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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

reaperexpress said:
Even if they were instructed to spam service wherever possible, it still seems like a bizarre use of resources. That same trainset could just as easily provide 2-hourly service from Union to Bramalea, in addition to the existing hourly service to Mount Pleasant. And of course a second trainset would fill it out to full 30 min combined service as far as Bramalea.
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Why does it need to be mutually exclusive? There are lots of trainsets to be used, and every trainset that operates in the middle of the day is one that doesn't need to be stored at any of the various yards near downtown.

reaperexpress said:
My point is that even if you truncate the Richmond Hill buses outside of downtown it still doesn't make sense to run off-peak Richmond Hill trains.
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Again, that's from your perspective. There are other perspectives that appear to say otherwise, or at least favour other opinions and options.

reaperexpress said:
Richmond Hill to Oriole costs $4.63, and Richmond Hill to Union costs $6.86. that's a difference of $2.23, which is more than the $1.55 that the TTC would cost if the former 50% GO co-fare were still in effect.
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For the 18 months that the co-fare existed? Great.

How about the rest of the time when there was no co-fare?

reaperexpress said:
That is absolute insanity. Sounds like we should bring this prohibition of inter-agency cooperation more into the public eye.
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It is absolute insanity. There has been lots of complaining from the connecting transit services, and for good reason.

And yet, Metrolinx is quite content to tell them that it's the fault of the Government, and that they can't until they are allowed to.

Dan
 
smallspy said:
Why does it need to be mutually exclusive? There are lots of trainsets to be used, and every trainset that operates in the middle of the day is one that doesn't need to be stored at any of the various yards near downtown.
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It of course isn't mutually exclusive, I'm just surprised that they were already at the point of considering bottom-of-the-barrel items like that, while they were still only running 1 train per hour to Bramalea, for example.

smallspy said:
Again, that's from your perspective. There are other perspectives that appear to say otherwise, or at least favour other opinions and options.
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Yes, and this is a forum in which we share our perspectives and hear others' perspectives. I'm happy to hear other perspectives as to the advantages of off-peak Richmond Hill Line service.

smallspy said:
For the 18 months that the co-fare existed? Great.

How about the rest of the time when there was no co-fare?
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The rest of the time it would suck. Just as it also sucks to pay $3.10 just to transfer from Downsview Park to York University. Or from Hwy 407 station to York University.

In thse examples, the fundamental issue is a lack of fare integration, not a lack of service. It seems a bit rich for Metrolinx to spend money to run extra services on the basis that there isn't fare integration, while they're the ones who have tasked themseves with implementing fare integration. Especially while there has previously been a form of fare integration which would totally eliminate a fare penalty for transferring Richmond Hill passengers.

smallspy said:
It is absolute insanity. There has been lots of complaining from the connecting transit services, and for good reason.

And yet, Metrolinx is quite content to tell them that it's the fault of the Government, and that they can't until they are allowed to.
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What Metrolinx is saying is true isn't it? Metrolinx is clearly being micromanaged by provincial politicians, and has been for some time. Which is quite a disappointment given the initial promises that it would be an arms-length agency which could actually make decisions based on sound transit planning, rather than political whims.
 
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ARG1 said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1506992263041269772

https://imgur.com/IgMyx
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That probably explains why we didn't get a ministerial presser for this.

On the upside, that almost certainly confirms there's another service increase coming soon.

Seeing as the cut off for for gov't pressers is when the writ drops which pretty much has to be by the 2nd week of May, we can reasonably expect another round of service improvements before then.

I should add, I was hearing about a much larger service improvement, and I had been assuming (wrongly it seems) that this would come all at once.

***

Edit to add, I still don't see it up online.
 
https://www.gotransit.com/en/trip-planning/go-service-updates/train-schedule-changes

Lakeshore West:
Starting Saturday, April 2, we’re bringing back 30-minute service on weekends and weekday evenings on the Lakeshore West line between Aldershot GO and Union Station.
  • On weekends, the first westbound trip of the day will depart Union Station at 7:15 a.m., with trains departing every 30 minutes until 12:45 a.m. The first eastbound trip of the day will depart Aldershot GO at 5:25 a.m., with trains departing every 30 minutes until 11:25 p.m.
  • On weekdays, we’re adding more weekday evening trains, giving you 30-minute service between Aldershot GO and Union Station, all day long.
  • The last eastbound and westbound trips of the day will be extended to serve West Harbour GO.
Find the schedules here.
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Lakeshore East:
Starting Saturday, April 2, we’re bringing back 30-minute service on weekends and weekday evenings on the Lakeshore East line.
  • On weekends, the first westbound trip of the day will depart Oshawa GO at 5:40 a.m., with trains departing every 30 minutes until 11:40 p.m. The first eastbound trip of the day will depart Union Station at 6:35 a.m., with trains departing every 30 minutes until 12:45 a.m.
  • On weekdays, we’re adding more weekday evening trains, giving you 30-minute service, all day long.
Find the schedules here.
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Barrie Line:
Starting Monday, April 4, the last weekday evening northbound and southbound trips on the Barrie line will be replaced by buses to accommodate critical construction projects.

