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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

Another day, another 21 absolutely rammed to the gills.

Departure from Milton GO at 12:20 PM. All seats full by Derry and Armstrong, bus completely full by Derry and Trudeau.

The bus didn't even manage to leave Milton and it was already at capacity.

I fully expect a solution from Metrolinx within 12-18 business months, likely something half assed like the time in the spring of 2023 when they diverted all service to Oakville GO (a good thing), while completely forgetting that people might want to travel between Trafalgar and Meadowvale GO and leaving the 27 running to Milton during rush hours only (a bad thing).

Forget school work, that stuff will be an absolute cakewalk compared to dealing with the stupidity of everyone in charge of things in this province that God forgot.
 
I think during the PM counter peak hours, the 21 stops at literally every Milton GO line station (except Dixie and Kipling), before hopping on the QEW at Hurontario. Who in their right mind thought this was a good idea at all, that demand all of a sudden drops during those times and running the 21A throughout wouldn't bring an audience?

At this point it would probably be more efficient to go to the 401/25 Park and Ride and take the 48 to Bramalea or the 29 to Kipling, or 48 to Meadowvale and then 27 to Yorkdale. The fact that these slightly out the way alternatives might be faster than taking 1 straight bus to Union during afternoon rush hour is really sad.
 
T3G said:
Another day, another 21 absolutely rammed to the gills.

Departure from Milton GO at 12:20 PM. All seats full by Derry and Armstrong, bus completely full by Derry and Trudeau.

The bus didn't even manage to leave Milton and it was already at capacity.

I fully expect a solution from Metrolinx within 12-18 business months, likely something half assed like the time in the spring of 2023 when they diverted all service to Oakville GO (a good thing), while completely forgetting that people might want to travel between Trafalgar and Meadowvale GO and leaving the 27 running to Milton during rush hours only (a bad thing).

Forget school work, that stuff will be an absolute cakewalk compared to dealing with the stupidity of everyone in charge of things in this province that God forgot.
Click to expand...

The 27 should run at least hourly, seven days a week. There should also be a direct Milton-Bramalea-Hwy 407 route too.
 
T3G said:
Another day, another 21 absolutely rammed to the gills.

Departure from Milton GO at 12:20 PM. All seats full by Derry and Armstrong, bus completely full by Derry and Trudeau.

The bus didn't even manage to leave Milton and it was already at capacity.

I fully expect a solution from Metrolinx within 12-18 business months, likely something half assed like the time in the spring of 2023 when they diverted all service to Oakville GO (a good thing), while completely forgetting that people might want to travel between Trafalgar and Meadowvale GO and leaving the 27 running to Milton during rush hours only (a bad thing).

Forget school work, that stuff will be an absolute cakewalk compared to dealing with the stupidity of everyone in charge of things in this province that God forgot.
Click to expand...
Sadly Metrolinx hasn’t woken up to this. I also reported that yesterdays crowding to GO transit on that and demand them to boost service.
 
stevensontransit said:
Sadly Metrolinx hasn’t woken up to this. I also reported that yesterdays crowding to GO transit on that and demand them to boost service.
Click to expand...
I did as well, and just got the standard response that they passed on my comments to the service planning department.

I am not hopeful anything will be done anytime soon, even though leaving scores of people behind on a daily basis constitutes a fairly severe transportation emergency.

Maybe we should go to the media. Journalists making a stink about something is usually more effective than the common sense channels of complaining to the transportation provider, or, heaven forfend, elected "representatives".
 
sixrings said:
I just don’t understand. Buying this line isn’t ever going to get cheaper. It’s literally something only going up. In ten years when we revisit this we will be upset we didn’t buy at 2025 prices and then we will any to revisit it in 2045. And the circle will continue.
Click to expand...
It’s almost like there might be very good reasons that hasn’t yet happened, and which have been debated here every few months at length.
 
As someone who lives in Milton I have a vested interest in increased Milton service as well. As I’ve posted before, I travel into the city a lot on weekends. Especially in the summer with my bike. This means driving down to Bronte and fighting for a spot on a LSW train that is already full coming out of Burlington. Even with driving to Bronte, it’s still faster than the Milton bus that stops at every street along Thompson and Derry Roads, then gets stuck in the 401 & QEW parking lots. I had to take the bus home from Toronto back in July (on a Saturday) and it took almost 25 minutes before we cleared Lakeshore and got on the QEW.

During the weekends, I would guess there are less than 10 trains (including both directions) through Milton, from what I can hear from my apartment. So, I don’t buy the lack of track capacity excuse.

When I contacted Metrolinx about increasing service, I too got the standard “Thank you for contacting GO Transit about our service on Milton GO Train”.

My options for increased service (without the need for expensive land purchase or grade separation) would be as follows:

#1 – Limited weekend service. For example. 4 AM trains to Toronto 7am, 8am, 9am & 11am and those same 4 trains can return at 4PM, 6PM, 8PM, 10PM. This would allow people to spend a day or early evening in the city for business or entertainment. No competing with LSW passengers

#2) Mid-day / weekend service: Reinstate the third existing track (that is covered in weeds between Dixie & Erindale) and run two-way train service between Union and Erindale. From Erindale, run the 21 buses along the transitway to 407/Trafalgar park’n’ride. Then up Trafalgar to the outlet mall at Steeles. Then hop on the 401 to Milton GO. (All the passengers that get on along Derry can make their way to Milton station.

