CDL.TO
Moderator
Maybe GO should take their planning cues from Solomon and build the new GO station straddling the Hamilton-Niagara border.
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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)
- Thread starter drum118
- Start date
The Mad Navigator
Banned
When's the earliest we'll see Off peak train service on the Milton line?
TOareaFan
Superstar
The poster just said that he hated taking the bus from Brampton to Bramalea to switch to the mid-day trains. I agree with him for the same reason that it turns the normally 8 minute (by train) trip from Brampton to Bramalea into a 20 minute journey (to allow for traffic, bus stops, lights and connection "issues). He was supporting the move to a complete bus trip to eliminate this 20 minutes....I was simply suggesting that another way to eliminate that lost 12 minutes was to simply extend the trains. You may not agree with it but how is it "silly"?
TOareaFan
Superstar
How is it less reliable than buses that are subject to the unpredictabilty of weather, other drivers, traffic and road repairs? Last week I gave a summary of call I had received from GO Transit in reply to a customer service issue. One of the things I did not include (it was a call about how GO mishandled, IMO, a 25 minute delay in the bus meeting the 6:45 train at Bramalea) was the GO customer service person saying I should not feel so bad about the 25 minute delay as on that night some buses were 2 hours late. Aside from the absurdity of that comment, it does point out that it takes a lot less snow/weather to delay buses than trains. As far as I know and can recall, no GO trains were delayed that day (it was only about 5 cm of snow) but the roads (the same roads that those buses run on) were an absolute mess.
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Platform 27
Active Member
The thing I'm most curious about is whether the Georgetown trigger got pulled on account of the CTA ruling about piling in the WTD.
The primary purpose of the Georgetown North project was to permit two-way travel to Mt. Pleasant. If they're not running that, the improvements are still notionally useful to GO---the extra tracks makes for better coexistence with freight, and the new platforms at Mt. P, Brampton, and Malton will get used eventually. But no transit agency would spend millions on getting second platforms at those stations only to have them sit effectively idle for the next, say, 4 years. (I say "effectively idle" because it's likely that when Brampton & Malton are finished one will be used for inbound and one outbound just to keep the track use straightforward, but the point remains that they could have been left as single platform stations.)
We know from various presentation materials floating about that as recently as late last year the plan was to do the service extension once the construction was finished. So this is a recent development. It's possible GO's fiscal pinch is to blame, but bear in mind that the trains have to be pretty darn close to empty before the operating costs of bus service becomes significantly cheaper. We know there's plenty of idle rolling stock mid-day, so that's not a factor.
If GO scraps the midday train trips (and potentially uses its new landlord powers to punt out any CN or Via service during this time) you get a solid block of time from 8:30am to 4:30pm where the track is deserted. Is it possible that this was the real objective here... getting a chunk of time during which the fewest noise restrictions are in effect where the crews and equipment can operate alongside or even on top of the track unmolested? The current CTA-enforced rules mean GO is pruned back to 1 or 2 piles a day when before they were getting 8. I'm no contractor, but it's possible that by vacating the corridor for the afternoon they could kick that up to 3 or 4, and make a substantial dent in how long the WTD is under construction for.
The primary purpose of the Georgetown North project was to permit two-way travel to Mt. Pleasant. If they're not running that, the improvements are still notionally useful to GO---the extra tracks makes for better coexistence with freight, and the new platforms at Mt. P, Brampton, and Malton will get used eventually. But no transit agency would spend millions on getting second platforms at those stations only to have them sit effectively idle for the next, say, 4 years. (I say "effectively idle" because it's likely that when Brampton & Malton are finished one will be used for inbound and one outbound just to keep the track use straightforward, but the point remains that they could have been left as single platform stations.)
We know from various presentation materials floating about that as recently as late last year the plan was to do the service extension once the construction was finished. So this is a recent development. It's possible GO's fiscal pinch is to blame, but bear in mind that the trains have to be pretty darn close to empty before the operating costs of bus service becomes significantly cheaper. We know there's plenty of idle rolling stock mid-day, so that's not a factor.
If GO scraps the midday train trips (and potentially uses its new landlord powers to punt out any CN or Via service during this time) you get a solid block of time from 8:30am to 4:30pm where the track is deserted. Is it possible that this was the real objective here... getting a chunk of time during which the fewest noise restrictions are in effect where the crews and equipment can operate alongside or even on top of the track unmolested? The current CTA-enforced rules mean GO is pruned back to 1 or 2 piles a day when before they were getting 8. I'm no contractor, but it's possible that by vacating the corridor for the afternoon they could kick that up to 3 or 4, and make a substantial dent in how long the WTD is under construction for.
