GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

[Midtown Urbanist]

GO doesn't have a constitution or anything of the sort, just an act of parliament. Mandates change the moment some politician wills it to change.

If a smart government came into power tomorrow, and said that we had to create commuter rail networks with London, Hamilton, and Ottawa serving as the hubs (Union Station equivalents in Toronto) and tasked Metrolinx with planning and GO with operations, that would be a change in mandate (and frankly, one that we should wish to see happen).

 

[Coolstar]

GO doesn't have a constitution or anything of the sort, just an act of parliament. Mandates change the moment some politician wills it to change.

If a smart government came into power tomorrow, and said that we had to create commuter rail networks with London, Hamilton, and Ottawa serving as the hubs (Union Station equivalents in Toronto) and tasked Metrolinx with planning and GO with operations, that would be a change in mandate (and frankly, one that we should wish to see happen).

That Moose proposal still stands for the Ottawa area.

 

[innsertnamehere]

that proposal has been a joke from the start and will never, ever happen.

 

[EnviroTO]

GO and Metrolinx were obviously set up to coordinate and provide commuter transportation in and around the GTA (it's called Metrolinx, not Ontlinx).

It is called GO Transit (Government of Ontario Transit) not GTAH Transit. I don't think that matters. GO and Metrolinx were set up to meet a transit need. It's service was originally geared for commutes, but they have expanded on that with all day and weekend service. I don't think Metrolinx should go beyond delivering "regional transit services", but within that boundary I think it should expand to wherever the demand for regional transit services exists in the province. Its mandate is improving transit across regions. Presto was clearly an improvement in transit interoperability across the region.

Regional transit services and inter-city rail are clearly different things... so if GO was to provide non-stop or one stop London to Toronto service I can see an argument against it. But something with single class service and stops at St.Marys, Stratford, Kitchener, Guelph, Action, etc.... seems like regional service to me.

 

[DirectionNorth]

It is called GO Transit (Government of Ontario Transit) not GTAH Transit. I don't think that matters. GO and Metrolinx were set up to meet a transit need. It's service was originally geared for commutes, but they have expanded on that with all day and weekend service. I don't think Metrolinx should go beyond delivering "regional transit services", but within that boundary I think it should expand to wherever the demand for regional transit services exists in the province. Its mandate is improving transit across regions. Presto was clearly an improvement in transit interoperability across the region.

Regional transit services and inter-city rail are clearly different things... so if GO was to provide non-stop or one stop London to Toronto service I can see an argument against it. But something with single class service and stops at St.Marys, Stratford, Kitchener, Guelph, Action, etc.... seems like regional service to me.

I don't really care what GO does, as long as it's good transit service.

And I don't see any downsides to good transit service.

 

[kamira51]

It is called GO Transit (Government of Ontario Transit) not GTAH Transit. I don't think that matters. GO and Metrolinx were set up to meet a transit need. It's service was originally geared for commutes, but they have expanded on that with all day and weekend service. I don't think Metrolinx should go beyond delivering "regional transit services", but within that boundary I think it should expand to wherever the demand for regional transit services exists in the province. Its mandate is improving transit across regions. Presto was clearly an improvement in transit interoperability across the region.

Regional transit services and inter-city rail are clearly different things... so if GO was to provide non-stop or one stop London to Toronto service I can see an argument against it. But something with single class service and stops at St.Marys, Stratford, Kitchener, Guelph, Action, etc.... seems like regional service to me.

At least GO Transit has constant funding, unlike a certain federal rail company hmm?

I would rather have Metrolinx handle ontarios regional rail network compaired to VIA.

 

[Deadpool X]

Ugh. As a former-non-Torontonian, I found this attitude infuriating. GO stands for Government of Ontario, not Greater Toronto Area.

I think I once posted that GO's mandate can and should change (although the Northlander is a better service - that's a different discussion.

Who is debating that GO does not stand for Government of Ontario or it is not owned by the province? GO could even be owned by government of Canada or the Universe but it won't change the fact that GO was created to serve the Toronto area and that's why it is Toronto centric. It's not me who decides what GO should serve and how it should serve. Please show your displeasure towards the province instead of getting infuriated with me. I don't make these decisions.

 

[DirectionNorth]

Who is debating that GO does not stand for Government of Ontario or it is not owned by the province? GO could even be owned by government of Canada or the Universe but it won't change the fact that GO was created to serve the Toronto area and that's why it is Toronto centric. It's not me who decides what GO should serve and how it should serve. Please show your displeasure towards the province instead of getting infuriated with me. I don't make these decisions.

I don't mean it personally, but if you want it, so be it.

