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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

reaperexpress said:
Prior to this year there were 4 trains per day. This year it was been cut to 3 and now 2 trains per day. I think a 50% service cut does qualify as massive.

That said, I agree the Stouffville cuts are more severe. Niagara Falls still has its hourly bus service. The Stouffville line has no alternative. GO now runs more frequent weekend service between Niagara Falls and Grimsby than they do between Toronto and Markham.
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Seeing these shiny new stations going up without more service is giving me VIVA Rapidway vibes. Hopefully better service is on the way eventually.
 
denfromoakvillemilton said:
Brampton has mostly all day service. We complain about GO Transit but that is a commendable milestone.
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Brampton has no train service on weekends. And when buses are diverted to Port Credit (or stuck in traffic on Lakeshore), it doesn't have practical bus service either.
 
reaperexpress said:
Brampton has no train service on weekends. And when buses are diverted to Port Credit (or stuck in traffic on Lakeshore), it doesn't have practical bus service either.
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reaperexpress said:
I was curious what alternative options are available for passengers from Uxbridge upon being dropped at Mount Joy without any connecting train.
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GO Route 54 runs from Mount Joy to Hwy 407 station via Unionville and Richmond Hill Centre, so they could take that to RHC and take Viva+Subway from there, or to VMC and Subway from there.

But Route 54 doesn't run on weekends so actually those passengers are just f***ed, lol.
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Fair enough. That needs to be fixed.

What was the point of the new union downtown terminal? It's done more for Megabus. They could at least extend those trips downtown. Feels like we should have kept the old terminal.

Again, London service needs to be cut until the GTHA is fully up and running.
 
denfromoakvillemilton said:
Again, London service needs to be cut until the GTHA is fully up and running.
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The problem isn't money, it's staff. Cutting London service isn't going to give you much in terms of staffing for any substantial service increase (it's a once per day extension of Kitchener service, not exactly something that can get you all day Kitchener line service).
denfromoakvillemilton said:
What was the point of the new union downtown terminal? It's done more for Megabus. They could at least extend those trips downtown. Feels like we should have kept the old terminal.
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For a weather protected terminal that can replace the old Toronto Coach Bus Terminal, and the old surface GO terminal, as well as leave room for busses when we have the staff to run more service? Just because we don't see it well used today doesn't mean it was a waste of time and money.
 
ARG1 said:
The problem isn't money, it's staff. Cutting London service isn't going to give you much in terms of staffing for any substantial service increase (it's a once per day extension of Kitchener service, not exactly something that can get you all day Kitchener line service).
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Turn around time though. Going ton London is essentially a day long commitment due to slow orders etc. We need that staff back in Union asap and going back asap. Unless that train will be sitting out of service when it reaches Brampton/Kitchener. I say the same for Niagara Falls at this point too. St Catharines is closed now.
 
Speaking of the new bus terminal, does anyone know why the signalling system inside the bus terminal is disabled and the screens are covered up? Instead, they have people directing buses to the appropriate platform and use stop signs instead of signals. The system is obviously working since there's a covered up screen on the second floor which detects buses when they come upstairs (I could see the bus number displayed on the screen). It's been almost 2 years since the terminal opened.
 
denfromoakvillemilton said:
Turn around time though. Going ton London is essentially a day long commitment due to slow orders etc. We need that staff back in Union asap and going back asap. Unless that train will be sitting out of service when it reaches Brampton/Kitchener. I say the same for Niagara Falls at this point too. St Catharines is closed now.
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The train leaves London at 5:15AM, and returns to London at ~8:15PM. If we pretend that the crew that operates the London train can freely go anywhere at any time, that's 1 extra crew we have to work with in a time period of 5:15AM-7:30AM, and 6PM to 8:15PM if we choose to cancel the London service. That morning trip especially isn't helpful as there isn't really any demand for a service that starts that early on most lines (and the ones that do already have train service). So that's crew that I guess could maybe operate an extra train service after 7PM?

The reality is the London trip isn't one that takes many resources at all. Sure I guess you are saving resources by cancelling it, but the amount of resources you get amounts to basically nothing. If London was a train that operated all day every 3 hours or so, then maybe this idea would have a leg to stand on, but the reality is there isn't much in terms of service that could be gained from cancelling the London service. You wouldn't be able to get more than 1 or 2tph on the Kitchener/Lakeshore Lines, and certainly not any additional weekend service.
 
ARG1 said:
The train leaves London at 5:15AM, and returns to London at ~8:15PM. If we pretend that the crew that operates the London train can freely go anywhere at any time, that's 1 extra crew we have to work with in a time period of 5:15AM-7:30AM, and 6PM to 8:15PM if we choose to cancel the London service. That morning trip especially isn't helpful as there isn't really any demand for a service that starts that early on most lines (and the ones that do already have train service). So that's crew that I guess could maybe operate an extra train service after 7PM?