#3 midday / weekend service: Adjust the 21 buses to the following route. Milton Go to 407/Trafalgar park-n-ride. Transitway to Renforth station. 427 to Dundas to Kipling terminal

In my opinion options 2 and 3 would be faster than the current 21 bus via Meadowvale GO.

I’ve been told that increased train service may not be possible due to lack of crew. I find that hard to believe. I’m sure the Milton train crews would love to get in some extra time, as unlike their LSW/E or even Kitchener and Barrie co-workers, they don’t get extra midday or weekend runs. So, I’m sure they would jump at the chance to run extra trains on the weekend.

Before the election, Doug Ford promised Milton expansion. What have we got so far? A repaved parking lot. How about instead of building the 413 (or a 401 tunnel), take that cash and put it towards expanding and making the Milton line comparable to the LSW/E lines. That would do more to ease congestion on the 401 than new highways or tunnels.
Thus ends my rant.
 
Miltonrider said:
Milton train crews would love to get in some extra time, as unlike their LSW/E or even Kitchener and Barrie co-workers, they don’t get extra midday or weekend runs. So, I’m sure they would jump at the chance to run extra trains on the weekend.
Click to expand...

This isn’t how crews work on GO and UP, jobs take crews on multiple different lines, no two jobs are the exact same.

Here are examples of some of the jobs and how they’re scheduled (first two images explain how to read the following four images):

IMG_2894.jpegIMG_4176.jpeg

IMG_4392.jpeg


IMG_4391.jpeg


IMG_4390.jpeg


IMG_4389.jpeg
 
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T3G said:
Another day, another 21 absolutely rammed to the gills.

Departure from Milton GO at 12:20 PM. All seats full by Derry and Armstrong, bus completely full by Derry and Trudeau.

The bus didn't even manage to leave Milton and it was already at capacity.

I fully expect a solution from Metrolinx within 12-18 business months, likely something half assed like the time in the spring of 2023 when they diverted all service to Oakville GO (a good thing), while completely forgetting that people might want to travel between Trafalgar and Meadowvale GO and leaving the 27 running to Milton during rush hours only (a bad thing).

Forget school work, that stuff will be an absolute cakewalk compared to dealing with the stupidity of everyone in charge of things in this province that God forgot.
Click to expand...
The problem is that they're sometimes running hourly service with single-decker buses. For example from TransSee on today Sep 11 we see:

9:10 - single
9:40 - double
10:15 - double
10:45 - double
11:20 - double
12:20 - single
1:20 - single

That just isn't gonna work. The bus ridership (including evenings) is mostly post-secondary students going to/coming from afternoon/evening classes in Toronto... it isn't an office-worker market that disappears during the midday even though running this low service would make it seem so. It is odd that Metrolinx doesn't treat Route 21 with the priority of a post-secondary route like others that go 'directly' to universities even though it basically is that.

Don't worry --- they added special Saturday train service on the Milton line (again showing how more service is totallyyyy impossible like some people claim), just so Lakeshore West people can get to the Blue Jays game during construction!!
 
Miltonrider said:
I’ve been told that increased train service may not be possible due to lack of crew. I find that hard to believe. I’m sure the Milton train crews would love to get in some extra time, as unlike their LSW/E or even Kitchener and Barrie co-workers, they don’t get extra midday or weekend runs. So, I’m sure they would jump at the chance to run extra trains on the weekend.
Click to expand...
“Lack of crews” refers to the insufficient number of crews available to operate additional service within the legal and contractual limitations imposed on Alstom and Metrolinx. For one, no crew is required to work more than 48 hours per week and jobs cannot be scheduled as such. At this time I’m told there is a lack of Conductors available to facilitate further service expansion in the near future.

As for Milton-based crews, I can assure you that they aren’t eager to give up their cushy Monday-Friday work. They also happen to be qualified to operate on every other corridor and can bid extra or alternate work on those corridors as their seniority allows for, so that point is moot.
 
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Thanks for educating me on how the crews work WB62 and E•MO•TION. It was very informative. I always thought that GO crews operated like freight and VIA crews, where engineers are qualified on certain lines (subs). I thought that each line would have different operating rules, thus Metrolinx wouldn’t go to the expense of training all their crews on all lines, especially for lines that only have rush hour service. The Milton line especially, since it is under CP rules, not GO rules. Under this incorrect assumption, I figured that Milton crews would not get as much travel time as LSW crews who go back and forth between Burlington and Oshawa, thus would like the opportunity to get more hours.

If that is the case that GO crews are qualified on all lines, then I think there would be enough personnel to run limited weekend train service to/from Milton at least. They are doing it this weekend (although there is only one train in / out, which I will be taking advantage of to go to the Argo’s game).

Thanks again, and I look forward to further Milton line discussion and hopefully answers from the government when I contact them again.
 
WB62 said:
Metrolinx CEO Michael Lindsay announced all lines will see increased rush hour service this October and November during yesterdays board meeting.

What service increases these will be is unknown so far:


This was announced 29 minutes in.
Click to expand...
Does he mean only train or only bus routes, or both?
 
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