News   Mar 28, 2024
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Intercity Bus Services

It would be nice if GO would bring back more trains to Kitchener, considering how big the communities around it such as Guelph are.
They did.

There are currently 9 daily GO train round trips from Kitchener, compared to 8 pre-pandemic. The all-time record was in September 2021, with 10 GO round trips per day. That timetable was basically the same as today's, but with one extra trip in the peak direction. Here's a comparison between that timetable and the current one:
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I wish they would put on a morning run Toronto-> Kitchener! I would be on the 6.30 am to Guelph every workday morning. I hate the drive, especially in the winter.

I wonder whether they have studied the business case as I bet there are a lot of potential customers reverse commuting. Quite a few of my colleagues at UofG actually live in the High Park area of Toronto.
 
I wish they would put on a morning run Toronto-> Kitchener! I would be on the 6.30 am to Guelph every workday morning. I hate the drive, especially in the winter.

I wonder whether they have studied the business case as I bet there are a lot of potential customers reverse commuting. Quite a few of my colleagues at UofG actually live in the High Park area of Toronto.
And return to Toronto trip that leaves Kitchener/ Guelph at around 4-5pm would be great.

The biggest shame is the complete lack of weekend service. Taking VIA the trains are always busy on the weekend. It doesn’t need to be all day; just 2-3 trains into Toronto in the morning and back. I’ve emailed Metrolinx and it’s the same spin each time in their response.
 
I wish they would put on a morning run Toronto-> Kitchener! I would be on the 6.30 am to Guelph every workday morning. I hate the drive, especially in the winter.
And return to Toronto trip that leaves Kitchener/ Guelph at around 4-5pm would be great.
That's physically impossible at the moment, due to the lack of passing tracks between Kitchener and Georgetown.

The best they could do with the current track configuration would be a counter-peak train from Guelph to Kitchener, using the 1-hour gap which exists in the current timetable.
In the morning it would depart Shirley Yard right after the 07:45 eastbound train passes by, following it to Guelph. It would depart Guelph at 08:15, arriving Kitchener at 08:32. Then it would become the existing 08:45 departure from Kitchener to Toronto.
In the afternoon the 17:21 train arriving in Kitchener would turn around and depart eastbound around 17:33, arriving in Guelph at 17:50. It would then turn back west and head to Shirley yard.

For people commuting to Guelph from the GTA, the best short-term fix would be to operate express bus service along Highway 407 from Bramalea to Guelph (via Aberfoyle and the University of Guelph), timed to meet trains arriving at Bramalea from Union (once those counter-peak trains are reinstated).

October 2021 Kitchener train weekday AM counter-peak timetable, with express bus trips added in yellow:
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I wonder whether they have studied the business case as I bet there are a lot of potential customers reverse commuting. Quite a few of my colleagues at UofG actually live in the High Park area of Toronto.
They have. Here is the business case study.

Construction is now beginning on a new Kitchener Central station with 2 platforms, a second track in Breslau, a second platform at Guelph Central, and a second track at Acton station. These improvements will enable 2-way peak service within the next couple years.
 
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Booked the new Megabus route to Harrisburg when it was first launched to visit a friend there. Original booking was for May 27 and I got an email 3 weeks before saying it was cancelled. Rebooked for June 17 and just got an email saying it was cancelled again due to "operational issues". Pretty awful of them to cancel on a week's notice. I suspect it was cancelled because it wasn't profitable due to low ridership since the website let me book 60 seats for the trip as late as yesterday. Rebooking for July now but it'll probably just be cancelled again so my friend is just going to drive here now.
 
FlixBus better get on Hamilton-KW-Guelph, it’s an obvious and sorely needed connection. It’ll also put some pressure on GO to offer some kind of competing service down the line, since they clearly aren’t interested in even trialling it themselves right now.
 
FlixBus better get on Hamilton-KW-Guelph, it’s an obvious and sorely needed connection. It’ll also put some pressure on GO to offer some kind of competing service down the line, since they clearly aren’t interested in even trialling it themselves right now.

Agreed! It's a massive gap, as seen in @ShonTron's maps.

It takes 3 1/2 hours to get from Hamilton to Waterloo on GO (via Mississauga). Compare that to the typical one-hour drive by car.
 
I wish they would put on a morning run Toronto-> Kitchener! I would be on the 6.30 am to Guelph every workday morning. I hate the drive, especially in the winter.

I wonder whether they have studied the business case as I bet there are a lot of potential customers reverse commuting. Quite a few of my colleagues at UofG actually live in the High Park area of Toronto.
2 weeks back I had a 10am client meeting in Guelph and I live at Weston...would've been great to have an earlier outbound train...instead I used a Zipcar to get there/back. I compared the traffic on the day...would have been identical time between car and train door-to-door.
 
FlixBus better get on Hamilton-KW-Guelph, it’s an obvious and sorely needed connection. It’ll also put some pressure on GO to offer some kind of competing service down the line, since they clearly aren’t interested in even trialling it themselves right now.
Coach Canada and one or two successors couldn't make this route work, so I doubt Flixbus will try.
 
Which successors ran the route after Coach Canada abandoned it?

After Coach Canada abandoned the Guelph-Hamilton route, London-based AboutTown tried, and it operated several other routes. That company went bankrupt, but it wasn’t just because of the intercity bus routes but its airport shuttle and taxi operations.

Then there was Wroute, which tried to fill the gap with pre-booked Tesla shuttles.

 
Coach Canada and one or two successors couldn't make this route work, so I doubt Flixbus will try.
Well I think there’s a market for it. When I took the bus pre-covid, it was always packed by the time we hit MacMaster. Perhaps modifying it off hwy 8 (if that’s what it did, can’t remember) and opting for KW-Guelph-Hamilton via hwy 7/6 would be best.
 
I took Flixbus to Guelph on the weekend and they need a sheltered stop at Mississauga.
There is a transfer in Guelph to Elora and Owen Sound via GOST. I ended up getting a ride on the last leg so never saw the vehicle.
Scan down this page for a map of interregional transit buses run by various Ontario counties. It seems to be dated 2020 but a good companion to Sean's map: https://www.owensound.ca/en/living/guelph-owen-sound-transportation.aspx#
 

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