The reality is the London trip isn't one that takes many resources at all. Sure I guess you are saving resources by cancelling it, but the amount of resources you get amounts to basically nothing. If London was a train that operated all day every 3 hours or so, then maybe this idea would have a leg to stand on, but the reality is there isn't much in terms of service that could be gained from cancelling the London service. You wouldn't be able to get more than 1 or 2tph on the Kitchener/Lakeshore Lines, and certainly not any additional weekend service.
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The crew is based in Kitchener so you need to also add an hour each way to drive to London in the morning, and back to Kitchener in the evening. It adds over 6h/day compared to just starting in Kitchener.
 
reaperexpress said:
The crew is based in Kitchener so you need to also add an hour each way to drive to London in the morning, and back to Kitchener in the evening. It adds over 6h/day compared to just starting in Kitchener.
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... sure, but again the number of hours isn't the problem, the problem is which hours specifically are lost - and the reality is those first 3 hours are absolutely worthless. In reality there are only 3 hours of actually worthwhile crew time that is lost, so that's an extra 3h worth of crew that you can do something with, and that something is during afternoon peak where there aren't many places where that crew can go and be useful. The only thing I can think of is maybe just redirect that London train to instead go back to Toronto instead which... neat? Not a lot that you can do with it though.
 
ARG1 said:
... sure, but again the number of hours isn't the problem, the problem is which hours specifically are lost - and the reality is those first 3 hours are absolutely worthless. In reality there are only 3 hours of actually worthwhile crew time that is lost, so that's an extra 3h worth of crew that you can do something with, and that something is during afternoon peak where there aren't many places where that crew can go and be useful. The only thing I can think of is maybe just redirect that London train to instead go back to Toronto instead which... neat? Not a lot that you can do with it though.
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Okay... but there's a maximum amount that each crew can work in a day. 3 hours of work at 4AM is 3 hours that they can't do later in the day. Currently the morning and afternoon London trains are run by two different crews because it would be too long of a shift otherwise.
 
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ARG1 said:
The problem isn't money, it's staff. Cutting London service isn't going to give you much in terms of staffing for any substantial service increase (it's a once per day extension of Kitchener service, not exactly something that can get you all day Kitchener line service).

For a weather protected terminal that can replace the old Toronto Coach Bus Terminal, and the old surface GO terminal, as well as leave room for busses when we have the staff to run more service? Just because we don't see it well used today doesn't mean it was a waste of time and money.
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reaperexpress said:
It did briefly in September 2021, but then we lost it after a few months when the staffing crisis began.
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ARG1 said:
The train leaves London at 5:15AM, and returns to London at ~8:15PM. If we pretend that the crew that operates the London train can freely go anywhere at any time, that's 1 extra crew we have to work with in a time period of 5:15AM-7:30AM, and 6PM to 8:15PM if we choose to cancel the London service. That morning trip especially isn't helpful as there isn't really any demand for a service that starts that early on most lines (and the ones that do already have train service). So that's crew that I guess could maybe operate an extra train service after 7PM?

The reality is the London trip isn't one that takes many resources at all. Sure I guess you are saving resources by cancelling it, but the amount of resources you get amounts to basically nothing. If London was a train that operated all day every 3 hours or so, then maybe this idea would have a leg to stand on, but the reality is there isn't much in terms of service that could be gained from cancelling the London service. You wouldn't be able to get more than 1 or 2tph on the Kitchener/Lakeshore Lines, and certainly not any additional weekend service.
Click to expand...

reaperexpress said:
The crew is based in Kitchener so you need to also add an hour each way to drive to London in the morning, and back to Kitchener in the evening. It adds over 6h/day compared to just starting in Kitchener.
Click to expand...

ARG1 said:
... sure, but again the number of hours isn't the problem, the problem is which hours specifically are lost - and the reality is those first 3 hours are absolutely worthless. In reality there are only 3 hours of actually worthwhile crew time that is lost, so that's an extra 3h worth of crew that you can do something with, and that something is during afternoon peak where there aren't many places where that crew can go and be useful. The only thing I can think of is maybe just redirect that London train to instead go back to Toronto instead which... neat? Not a lot that you can do with it though.
Click to expand...

reaperexpress said:
Okay... but there's a maximum amount that each crew can work in a day. 3 hours of work at 4AM is 3 hours that they can't do later in the day. Currently the morning and afternoon London trains are run by two different crews because it would be too long of a shift otherwise.
Click to expand...

I think sending train back to Toronto would work I guess in case of an emergency. I see your point @ARG1 but I just think with the crew shortage we should be focusing on the GTHA.

I don't like the Niagara Falls plans either with not stopping at St Catharines. Feels like that is the bulk of the ridership actually being missed.
 
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