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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

gweed123 said:
I've proposed this before, but I think a train shuttle that just runs from the Niagara Falls ON station to the Niagara Falls NY station would be quite useful. Set up a couple border guards at each station, and just have the car go back and forth across the bridge all day.

This would also simplify things for VIA and Amtrak. VIA could run more trips to Niagara Falls ON, and Amtrak could terminate most of if not all of their trips at Niagara Falls NY. Whoever wants to do a cross-border trip can take any number of options on the Canadian side, cross using the border shuttle, and then board an Amtrak train on the US side.
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A pedestrian bridge would be far cheaper and probably be more effective, to be honest, particularly given the passenger volumes involved.

Right now, provided trains operated at the same times, it would be faster to take GO to Niagara and take a taxi across the Rainbow Bridge to get to Amtrak and connect to Amtrak that way than it is to take the Maple Leaf from Union.

Frequencies of services impact that, but assuming we can't modify how long it takes the Maple Leaf to cross the border, the fastest solution would be to have GO Terminating on one side and Amtrak on the other and letting people cross the border individually to make their connections, assuming relatively high frequencies of both services which align with each other.

The reality is that the single best solution is to improve the time it takes for the Maple Leaf to clear customs from the ridiculous ~2 hours it's scheduled for today. This is particularly important right now as Amtrak is discussing increasing frequencies to more than once-daily over the next few years.
 
Another IBEW strike by a different local. Sounds again like no immediate major impacts, but I don't know about picketing and what happens long term.

Canadian National Railway Co. says it has been given 72-hour strike notice by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
CN says the union represents about 750 of its signals and communications employees across the country.
The company says in a release Wednesday that the union has given notice of its intention to strike as of 11 a.m. eastern time on Saturday.
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Very happy about weekend 12B buses! In practice, they're probably faster than the train. Also, the 25C Express is finally back. That milk run was awful.

Also, direct service to St. Jacobs Market!! I biked there from U of W a few times. Too bad it's only on the milk run.
 
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Am i seeing clearly?! There’s actual GO service at unexpected places?!

Let’s start with the bad first. Of course no LSW/Kitchener express services and no 15 min all day on both Lakeshore lines and UP Express. Possibly saving all of this for September, but when we desperately need them now it gets annoying. Pretty much nothing when it comes to the trains this time around. Also no 30 min all day bus service on routes which had that type of service prior, but once again probably saved for September.

Now the good, NIAGARA AND WATERLOO EXPRESS BUS SERVICE IS BACK! Finally, and they brought connections to Toronto Premium Outlets, St Jacob’s Market, and direct service to Wonderland on weekends which are all way more than welcome additions.
 
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I wasn't expecting too much - the new government hasn't yet formed (despite the re-election of a majority PC government, it's still technically a new government) so changes will be limited. I like the weekend Route 25 service, though I really wish there were 25C buses on weekdays. I would have also liked to see some express Route 88 buses, as that's a painfully slow milk run too these days.
 
LNahid2000 said:
Very happy about weekend 12B buses! In practice, they're probably faster than the train. Also, the 25C Express is finally back. That milk run was awful.

Also, direct service to St. Jacobs Market!! I biked there from U of W a few times. Too bad it's only on the milk run.
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If the milk run is delayed by 5+ min, then you can do the express to milk run transfer at UW.
 
11th said:
If the milk run is delayed by 5+ min, then you can do the express to milk run transfer at UW.
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9 times out of 10 the express service would be ahead of the posted schedules anyways when it gets to Laurier, but it also depends on any 401/8 traffic as well. Since every stop on the milk run takes about 2-5 mins to get to off the highway and then back on, as well as the local run through K-W and the 30-120 seconds it possibly takes to drop off/pick up, the express run could catch up to about 5-10 mins ahead and it also helps that you can check the ETA from any navigation source as if you were driving since its non stop to the universities.
 
