather have a true and enforceable plan that takes six years than an insincere plan that claims three years.

I’m hoping the 2019 communications will be straight goods. But, this is ML after all.

- Paul
 
Well, Minister Yakabuski is gone.... we'll see how his successor behaves.

I suspect ML (and the PC's) are having an "Oh, Sh**" moment with the file. Doug Ford was very clear on the campaign trail that Niagara GO was on. It's unlikely that he could walk that promise back all the way. Now that they have been briefed, they understand more clearly what that entails. Building infrastructure is detail driven and requires getting the hands dirty, and breaking a sweat. That gives politicians pause. So ML's best possible answer at this exact moment is is "Um.... um.......".

It's a good thing that they deferred their meetings - Del Duca probably would have gone ahead and winged it. Tory would have gone ahead and provided a million details, all of them written on a napkin and none technically valid. So far, the PC's are actually walking in a straighter line.

I have little faith that the PC's are even slightly less inclined to winging it, but at least for the moment the door is open to their taking a more reality-based approach to the file.

Time will tell.

- Paul
 
To paraphrase: the project is delayed, to nobody's surprise.
More specifically,
To paraphrase, "our premier is deciding what direction to steer Metrolinx in, and Niagara is one of them, and we're still refining good news what we're allowed to announce."

Ford did make multiple promises of extending GO to Niagara, and it's one of the few surgically line-item promises that Ford made about GO routes itself. So, I suspect that something is up.

While I am not a fan of Ford, I'm staring at the chessboard that it is likely a strategic move. It is a promise that stood out to this Hamiltonian, since our Donna Skelley gave him a personal tour of the ghost station (West Harbour), and that is a station on the Niagara GO route. And Ford made a GO route related promise that was very unusually surgical for a GO train route, unlike his more vague Metrolinx-related promises. Much of the Niagara GO project funding is in already-construction projects, so there's little extra needing new funding at least for basic peak-only Niagara service, so follow-through likelihood of some modicum of Niagara is all but certain. How fancy or scaled back, though? For specifics, the devil is in the deets.
 
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Much of the Niagara GO project funding is in already-construction projects, so there's little extra needing new funding.

The extension to the first new station, yes. Beyond that? Not necessarily.

I'm not hearing that CN and ML have signed off on the basic intent, let alone the full deal, for the full extension.

- Paul
 
I understand that there's a CN corridor capacity (Grimsby) study that's supposed to be underway already or shortly will be. Anyone know the status of that one?
Any agreement will only occur after that, from what I believe.
 
Well, Minister Yakabuski is gone.... we'll see how his successor behaves.
I can't find the reference, but distinctly read in one of the major publications that (gist) 'The Cabinet was aghast at Yakabuski's poisoning of the well'...a claim I found odd, since he's been displaying this prior, but whatever, it was probably the *blowback* that shocked them, not Yakabuski's attitude per-se. He fits in with the rest of them. Even Elliot has become surly and insensitive. At least Yurek is more connected to commuter/passenger rail issues.
 
Just reading the first one now. Without even knowing their conclusion, these folks are doing their homework!

Later Edit after reading second link:
[...]In either case, it appears that with a change of government at Queen’s Park, Metrolinx and their new CEO are pulling the emergency brake on planned GO Train service in Niagara. It should be interesting to hear the “spin” in 2019 on the “positive news”.
I highly recommend reading the two linked pieces. Cynicism for this regime and plans for GO is well founded.
 
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