The 8:53 p.m. northbound train from Union Station will be replaced by bus service, departing from Union Station Bus Terminal 26 minutes earlier, at 8:27 p.m. The bus trip times are different from the train schedules at all stops.
The 8:57 p.m. southbound train from Aurora GO will be replaced by bus service, departing 5 minutes later at 9:02 p.m. The bus trip times are different from the train schedules at all stops.
Replacement buses will not serve Downsview Park GO. Customers travelling to or from Downsview Park GO can instead take the TTC. Plan your trip at Triplinx.ca
The 7:53 p.m. northbound train from Union Station will be extended beyond Aurora GO to serve all stops, arriving at Allandale Waterfront GO at 10:35 p.m.
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UP Express:
Starting April 2, we’re adding service later into the evening.
  • There will be two trips added in each direction at the end of the current service day.
  • The last eastbound trip of the day will now depart Pearson Airport at 11:27 p.m. The last westbound trip of the day will depart Union Station at 11p.m.
  • Trains will continue to depart every half hour in each direction with 25-minute travel time between Union Station and Pearson Airport.
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Milton and Richmond Hill just have minor adjustments to timings and train lengths.

Massive dissappointment that the Niagara weekend train service still isn't back. They even went as far as to remove it from the Route 12 map. Meanwhile York University station is still shown, despite having been closed more than two years ago.
Capture.JPG
 
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Yeah. Unless you travel during the off-peak period on the Lakeshore lines, there's absolutely nothing here. No return of express trains on the Kitchener Line. No weekend train service on the Barrie and Stouffville Lines. Nothing to improve the bus routes.

It's a whole load of nothing.

It's possible that crew shortages are still a problem. It's also possible that certain construction projects can be done faster without weekend trains on the Barrie and Stouffville lines. But waiting this long and getting nothing on 95% of the bus and rail network? Disappointing.
 
@smallspy any word on where the rest of the service improvements we've both heard about went? I'm assuming they're still coming pre-election.
 
ShonTron said:
Yeah. Unless you travel during the off-peak period on the Lakeshore lines, there's absolutely nothing here. No return of express trains on the Kitchener Line. No weekend train service on the Barrie and Stouffville Lines. Nothing to improve the bus routes.

It's a whole load of nothing.

It's possible that crew shortages are still a problem. It's also possible that certain construction projects can be done faster without weekend trains on the Barrie and Stouffville lines. But waiting this long and getting nothing on 95% of the bus and rail network? Disappointing.
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The lack of evening/weekend service on Stouffville and Barrie I could reluctantly accept, given that it could accelerate the major construction occuring on both lines.

But it is seriously disheartening that they still have not restored:
- counter-peak Kitchener line service to Bramalea
- peak Kitchener line express service (formerly 5/weekday)
- weekday midday services to/from Kitchener, which were the only reasonable transit connection between Kitchener and Guelph
- weekday peak Lakeshore West express service (formerly 5 / weekday) - the Niagara train takes 2h33 as a result
- weekend service to Niagara, which was literally overcrowded starting around this time last year
- 15-minute weekday midday Lakeshore service
- 15-minute UP Express service
 
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ShonTron said:
Yeah. Unless you travel during the off-peak period on the Lakeshore lines, there's absolutely nothing here. No return of express trains on the Kitchener Line. No weekend train service on the Barrie and Stouffville Lines. Nothing to improve the bus routes.

It's a whole load of nothing.

It's possible that crew shortages are still a problem. It's also possible that certain construction projects can be done faster without weekend trains on the Barrie and Stouffville lines. But waiting this long and getting nothing on 95% of the bus and rail network? Disappointing.
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or even returns of express services on LSW either.

Come April 2 commuter loads in rush hour will start increasing rapidly as that's when a lot of return to office plans kick in from dozens of major employers.. I predict it'll be a total mess.
 
For those who still can't see the updated website, try opening in incognito. It's likely that the site is cached.
 
innsertnamehere said:
or even returns of express services on LSW either.

Come April 2 commuter loads in rush hour will start increasing rapidly as that's when a lot of return to office plans kick in from dozens of major employers.. I predict it'll be a total mess.
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And then the standard "we are monitoring ridership"

im assuming they do this by presto or etickets yet I saw 12 people in my coach the other day get a ticket for not paying...
 
innsertnamehere said:
or even returns of express services on LSW either.

Come April 2 commuter loads in rush hour will start increasing rapidly as that's when a lot of return to office plans kick in from dozens of major employers.. I predict it'll be a total mess.
Click to expand...

The only saving grace might be the longer trains that are supposedly coming.
 
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