News   Apr 19, 2024
45 and 61-Storey Towers Proposed near Oakville GO
 880     0 
News   Apr 19, 2024
DRP Reviews Innovative Affordable Housing at Kennedy Station
 661     2 
News   Apr 19, 2024
Lifetime Helping Craft the Future of Toronto's Neighbourhoods
 1K     3 

GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

Allandale25 said:
^ remind me of the frequency at that time? Hourly or half-hourly?
Click to expand...
Half hourly to Aldershot.

My girlfriend and I managed to cram onto this train at Exhibition. Our particular car still had a fair bit of standing capacity on both levels when it pulled into Exhibition but were partially blocked by people who insisted on standing in the doorways and stairwells. I was about to give up but my girlfriend insisted on getting on with the assumption that the next trains would be as late and full so she forced people to keep moving. It wasn't until Clarkson that we managed to get a seat though.
 
You know when I was a kid (30 years ago) nobody at school ever mentioned working on the railroad as a career. Not did I ever see any of the major railways attend our school job fairs. Then again those were the days where we relied on learning from books and the internet was such an evil thing.
 
Bordercollie said:
You know when I was a kid (30 years ago) nobody at school ever mentioned working on the railroad as a career. Not did I ever see any of the major railways attend our school job fairs. Then again those were the days where we relied on learning from books and the internet was such an evil thing.
Click to expand...
This hasn't changed much. When I was in high school 10 years ago, there never was much mention of trades. It seemed most parents wanted their kids to be managers, lawyers/doctors or something generally office related. The teachers never really brought up the trades either.
 
Undead said:
This hasn't changed much. When I was in high school 10 years ago, there never was much mention of trades. It seemed that most parents wanted their kids to be managers, lawyers/doctors or something generally office related. The teachers never really brought up the trades either.
Click to expand...
And look where we are now.
 
crs1026 said:
It's a single point of data, but it says to me that the situation is not merely inconvenient or needing improvement - but actually rather desperate.

ML brass need to publicly acknowledge it as such. If GO can't handle easily predicted peak crowds on a Tuesday evening....
Click to expand...

I've been following some of this mess ever since I had two consecutive train cancellations at West Harbour about a month ago (which happened again last night). I've found that if there are two events downtown on the same day (Jays game + Fan Expo or Indy or a concert) you'll be lucky if you can squeeze in by Long Branch heading towards Union. I'm sure funneling passengers from the Kitchener and Milton buses at Port Credit on the weekend doesn't help with the weekend crowding. Although illness cancellations on Lakeshore have gone down, 20+ minute delays, mostly due to "heavy customer volume" will often result in West Harbour-bound trains being short turned at Aldershot, reminiscent of the 501 streetcar of long ago.
 
christine said:
I've been following some of this mess ever since I had two consecutive train cancellations at West Harbour about a month ago (which happened again last night). I've found that if there are two events downtown on the same day (Jays game + Fan Expo or Indy or a concert) you'll be lucky if you can squeeze in by Long Branch heading towards Union. I'm sure funneling passengers from the Kitchener and Milton buses at Port Credit on the weekend doesn't help with the weekend crowding. Although illness cancellations on Lakeshore have gone down, 20+ minute delays, mostly due to "heavy customer volume" will often result in West Harbour-bound trains being short turned at Aldershot, reminiscent of the 501 streetcar of long ago.
Click to expand...
When the service becomes hourly it's going to be much worse. If they are able to maintain 80% of half hour services today how does that translate to moving to hourly all day?
 
Bordercollie said:
You know when I was a kid (30 years ago) nobody at school ever mentioned working on the railroad as a career. Not did I ever see any of the major railways attend our school job fairs. Then again those were the days where we relied on learning from books and the internet was such an evil thing.
Click to expand...
I'm not surprised. In smaller 'railway towns' where they were major employer, they didn't have to and in larger places like Toronto, I imagine their staffing was satisfied with family members.

As others have mentioned, I was in high school in the '60s and there was a lot of aptitude testing and streaming. Shop training (our high school had lots of shops) was mostly relegated to those whose 'scores' didn't indicate university potential. Somehow, I ended up in the 5-year 'university-bound technical program - didn't even make it to Grade 13. We did get to take shops but were limited to electrical/electronic and drafting. I looked enviously on my mates who got to take the cool shops like auto, metal/welding, etc.
 
@smallspy and I both heard/saw info that indicated large service increases, twice, in the last 4 months, both times they came to nothing......

Something is going very, very wrong at Mx.

Its not merely losing staff; though that is clearly a problem, it always was a problem.

They're writing preliminary schedules and then finding they either can't get the funding or the personnel. (likely the latter, but I can't be sure).

Any which way, Phil Verster needs to be held to account, as does his Minister.
 
Last edited:
Northern Light said:
@smallspy and I both heard/saw info that indicated large service increases, twice, in the last 4 months, both times they came to nothing......

Something is going very, very wrong at Mx.

Its not merely losing staff; though that is clearly a problem, it always was a problem.

They're writing preliminary schedules and then finding they either can't get the funding or the personnel. (likely the latter, but I can't be sure).

Any which way, Phil Verster needs to be held to account, as does his Minister.
Click to expand...
The issue isn't funding, at least not from what I'm hearing.

But staffing is still a major, major issue. It was an issue in bus over the past year, although that was mitigated somewhat by the fact that there was more headroom in between the levels of service on the road and the number of staff available to fill it. (There is some concern that these improvements are going beyond what is capable within the system, however.) And there are now some fears that the amount of equipment available for service may be insufficient.

But on the rail side, Alstom seems to be either unable or unwilling to fix their staffing issues. They've known about the September changes since at least March, and while there have been multiple classes of new hires this year, it simply isn't enough to replace everyone who's left.

Dan
 
smallspy said:
But on the rail side, Alstom seems to be either unable or unwilling to fix their staffing issues. They've known about the September changes since at least March, and while there have been multiple classes of new hires this year, it simply isn't enough to replace everyone who's left.
Click to expand...

Would certifications and regulations have anything to do with it or is it simply a pay and scheduling issue?
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top