TOareaFan
Superstar
It really is the gorilla in the room isn't it! No one likes to talk about it but we all kinda know the issue. GO's trains (on all lines) are full/overfull during peak times. Yet the farebox recovery is around (I think I have seen this number somewhere) 85% (+/-). Yet we all know that this overall/average recovery is a mix of the recovery from peak and non-peak service. The various off-peak trains, however, run at generally less than capacity and, in some cases, far less......so probably the biggest source of cost saving available to GO would be drastic cut-backs in off-peak trains.
I would think, though, that people on boards like these are more likely to be people who support transit expansion so any talk about stagnating or contracting service levels would be counter to that. We do have to be honest though and recognize that fare hikes and service levels are somewhat linked (in the absence of any sort of general public movement towards expansion at any cost).
Platform 27
Active Member
Indeed, the only good news seems from that CPTDB thread seems to be a bit of rail expansion in the peak hours: what sounds like a fairly certain new Lakeshore East run, and whisperings about a fifth (deadheaded) rush hour train to Georgetown and a fifth Barrie train. The trouble with peak hour expansion for GO is that that's where their fleet constraints kick in, and as drum was saying earlier up the page, it looks like the old F59 locos are dying faster than the new MP40s are arriving.
hwy7
New Member
I'm willing to bet that GO is trying to give themselves more hours in the day to work on the diamond. At the rate of 1 or 2 piles a day, I don't think GO could fulfill their plan to ramp up service in 2015.
Dan416
Senior Member
Sorry I was being completely sarcastic.
ShonTron
Moderator
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Did I say I preferred it? I said the bus provided a better level of service than the half-baked train service that replaced it. I preferred the old buses over the Bramalea trains (especially the one time, in snow, the "train-meet" failed to meet the train by 15 minutes, and without apology, that asshat dumped all his passengers in the old, windswept bus loop at Bramalea, and said we had to wait for two hours for the next one. Instead, I took Brampton Transit home and complained, and got a refund the next day at Union Station for my cancelled ticket that never got me to my destination).
Please let me speak for myself. Thanks!
ShonTron
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Interesting theory.
Heh. I bet VIA (and CN, forced to take the one inbound VIA train affected) would be thrilled with a detour via the Halton/York and Newmarket Subs.
TOareaFan
Superstar
Sorry, I was attempting to paraphrase you to give context to my original reply which had been described as "silly"...which, if I had picked up the sarcasm in the first place would not have been necessary. Besides, no where did I say you prefered it, but again...sorry.
Dan416
Senior Member
LOL sorry for the sarcasm. I agree with your observations regarding the situation on the Georgetown line. I support improved transit on all lines, contrary to popular belief that I want improvements only for Mississauga.
Kiwi
Active Member
Petition to GO Transit re Hamilton to Guelph Bus Route
Coach Canada recently cancelled service between Hamilton and Guelph, leaving no direct public transportation link between these two cities. One must now rely on GO Transit via Mississauga to get to Guelph. What would be a 45 minute direct drive now takes over 2 hours, and costs about double the cost of the previous Coach Canada service.
A Ward 1 resident has asked for our assistance in informing the community about a petition that has been set up to request that GO Transit pick up this route to provide a direct service connecting these two urban areas.
If this is a service that you would use, please consider signing the online petition.
http://www.petitiononline.com/commute/petition.html
Coach Canada recently cancelled service between Hamilton and Guelph, leaving no direct public transportation link between these two cities. One must now rely on GO Transit via Mississauga to get to Guelph. What would be a 45 minute direct drive now takes over 2 hours, and costs about double the cost of the previous Coach Canada service.
A Ward 1 resident has asked for our assistance in informing the community about a petition that has been set up to request that GO Transit pick up this route to provide a direct service connecting these two urban areas.
If this is a service that you would use, please consider signing the online petition.
http://www.petitiononline.com/commute/petition.html
CDL.TO
Moderator
This route would make a lot of sense. Personally, I would create a route that went:
- University of Waterloo
- Laurier University
- Uptown Waterloo
- Downtown Kitchener
- (Via Hwy 7)
- Downtown Guelph (Connections to Georgetown GO Bus)
- University of Guelph
- Aberfoyle Park and Ride (Connections to Cambridge, Milton GO Buses)
- (Via Hwy 6)
- McMaster University
- Hamilton GO Centre
- (and potentially) Stoney Creek Park and Ride (connections to Niagara GO Bus)
With 4 downtown cores and 4 universities, such a route would serve GO's bread-and-butter market and would most certainly be a success.
I've signed the petition and I also encourage others to do so.