Toronto Union Station Revitalization | ?m | ?s | City of Toronto | NORR

I noticed at summer festivals this year that they've got some sort of spike things they lay down at the entrance of the pedestrian zones. Not very attractive, but beats parking a garbage truck there like they've been doing the last few years.
 
Departure boards at Vienna Schwechat Airport. This is the blueprint for what I was talking about in here earlier... you don't have to walk anywhere to get information about a separate mode, but it also allows you to quickly filter out information so that you're not messing around with information for a form of transport irrelevant to you. IMG_7342.jpeg
 
T3G said:
Departure boards at Vienna Schwechat Airport. This is the blueprint for what I was talking about in here earlier... you don't have to walk anywhere to get information about a separate mode, but it also allows you to quickly filter out information so that you're not messing around with information for a form of transport irrelevant to you.View attachment 584783
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In the case of GO, though, this does force you to search through irrelevant things, because GO operates trains and bus lines basically interchangeably, so you really need to know if it's going to be a train or a bus, and that changes depending on time of day or due to cancellations.

Just put them all on the same board, and people will see the gate or track number and proceed accordingly to where they need to go, regardless of whether it's a train or bus.
 
Dan416 said:
In the case of GO, though, this does force you to search through irrelevant things, because GO operates trains and bus lines basically interchangeably, so you really need to know if it's going to be a train or a bus, and that changes depending on time of day or due to cancellations.

Just put them all on the same board, and people will see the gate or track number and proceed accordingly to where they need to go, regardless of whether it's a train or bus.
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I don't see the connection in having buses mixed into the departures board @ union train station. It seems about as relevant as mixing in streetcar departure times, or heck, even porter departure times. I think you should know already if it's a train or bus no? Isn't the station in another building? I can't imagine there's a big use-case for people walking to union station, realizing they need a bus, then going to the bus station. It's not like trains and buses leave frequently enough that you can just show up to take the next available one, taking the GO is a planned trip (unless on Lakeshore). If a scheduled train is being replaced by a bus, they can have a CANCELLED / BUS status, and the passenger can look at the bus board instead.

I think having a separate screen for the bus schedule makes perfect sense though, for those that need to determine if they need to run or walk to the bus station. Putting in VIA departures makes much more sense (and honestly ,getting rid of the separate VIA concourse and modernizing it like Bay and York). Maybe the way this can be done is have a mix of "Union Train Station" departure boards, and agency specific "Metrolinx Live Schedule" / "VIA Live Schedule" boards, which can have more info.

What is the reason for not having late night service on these lines anyway? Is it just a budget thing because of the small number of people travelling, or is it that the tracks are used by the freight trains during these times?
 
goreckm said:
I don't see the connection in having buses mixed into the departures board @ union train station. It seems about as relevant as mixing in streetcar departure times, or heck, even porter departure times. I think you should know already if it's a train or bus no? Isn't the station in another building? I can't imagine there's a big use-case for people walking to union station, realizing they need a bus, then going to the bus station. It's not like trains and buses leave frequently enough that you can just show up to take the next available one, taking the GO is a planned trip (unless on Lakeshore). If a scheduled train is being replaced by a bus, they can have a CANCELLED / BUS status, and the passenger can look at the bus board instead.

I think having a separate screen for the bus schedule makes perfect sense though, for those that need to determine if they need to run or walk to the bus station. Putting in VIA departures makes much more sense (and honestly ,getting rid of the separate VIA concourse and modernizing it like Bay and York). Maybe the way this can be done is have a mix of "Union Train Station" departure boards, and agency specific "Metrolinx Live Schedule" / "VIA Live Schedule" boards, which can have more info.

What is the reason for not having late night service on these lines anyway? Is it just a budget thing because of the small number of people travelling, or is it that the tracks are used by the freight trains during these times?
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Something like this would be cool:
Departure TimeDestinationAgencyPlatformStatus
14:17AldershotGO3ON TIME
14:20OshawaGO11ON TIME
14:25SarniaVIA7DELAYED
14:34Mount PleasantGO5ON TIME
14:47West HarbourGO3CANCELLED
14:49New York CityAmtrak7ON TIME
14:50OshawaGO9CANCELLED / BUS
 
Yes! This! My expectation is that all services would be listed, and maybe in the Great Hall, that would be helpful. Also, defining services in a legend on each map (or adjacent to it).