So I did a test wondering what types of service GO will get with their predicted 10,500 services a week, so I created some frequency maps on what I assume the levels of service the network will get after GO Expansion, and even with the service I predicted with most lines having service under 10 minutes throughout the day, it still comes below the 10,500 number:

Here’s my predictions, and the end result will probably be even better:

GO Transit Post-GO Expansion Departure Amount:

Rush hour, 6-9am, 4-7pm:
120: Stouffville, Kitchener, Barrie Lines
216: Lakeshore East, Lakeshore West Lines
13: Richmond Hill Line
24: Milton Line
48: Union-Pearson Express Line

Total trains:
421


Off-Peak, 9am-4pm, 7pm-10pm:

640: Stouffville, Kitchener, Barrie, Union-Pearson Express Lines
80: Milton Line
200: Lakeshore East, Lakeshore West Lines

Total trains:
920


Late night 10pm-1am & 5am:

224: Lakeshore East, Lakeshore West, Stouffville, Kitchener, Barrie, Union-Pearson Express Lines



Weekday total amount:
1,565

Weekend total amount:
1,144

5 day weekday total amount:
7,825

2 day weekend total amount:
2,288

Total amount of trains per week:
10,113

Official GO Transit prediction of trains per week:
10,500

https://imgur.com/a/kEn7rZk
https://imgur.com/a/ADwaY9m
https://imgur.com/a/YwvUhKv
 
looks great - but a couple of comments..

LSW:
- I think you are underestimating peak services east of Aldershot here. Hamilton GO already has 30-minute peak service, so it definitely won't be downgraded to hourly. Similarly I expect 30 minute peak service to extend further into the Niagara Peninsula during rush hours.
- Off peak is looking like bi-hourly service on the Niagara line past Confederation, and 30 minute service through Hamilton to Confederation.

Milton
- Off peak service on the Milton line is not in the plans at all right now.

Kitchener
- 15 minute service is unlikely to extend beyond Bramalea, particularly off peak. 30 minute service at most.

Barrie
- We know 15 minute service will not extend past Bradford. I believe the plan is for 30 minute frequencies to Barrie off peak.

Stouffville
- off peak service is planned to end at Mount Joy. Track configurations mean that service will likely be limited to 30 minute service north of Unionville as well.

LSE
- Looks good, though you are missing the Bowmanville extension. I'm not sure 3 minute frequencies on LSW or LSE are realistic either.
 
innsertnamehere said:
looks great - but a couple of comments..

LSW:
- I think you are underestimating peak services east of Aldershot here. Hamilton GO already has 30-minute peak service, so it definitely won't be downgraded to hourly. Similarly I expect 30 minute peak service to extend further into the Niagara Peninsula during rush hours.
- Off peak is looking like bi-hourly service on the Niagara line past Confederation, and 30 minute service through Hamilton to Confederation.

Milton
- Off peak service on the Milton line is not in the plans at all right now.

Kitchener
- 15 minute service is unlikely to extend beyond Bramalea, particularly off peak. 30 minute service at most.

Barrie
- We know 15 minute service will not extend past Bradford. I believe the plan is for 30 minute frequencies to Barrie off peak.

Stouffville
- off peak service is planned to end at Mount Joy. Track configurations mean that service will likely be limited to 30 minute service north of Unionville as well.

LSE
- Looks good, though you are missing the Bowmanville extension. I'm not sure 3 minute frequencies on LSW or LSE are realistic either.
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Yes I did mess up the frequencies to Confederation, it’s not supposed to be hourly or 15 minutes, it’s supposed to be 30 minute service on all maps.
The federal government said all-day 15 minute service on the Milton Line will happen, the question is when; which I don’t know so I just included it anyway.
I was not aware about the Kitchener, Barrie, or Stouffville service restrictions; thank you.
I didn’t feel like including the Bowmanville extension since the software I would be using to widen the map for it would blur the rest of the map; and that’s not useful in this situation.
3 minute service on the Lakeshore West was confirmed months ago, and I assume all of the Lakeshore West services will continue to through-run with the Lakeshore East.

You have to remember that even with the mistakes I did like adding all the extra Milton Line service extensions and 3 minute service on the Lakeshore East, the amount of services per week STILL turned out to be over 300 services below their projected number, so there’s a good chance that this is happening and more.
 
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