 

[Deadpool X]

I don't mean it personally, but if you want it, so be it.

A sentence like this can't be called impersonal: "Ugh. As a former-non-Torontonian, I found this attitude infuriating".

I would rather say you took it personally that's why you were infuriated. Otherwise everyone was just discussing the facts and their opinions.

 

[Urban Sky]

At least GO Transit has constant funding, unlike a certain federal rail company hmm?

I would rather have Metrolinx handle ontarios regional rail network compaired to VIA.

With VIA's corridor services recovering 130% of their direct operating costs (thus contributing $77 million towards VIA's overheads in 2018 alone), the issue really isn't operating funding. It's capital funding (Missing Link, anyone?) and that could be provided by any entity (public or private), irrespective of who runs what passenger rail service...

 

[nfitz]

It is called GO Transit (Government of Ontario Transit) not GTAH Transit.

GO Transit is simply Metrolinx's branding of rail/bus services. Metrolinx is governed by the Metrolinx Act, 2006, which explicitly states that it provides service for:

(i) the City of Toronto,
(ii) the City of Hamilton,
(iii) the Regional Municipality of Durham,
(iv) the Regional Municipality of Halton,
(v) the Regional Municipality of Peel,
(vi) the Regional Municipality of York,
(vii) the Regional Municipality of Niagara,
(viii) Haldimand County,
(ix) the County of Brant,
(x) the City of Brantford
(xi) the Regional Municipality of Waterloo,
(xii) the County of Wellington,
(xiii) the City of Guelph,
(xiv) the County of Dufferin,
(xv) the County of Simcoe,
(xvi) the City of Barrie,
(xvii) the City of Orillia,
(xviii) the City of Kawartha Lakes,
(xix) the County of Peterborough,
(xx) the City of Peterborough, and
(xxi) the County of Northumberland, and
(b) any additional prescribed areas

I'm all in favour of expanding public service province-wide. But pretending that GO Transit was never intended to provide service to places like London.

 

[reaperexpress]

Apologies if someone has already noted this, but I just noticed that the diagram on Metrolinx's Southwestern Ontario GO Train page shows the trains running non-stop from Union to Bramalea.

This is a relief since it means that the trains will slightly less painfully slow than they otherwise could have been.

Based on this clue, I'm guessing that they will extend the last AM express train and first PM express train. There are two ways they could go about this:

Option A: extend existing trips

Option B: New express trips

Although they may initially do option A (existing trips), I think they would eventually need to switch to option B (new trips), at least in the PM, because I don't think the 6-car London trains could handle the passenger demand from a 16:19 express departure from Union once ridership starts returning to normal.

 

[Urban Sky]

Apologies if someone has already noted this, but I just noticed that the diagram on Metrolinx's Southwestern Ontario GO Train page shows the trains running non-stop from Union to Bramalea.

This is a relief since it means that the trains will slightly less painfully slow than they otherwise could have been.

Based on this clue, I'm guessing that they will extend the last AM express train and first PM express train. There are two ways they could go about this:

Option A: extend existing trips
View attachment 351645
View attachment 351646

Option B: New express trips
View attachment 351647
View attachment 351650

Although they may initially do option A (existing trips), I think they would eventually need to switch to option B (new trips), at least in the PM, because I don't think the 6-car London trains could handle the passenger demand from a 16:19 express departure from Union once ridership starts returning to normal.

Given that CTV news reported an arrival time of 9.15 am and a departure time of 16:19 (refer to my post #16,684), I think it's pretty obvious which option they are pursuing and how the London trips will fit into the existing schedule...

 

[reaperexpress]

Given that CTV news reported an arrival time of 9.15 am and a departure time of 16:19 (refer to my post #16,684), I think it's pretty obvious which option they are pursuing and how the London trips will fit into the existing schedule...

Well my apoplogies then, I had missed that post. I must say that is a particularly stupid schedule, since it is timed for people working in downtown Toronto rather than Kitchener or Guelph which are close enough to London/StM/Stratford that someone might actually commute on such a slow train.

I don't get why they scheduled so much time between Kitchener and London. GO seems to have scheduled 2h12, while VIA runs the same stopping pattern in 1h51.

 

[Urban Sky]

Well my apoplogies then, I had missed that post. I must say that is a particularly stupid schedule, since it is timed for people working in downtown Toronto rather than Kitchener or Guelph.

It's almost impossible not to miss a post with almost 17,000 posts in this thread and I have to admit that I was also expecting timings closer to what you propose, given that it seems difficult to imagine anyone commuting all the way from London to Toronto with these new services, given that VIA's now-restored #82/83 offer an alternative which takes just over half the travel time...