GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

[innsertnamehere]

Wish it went all the way to Barrie. But as long as the provisions are in place for it in the future I'll be happy

15 minute service that far north would be a bit aggressive right now I think. I can definitely see it over the long term, especially given how insanely quickly Simcoe County is growing right now though.

 

[ssiguy2]

New development from London............

MegaBus already offers frequent service from London to Toronto and now a brand new bus service is about to start. ONEXBUS which will offer 6 return trips. It looks like this will serve more communities between London & Woodstock.

Having 2 regular bus services, VIA rail, and potential GO all to serve the London to Toronto corridor really exemplifies 2 things:
1} There is a lot of latent demand for transit services between the 2 cities.
2} How lousy, slow, and unreliable the VIA service is and why so many Londoners do not consider it a viable alternative.

 

[reaperexpress]

Having 2 regular bus services, VIA rail, and potential GO all to serve the London to Toronto corridor really exemplifies 2 things:
1} There is a lot of latent demand for transit services between the 2 cities.
2} How lousy, slow, and unreliable the VIA service is and why so many Londoners do not consider it a viable alternative.

Last time you made the claim that VIA was outcompeted by private bus companies in the London-Toronto corridor, I disproved it here.

Prior to the pandemic, VIA's market share was double that of Greyhound's. (Greyhound was the only bus company running London to downtown Toronto at the time). VIA ran fewer trips per day, but had 4.5 times more capacity per trip. And a typical VIA trip was 16 minutes faster than a typical Greyhound trip (2:09 vs 2:25). Or to look from another perspective, VIA ran 4 trips per day which took 2:10 or less, while Greyhound ran 3.

Both VIA and Greyhound had similarly poor reliability.

There is certainly lots of latent demand, and certainly lots of room for improvement for VIA, but you can't claim that the private bus offerings are significantly better than what VIA was offering.

 

[ShonTron]

So I visited Bloomington GO Station - the Garage Mahal - yesterday. I then tried to get home afterwards.

A visit to GO Transit’s new Garage Mahal

Despite Bloomington’s modern design and environmental features, it does not support contemporary demands for sustainable development or transportation.

seanmarshall.ca

 

[ARG1]

So I visited Bloomington GO Station - the Garage Mahal - yesterday. I then tried to get home afterwards.

A visit to GO Transit’s new Garage Mahal

Despite Bloomington’s modern design and environmental features, it does not support contemporary demands for sustainable development or transportation.

seanmarshall.ca

When I visited Bloomington on opening day I just bit the bullet and took an Uber down to Yonge Street.

 

[anb]

New development from London............

MegaBus already offers frequent service from London to Toronto and now a brand new bus service is about to start. ONEXBUS which will offer 6 return trips. It looks like this will serve more communities between London & Woodstock.

Having 2 regular bus services, VIA rail, and potential GO all to serve the London to Toronto corridor really exemplifies 2 things:
1} There is a lot of latent demand for transit services between the 2 cities.
2} How lousy, slow, and unreliable the VIA service is and why so many Londoners do not consider it a viable alternative.

This is a bit of a longshot, but hopefully we do get better bus connections to/from Sarnia and Windsor with London being the central hub between those places and Toronto. Via rail still needs a long way to go before anyone takes them as an alternative, and they also need to lower train prices as they really feel like a rip off. I mean $20 one way on GO vs $29 one way on Via from Toronto-Kitchener says it all.

When I visited Bloomington on opening day I just bit the bullet and took an Uber down to Yonge Street.

I still don't get why the off peak bus service stops abruptly during counter peak. Is it because of duplication on Yonge St or the Barrie/Stouffville line being too close to the RH Line? Because clearly nothing is stopping from running the *easiest* form of transit to help counter peak riders...

 

[allengeorge]

So I visited Bloomington GO Station - the Garage Mahal - yesterday. I then tried to get home afterwards.

A visit to GO Transit’s new Garage Mahal

Despite Bloomington’s modern design and environmental features, it does not support contemporary demands for sustainable development or transportation.

seanmarshall.ca

Slightly tongue-in-cheek, but…this is why I can never get excited about transit projects in York region. So many dollars flow there (politics!), but the region never backs the capital improvements up with serious service commitments or urban planning that would actually make transit a viable option.

 

[cbrown2009]

I do apologize for changing the subject, but now that the 401/409 tunnels are finished, could we see weekend Kitchener Line train service? Maybe in September? As I recall, there was something about not running weekends to allow tunnel work to proceed unimpeded..

 

[ShonTron]

I do apologize for changing the subject, but now that the 401/409 tunnels are finished, could we see weekend Kitchener Line train service? Maybe in September? As I recall, there was something about not running weekends to allow tunnel work to proceed unimpeded..

The tunnel boring work is only part of the work going on along the Kitchener Line - new tracks and platforms at Weston, Bloor, and Malton, a new station at Mount Dennis, and a fourth track only partially laid. Renovations at Bramalea aren’t done yet.

And then there’s getting CN permission to run on the weekends past Bramalea.