Local Subway - TTC
Local Streetcar - TTC
Local Bus - TTC
Regional Bus - GO
Regional Rail - GO
Provincial Rail - Ontario Northland
Provincial Bus - Ontario Northland
National Rail - VIA
International Rail - Amtrack
Airport Rail - UP

After all that money spent Union Station has only gotten more confusing, not less, although that's partially because of the amalgamation of services like UP and busses.
 
goreckm said:
I don't see the connection in having buses mixed into the departures board @ union train station. It seems about as relevant as mixing in streetcar departure times, or heck, even porter departure times. I think you should know already if it's a train or bus no? Isn't the station in another building? I can't imagine there's a big use-case for people walking to union station, realizing they need a bus, then going to the bus station. It's not like trains and buses leave frequently enough that you can just show up to take the next available one, taking the GO is a planned trip (unless on Lakeshore). If a scheduled train is being replaced by a bus, they can have a CANCELLED / BUS status, and the passenger can look at the bus board instead.

I think having a separate screen for the bus schedule makes perfect sense though, for those that need to determine if they need to run or walk to the bus station. Putting in VIA departures makes much more sense (and honestly ,getting rid of the separate VIA concourse and modernizing it like Bay and York). Maybe the way this can be done is have a mix of "Union Train Station" departure boards, and agency specific "Metrolinx Live Schedule" / "VIA Live Schedule" boards, which can have more info.

What is the reason for not having late night service on these lines anyway? Is it just a budget thing because of the small number of people travelling, or is it that the tracks are used by the freight trains during these times?
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If you're a regular rider you might have a good idea if it might be a train or a bus. But I think we should cater to everyone and having the GO trains and buses together just makes it easier. I actually find mixing GO and VIA less useful than mixing GO trains and buses. GO trains and buses have the same destinations. GO and VIA (and Amtrak) do not service the same destinations, generally (GO doesn't service Montreal or NYC or whatever else VIA services).

So why would we mix GO and VIA over and GO and GO, just because one is a train and one is a bus, depending on the time of day? Just because they're both "trains"?
 
Dan416 said:
If you're a regular rider you might have a good idea if it might be a train or a bus. But I think we should cater to everyone and having the GO trains and buses together just makes it easier. I actually find mixing GO and VIA less useful than mixing GO trains and buses. GO trains and buses have the same destinations. GO and VIA (and Amtrak) do not service the same destinations, generally (GO doesn't service Montreal or NYC or whatever else VIA services).

So why would we mix GO and VIA over and GO and GO, just because one is a train and one is a bus, depending on the time of day? Just because they're both "trains"?
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But a similar argument can be made for people taking a VIA. Say they come from the subway. They are in union station. Should they not have information relevant to them? At least they're in the correct building.

And yes, the reason they should show the train schedule is because it's a train station. No problem in having separate GO boards which can be mixed I guess, but those should not be the dominant displays.
 
goreckm said:
But a similar argument can be made for people taking a VIA. Say they come from the subway. They are in union station. Should they not have information relevant to them? At least they're in the correct building.

And yes, the reason they should show the train schedule is because it's a train station. No problem in having separate GO boards which can be mixed I guess, but those should not be the dominant displays.
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This is actually a pretty valid point. The subway is a major point of entry into Union by regulars and visitors, there really should be schedule boards for all forms of travel out of Union visible upon entering the building. They could have a dedicated screen for each set of departures and their disruptions or service alerts: GO Trains, Bus Terminal, VIA/Rail, and UP Express.

Is there even a single departure screen on the entire lower level of Union?

1722621155903.jpeg


Of course, any such large information display panels facing the subway doors would limit the visibility of those wonderfully large and plentiful advertising screens :D.
 
FC_ said:
This is actually a pretty valid point. The subway is a major point of entry into Union by regulars and visitors, there really should be schedule boards for all forms of travel out of Union visible upon entering the building. They could have a dedicated screen for each set of departures and their disruptions or service alerts: GO Trains, Bus Terminal, VIA/Rail, and UP Express.

Is there even a single departure screen on the entire lower level of Union?

View attachment 585444

Of course, any such large information display panels facing the subway doors would limit the visibility of those wonderfully large and plentiful advertising screens :D.
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The lack of departure boards overall is staggeringly stupid in my opinion.
 
Dan416 said:
The lack of departure boards overall is staggeringly stupid in my opinion.
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There are lots and lots of departure boards in Union.

The fact that there are none in one specific location doesn't take away from the multitudes located in more important locations.

Dan
 
smallspy said:
There are lots and lots of departure boards in Union.

The fact that there are none in one specific location doesn't take away from the multitudes located in more important locations.

Dan
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"Lots" doesn't mean there's enough or in the right places. Find me one in the food court, where they might actually be useful. Or as soon as you walk in from the subway.
 
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