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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

LemonCondo said:
Union Station is going to need much more bike parking. I mean its kind of embarrassing when there is a long list of condo buildings with more spots then your central station.
Need more parking at all TTC and GO stations as well.
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This is true. Toronto's zoning requires at least 1 indoor bike parking space per unit (and they rarely approve variances on that number) so every new condo building with more than 168 units will have a bigger bike parking garage than Union station.
felix123 said:
I would like to have better bike parking at GO stations, and I was with you on the rest of the post but how is this train station in a charming Dutch town relevant to the discussion?
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The relevance is that it is an illustration
of what sort of bicycle parking GO could potentially be providing at railway stations. Admittedly Delft Station is a lot smaller than Union station. A more apt comparison would have been Utrecht Centraal, which has about the same ridership as Union, and has two garages with over 50,000 secure indoor bicycle parking spaces, of which 30,000 are in this garage alone:

 
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Northern Light said:
Aside from the fact that @reaperexpress is currently based in that part of the world; I think its an entirely apt comparison to ask what we could be doing better; to consider different options in policy, scale, and in price to induce a greater level of cycling in the Golden Horseshoe.
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I agree that we need better bike parking at GO stations. Comparing Union to Delft isn't realistic, as the space around Union is far more valuable, but I don't think that should hold anyone back from positing a better solution, and yes we could follow some of the better practices used in the Netherlands.
I would absolutely support a 10k, free for 24 hour bike parking option at Union nevertheless.

On the other hand, I'm just a bit salty because the same poster shot down my pipe dream for being irrelevant to Toronto a few posts ago, but then posted their own pipe dream right after. So you can bet I'm gonna call it out as irrelevant too 😁
 
felix123 said:
I agree that we need better bike parking at GO stations. Comparing Union to Delft isn't realistic, as the space around Union is far more valuable, but I don't think that should hold anyone back from positing a better solution, and yes we could follow some of the better practices used in the Netherlands.
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Sure, though, I think @reaperexpress acknowledged that the situation there was generous even by the standards of The Netherlands.

I would hasten to add, we dedicate alot of that very expensive/valuable land around Union to parking (underground).

I wonder what the utilization rate for parking at Maple Leaf Square is; and whether any portion of their facility might be re-purposed to cycling storage for Union, obviously in exchange for the purchase/lease of said space.

What price could be provided to cyclists would obviously depend on what it cost to acquire and maintain such space.

Presuming one didn't want to send cyclists up/down the parking ramps, there would need to be adequate high-volume elevator capacity available.

felix123 said:
I would absolutely support a 10k, free for 24 hour bike parking option at Union nevertheless.
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I would too.

felix123 said:
On the other hand, I'm just a bit salty because the same poster shot down my pipe dream for being irrelevant to Toronto a few posts ago, but then posted their own pipe dream right after. So you can bet I'm gonna call it out as irrelevant too 😁
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I don't think he was mean about it; I think he had a fair point. But you were equally fair in noting that the current situation is ridiculous, its just a matter of coming up with a solution of appropriate scale/cost, given the likely demand 2 years out.
 
Since the TPA also runs Toronto Bike Share, they are the organization best suited to deal with high volume indoor bike storage. The closest to Union is Carpark 52. I don't think this has PATH access however.
 
felix123 said:
I agree that we need better bike parking at GO stations. Comparing Union to Delft isn't realistic, as the space around Union is far more valuable, but I don't think that should hold anyone back from positing a better solution, and yes we could follow some of the better practices used in the Netherlands.
I would absolutely support a 10k, free for 24 hour bike parking option at Union nevertheless.
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The land around Utrecht and Delft stations is extremely valuable, not quite downtown Toronto levels but pretty darn close. Hence why the garages are underground.

Garage 1 at Delft is located underground in the cut and cover station, directly above the tracks. That's not developable space.
Screenshot_20220829-210444.png

Garage 2 is located under a park. Again, not developable space.