 

[Streety McCarface]

I do apologize for changing the subject, but now that the 401/409 tunnels are finished, could we see weekend Kitchener Line train service? Maybe in September? As I recall, there was something about not running weekends to allow tunnel work to proceed unimpeded..

The tunnel boring work is only part of the work going on along the Kitchener Line - new tracks and platforms at Weston, Bloor, and Malton, a new station at Mount Dennis, and a fourth track only partially laid. Renovations at Bramalea aren’t done yet.

And then there’s getting CN permission to run on the weekends past Bramalea.

Plus Guelph works, and bridge replacement that's going to start in Guelph soon.

 

[cbrown2009]

Plus Guelph works, and bridge replacement that's going to start in Guelph soon.

The tunnel boring work is only part of the work going on along the Kitchener Line - new tracks and platforms at Weston, Bloor, and Malton, a new station at Mount Dennis, and a fourth track only partially laid. Renovations at Bramalea aren’t done yet.

And then there’s getting CN permission to run on the weekends past Bramalea.

Granted, but seeing as how UPX trains already pass through some of these areas, shouldn't an hourly train schedule be able to pass without too much trouble? And with CN as well? In the case of Guelph, there would possibly be only a couple of trains passing to/from Kitchener. I was thinking more Mount Pleasant-Union, again with a couple of twins extended to/from Kitch.

 

[smallspy]

Granted, but seeing as how UPX trains already pass through some of these areas, shouldn't an hourly train schedule be able to pass without too much trouble? And with CN as well? In the case of Guelph, there would possibly be only a couple of trains passing to/from Kitchener. I was thinking more Mount Pleasant-Union, again with a couple of twins extended to/from Kitch.

There are a LOT of weekends before the end of the calendar year where the line will be completely closed through Guelph - more than will be weekends where the line is open, in fact.

Considering that, there's really no point in announcing a weekend service to Kitchener right now. It's expected that it will be announced to start in February or March, once all of the work is done on the bridge through Guelph (and for which construction is already projected to be finished late).

They could relaunch weekend service to Mount Joy or (more likely) Bramalea now, but it sounds like they want to get a bit more of the construction done along the other sections of line first before doing so.

Dan

Edit: Of course, I've just written all this completely forgetting that they are projected to make some BIG service changes as early as October, so.........I guess we'll see?

 

[Northern Light]

There are a LOT of weekends before the end of the calendar year where the line will be completely closed through Guelph - more than will be weekends where the line is open, in fact.

Considering that, there's really no point in announcing a weekend service to Kitchener right now. It's expected that it will be announced to start in February or March, once all of the work is done on the bridge through Guelph (and for which construction is already projected to be finished late).

They could relaunch weekend service to Mount Joy or (more likely) Bramalea now, but it sounds like they want to get a bit more of the construction done along the other sections of line first before doing so.

Dan

Edit: Of course, I've just written all this completely forgetting that they are projected to make some BIG service changes as early as October, so.........I guess we'll see?

You would know better than I; but given an election next June, I think the government will want to rollout at least 2 major sets of improvements.

They would want the last set in place at least 90 days before the election so that its 'real' and people feel the improvement.

 

[Garuda]

There are a LOT of weekends before the end of the calendar year where the line will be completely closed through Guelph - more than will be weekends where the line is open, in fact.

Considering that, there's really no point in announcing a weekend service to Kitchener right now. It's expected that it will be announced to start in February or March, once all of the work is done on the bridge through Guelph (and for which construction is already projected to be finished late).

They could relaunch weekend service to Mount Joy or (more likely) Bramalea now, but it sounds like they want to get a bit more of the construction done along the other sections of line first before doing so.

Dan

Edit: Of course, I've just written all this completely forgetting that they are projected to make some BIG service changes as early as October, so.........I guess we'll see?

RIP VIA service.

Weekend service to Bramlea would be great. I was there in 2018 just as they closed sections off for construction. Some weekends service on the Kitchener line is all I ask for now.

 

[crs1026]

You would know better than I; but given an election next June, I think the government will want to rollout at least 2 major sets of improvements.

They would want the last set in place at least 90 days before the election so that its 'real' and people feel the improvement.

I'm not sure they need to show end to end completion on anything. There is actually a lot of stuff they can use for their publicity, things that are close enough to "take to the bank" and that demonstrate that they have been getting work done:

- Crosstown will be closer to testing, and Eglinton will have much of its disruption removed
- Finch LRT will be well into construction
- Hurontario LRT will be well into construction
- Hamilton GO is running, and there can be groundbreaking(s) for the Hamilton LRT
- Woodbine Station will be under way
- Procurement will have concluded for the West-of-Silver Kitchener upgrades
- Possibly procurement announced for Brampton-Silver upgrades
- Bramalea Station will be completed
- Weston Station will be completed
- Mount Dennis Station will be completed
- Cedarvale GO station will be under way
- Agincourt and Milliken GO stations will be close to complete
- Davenport overpass will be well along
- Bowmanville groundbreaking?

I don't expect GO on the London route to amount to much before the election....it will take 2022 at best to improve the track, and GO isn't said to be planning much more than getting service up to where it was pre-COVID. Just showing the flag with a GO train or two per day will be enough to allege "progress".

- Paul