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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

MovingBlock said:
If a subway train departs with a passenger’s hand in the door, they could be seriously or fatally injured. In the US, there were two fatal trap-and-drags last year (in Boston and New York). At some point, the doors have to reopen.

The best doors from a safety perspective are those on German Trams and driver-only trains in Austria and Switzerland. The doors (which contain the same sensors as in elevators) won’t reopen immediately if you stick your hand in, but the vehicle will unable to move. The doors are as safe as an elevator door, but doesn’t have the feedback we associate with elevators.
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TTC Subway trains are also interlocked. The train physically cannot move until all of the doors are fully closed.

And GO train operators don't just hit the door close button and hope for the best. The CSA is required to visually confirm that all doors are fully closed before they enter the train and depart.
 
A hand or arm may prevent a door from fully closing, but something smaller, like a piece of clothing can be trapped and still make it appear as closed to the system.

I often read RAIB reports from the UK, and item trapped in door, dragging a passenger for some distance is fairly common. I cannot recall it happening too much on the TTC or GO though.
 
T3G said:
You don’t sound very committed to the transit cause if such a minor (albeit extremely stupid) operational changes pushes you to drive.
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There are tons of games going on, like reducing service but asking for more money etc. Eventually something breaks the camels back.
 
nfitz said:
I don't think those buttons have ever been used for anything. I'm not sure if all the doors even have buttons.

An odd move. Especially given how padded the schedules are at Union. Why not just pad them a minute more (by cutting into the dwell time).
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Those buttons are used all the time at every terminal station where the train sits for a few minutes.

The doors closing early is just helping raise GO’s on time performance, if they closed them right on departure time that means by the time the train is moving it’s already almost a minute late, this prevents that. You might’ve noticed already that most CSA’s close the doors 30 seconds before scheduled departure, not many people have been complaining about that, so I don’t see how an extra 30 seconds will be such a big deal.
 
Willybru21 said:
Those buttons are used all the time at every terminal station where the train sits for a few minutes.

The doors closing early is just helping raise GO’s on time performance, if they closed them right on departure time that means by the time the train is moving it’s already almost a minute late, this prevents that. You might’ve noticed already that most CSA’s close the doors 30 seconds before scheduled departure, not many people have been complaining about that, so I don’t see how an extra 30 seconds will be such a big deal.
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Railways generally only care about on-time arrivals, as that is what the passenger is interested in. Departing late on its own is not a big deal, unless it causes a conflict between trains in the station area.
 
Took the Niagara bus for the first time in a while today and they somehow managed to make the schedule worse. The bus is scheduled to leave Confederation GO at xx:58 and arrive at Burlington GO at xx:21 to meet the xx:42 train. But the bus schedule is super padded and you can get from Confederation GO to Burlington GO in 12 minutes with no traffic.

This results in people who know about the actual travel times rushing off the bus and running to try and catch the xx:12 train. Today the bus arrived at xx:11 and there were around 10 of us running to the train...we all watched the train start moving when we got to the platform.

I don't understand why GO schedules things this way. Because of this awful scheduling, it seems like 95% of the time you'll be waiting exactly 30 minutes for the train, which is the worst case scenario.
 
LNahid2000 said:
Took the Niagara bus for the first time in a while today and they somehow managed to make the schedule worse. The bus is scheduled to leave Confederation GO at xx:58 and arrive at Burlington GO at xx:21 to meet the xx:42 train. But the bus schedule is super padded and you can get from Confederation GO to Burlington GO in 12 minutes with no traffic.

This results in people who know about the actual travel times rushing off the bus and running to try and catch the xx:12 train. Today the bus arrived at xx:11 and there were around 10 of us running to the train...we all watched the train start moving when we got to the platform.

I don't understand why GO schedules things this way. Because of this awful scheduling, it seems like 95% of the time you'll be waiting exactly 30 minutes for the train, which is the worst case scenario.
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Email them.
 
Latest ridership data from September on APTA indicates that GO Ridership continues to increase rapidly.. Not sure why it would suddenly drop again now.
 
innsertnamehere said:
Latest ridership data from September on APTA indicates that GO Ridership continues to increase rapidly.. Not sure why it would suddenly drop again now.
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Another COVID wave? I don’t know why they would increase the consists up to 12 cars and then suddenly drop them back down to 6 cars again if there wasn’t a change in travel patterns.
 
Willybru21 said:
A lot of GO trains have been reduced down to 6 cars again, mostly off-peak services but also some rush hour services, which makes me question if there’s been a drop in ridership recently.
The bottom of this page shows which trains were shortened: https://transittoronto.ca/archives/weblog/2023/01/07-go_revisin.shtml
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Peak period frequency was increased last week so less capacity is needed per train.

Outside of peak periods, 6 double deck coaches are generally plenty, save for special events like sports games or concerts.

Shorter trains means faster acceleration so this is good news. GO just needs to improve its customer information so people know the length of the train before it arrives at the platform. Telling them to "Look down the platform as your train approaches" doesn't cut it.
 
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reaperexpress said:
Peak period frequency was increased last week so less capacity is needed per train.

Outside of peak periods, 6 double deck coaches are generally plenty, save for special events like sports games or concerts.

Shorter trains means faster acceleration so this is good news. GO just needs to improve its customer information so people know the length of the train before it arrives at the platform. Telling them to "Look down the platform as your train approaches" doesn't cut it.
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most of their operating cost is fuel I believe, so shorter trains means less gas
 
Willybru21 said:
Another COVID wave? I don’t know why they would increase the consists up to 12 cars and then suddenly drop them back down to 6 cars again if there wasn’t a change in travel patterns.
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Maybe short staffed but seeing as they aren't hiring qualified conductors that have applied I'm guessing they don't really need people now as urgently
 
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