Garage 3 is under a condo. That space most likely did increase the construction cost of that new building, but that's unrelated to land value.

Garage 1 was the only one built as part of the station itself. Garages 2 and 3 were added later on adjacent lots because the existing parking was overflowing.

The garages at Utrecht Centraal are under public squares.

felix123 said:
On the other hand, I'm just a bit salty because the same poster shot down my pipe dream for being irrelevant to Toronto a few posts ago, but then posted their own pipe dream right after. So you can bet I'm gonna call it out as irrelevant too 😁
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I never said we should build a 10k or 30k space bike parking garage at Union anytime soon. Simply enlarging a garage does not in itself do anything to make cycling more attractive, unless the current garage is approaching capacity (which it is not).

I posted that reference material to illustrate what a convenient parking facility is like, and emphasize that bicycles could potentially play a much larger role in last-mile transportation if the parking prices and policies were more generous, and the cycling infrastructure were higher quality. If Delft (pop 103k) can fill 10000 spaces then surely Toronto (pop 2790k) should have no trouble filling 300 spaces.

The actual action items I'm requesting are for Union station are:
- ensure that all 300 existing spaces are available for use, not just the 168 in the new garage, and
- adjust the pricing structure and maximum stay such that nearly all of those 300 spaces are utilized.
 
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reaperexpress said:
The land around Utrecht and Delft stations is extremely valuable, not quite downtown Toronto levels but pretty darn close. Hence why the garages are underground.

Garage 1 at Delft is located underground in the cut and cover station, directly above the tracks. That's not developable space.
View attachment 423691
Garage 2 is located under a park. Again, not developable space.

Garage 3 is under a condo. That space most likely did increase the construction cost of that new building, but that's unrelated to land value.

Garage 1 was the only one built as part of the station itself. Garages 2 and 3 were added later on adjacent lots because the existing parking was overflowing.

The garages at Utrecht Centraal are under public squares.


I never said we should build a 10k or 30k space bike parking garage at Union anytime soon. Simply enlarging a garage does not in itself do anything to make cycling more attractive, unless the current garage is approaching capacity (which it is not).

I posted that reference material to illustrate what a convenient parking facility is like, and emphasize that bicycles could potentially play a much larger role in last-mile transportation if the parking prices and policies were more generous, and the cycling infrastructure were higher quality. If Delft (pop 103k) can fill 10000 spaces then surely Toronto (pop 2790k) should have no trouble filling 300 spaces.

The actual action items I'm requesting are for Union station are:
- ensure that all 300 existing spaces are available for use, not just the 168 in the new garage, and
- adjust the pricing structure and maximum stay such that nearly all of those 300 spaces are utilized.
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Unrelated note, but that should be the way Metrolinx denote exits at their stations - not repurposing the running man emergency exit sign.
 
Bordercollie said:
Hook up some autoracks or those mail carrying box cars that Amtrak had that were rated for higher speeds. That should help. Considering these are parked for 7 months of the year it's kinda a waste. I guess they can carry strollers in the winter time. How many SUV children buggy's can a bike car hold?

It's good that people are using it. Keeps cars off the road.
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Could be used in winter to carry skis & snowboards... would be amazing if we had a rail connection to a ski hill accessible from Union. I know it's not going to happen, but imagine if a station could be built on the CP line at Glen Eden for weekend service.
 
"should" be out by the end of the week...they kind of have to be out by the end of the week unless they plan on running no service on Saturday.

I walked past Anne Marie Aikins yesterday afternoon and wanted to ask her where the damn schedules are lol
 
ARG1 said:
Schedule Changes are up, mostly bus only as predicted, however there are a few train service adjustments. Nothing to get crazy over though:

Bus Schedule Changes | Service Updates | GO Transit

Click here to see upcoming GO Bus schedule changes and stay in the know!
www.gotransit.com www.gotransit.com
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You sure? No train schedule changes are showing for me. Near term train schedule changes have been up for a while.
 
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