GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

[WB62]

GO is now promoting people to not take the Niagara train, lmao. The CSA in my train just said: “As a reminder if you are travelling to Niagara Falls, we have a bus service. Just take the Lakeshore West to Burlington and connect to the bus that will take you to Niagara”

 

[Richard White]

GO is now promoting people to not take the Niagara train, lmao. The CSA in my train just said: “As a reminder if you are travelling to Niagara Falls, we have a bus service. Just take the Lakeshore West to Burlington and connect to the bus that will take you to Niagara”

They likely do not know how reliable the bridge is right now and do not want a repeat of yesterday. Also, they likely realize the trains are overloaded and trying to shunt people onto buses.

Given the time of year, I doubt there will be any increase to service this year. Hopefully next year they will have more robust service in place to accommodate high passenger volumes.

 

[JasonParis]

A good opportunity for the Premier to step-in and get a new bridge built! Get 'er done Doug!

 

[Deadpool X]

Time to rethink the $10 weekend pass, especially for a long trip like Niagara Falls.

 

[Allandale25]

Another tough day for the Niagara service.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1546184163111440384

 

[ARG1]

Time to rethink the $10 weekend pass, especially for a long trip like Niagara Falls.

Not whilst the Niagara Falls train are unreliable

 

[innsertnamehere]

The bus issues on lake shore are because Lake shore is down to 1 lane from 4 right in its busiest stretch right before the York St on ramp. It’s causing total traffic pandemonium in an area that’s one of the slowest in the GTA on a normal day.

The issues will largely disappear once the work is done.

 

[Northern Light]

The bus issues on lake shore are because Lake shore is down to 1 lane from 4 right in its busiest stretch right before the York St on ramp. It’s causing total traffic pandemonium in an area that’s one of the slowest in the GTA on a normal day.

The issues will largely disappear once the work is done.

Clearly, better planning of this project; and the mitigation measures required for GO were in order!

 

[lenaitch]

A good opportunity for the Premier to step-in and get a new bridge built! Get 'er done Doug!

So long as you are okay with your tax dollars going to a private for-profit corporation (CN) and a federal non-profit (St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp.) to support what amounts to a tourist train.

 

[Richard White]

So long as you are okay with your tax dollars going to a private for-profit corporation (CN) and a federal non-profit (St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp.) to support what amounts to a tourist train.

If such a bridge was built, I can see the trackage being exclusive to GO transit while the current bridge remained commercial.

 

[ShonTron]

So long as you are okay with your tax dollars going to a private for-profit corporation (CN) and a federal non-profit (St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp.) to support what amounts to a tourist train.

CN doesn’t run much east of St. Catharines; they were even proposing to abandon the railway across the Niagara River, which is mostly used by the Amtrak/VIA service, and reroute its trains via Fort Erie/Black Rock.

 

[WB62]

Once again rode the Niagara train today, this will probably be my 6th round trip on it since it restarted, and only the very first train that reinstated the service after a 6 month hiatus was overloaded. The rest had plenty of space after the first 5 coaches.
These trains are not overloaded, especially if you walk the entire length of the train, like I have. The main issue is bunching near the cab car at Niagara VIA which is closest to the WEGO terminal, and Union Station which is where the York Concourse staircases are.
There’s no need to change the weekend passes, they just need better passenger dispersion.

 

[anb]

Speaking of Niagara, gotta wonder if some just take the local transit coming off the train instead of just adding to the crowding to get a WEGO bus, as there is one route that touches the northern tip of Clifton Hill. Actually did this before but was just coming off the bus and it was really lowkey.

 

[WillTo]

Once again rode the Niagara train today, this will probably be my 6th round trip on it since it restarted, and only the very first train that reinstated the service after a 6 month hiatus was overloaded. The rest had plenty of space after the first 5 coaches.
These trains are not overloaded, especially if you walk the entire length of the train, like I have. The main issue is bunching near the cab car at Niagara VIA which is closest to the WEGO terminal, and Union Station which is where the York Concourse staircases are.
There’s no need to change the weekend passes, they just need better passenger dispersion.

So one should board on the east (Bay) or west (York) side?

 

[reaperexpress]

There’s no need to change the weekend passes, they just need better passenger dispersion.

Okay then what do you propose to do with the 1500 passengers when they arrive in Niagara Falls? WeGo can't muster up 30 buses, so there is always a large crowd stranded at the station after the last of WeGo's 2-3 extra buses has departed.

Part of the justification for the weekend passes has been to get people to try out GO Transit in the hopes of creating new regular riders. But getting stranded at Niagara Falls station for an hour while you've already bought a GO+WeGo ticket is not an experience which will convince anyone to ride transit more regularly. If anything it may confirm their impressions of delays and overcrowding.

Whether it be limiting demand using pricing, or dispersing demand among multiple morning trains (e.g. 2 trains with 800 passengers each), something needs to change. Dumping a full 12-car train at once is simply too much for the Niagara's last-mile options to handle.