GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

[afransen]

The reason couriers don't use the secure parking at Union is that the maximum stay in the garage is 48 hours. So if they decide not to go downtown more than 2 days in a row their bike is at risk of being removed. Very few people would be willing to accept those terms, especially with more people commuting only a couple days per week.

Seems like a policy that needs to be revised in light of hybrid work anyway. I don't know if they are trying to modulate demand by imposing customer-hostile usage rules. It would be better to raise daily parking rates and allow 7 or 14 day storage. If prices need to be set very high to manage demand, that is a good problem to have and a signal to add capacity. Rather than building infrastructure that is only useful to a specific niche of insiders or worse, goes unused.

 

[luk3yd]

Seems like a policy that needs to be revised in light of hybrid work anyway. I don't know if they are trying to modulate demand by imposing customer-hostile usage rules. It would be better to raise daily parking rates and allow 7 or 14 day storage. If prices need to be set very high to manage demand, that is a good problem to have and a signal to add capacity. Rather than building infrastructure that is only useful to a specific niche of insiders or worse, goes unused.

One thing that may not address for bike couriers coming in from outside of the downtown core is that they may be using their bike/eBike for the last mile trip between home and the go train.

 

[robmausser]

Another random thought that keeps popping up for me, is after seeing stuff on YouTube about the Winter Park Express in Colorado, is if there would be any public interest in a limited extension of the Milton line (once it has 2 way all day service) to the Glen Eden ski area. Given it already has the CP line running right beside it's parking lot, and it's less than 8k's away from the Milton station, it would hopefully not be a contractual nightmare to get a handful of paths to run 1 or 2 trains in the morning to there in the morning, and 1 or 2 trains from there in the afternoon.

Could potentially update the Niagara specific bike coaches to be used for Skis / Snowboards in their 'off' season, and provide a way for car-free Toronto residents to get to the snow.

I'm sure a simple single platform station would still be very expensive, but if we didn't overbuild or gold plate it, it may be doable given the infra that is already there.

Glen Eden is not that popular, as its one of the smallest hills in the area and at the same time one of the steepest. Its really niche.

What I would love to see is the extension of the Barrie Line to Collingwood, with track built to Blue Mountain resort.

This would be something that would actually get some usage in my opinion.

 

[just east of the creek]

Glen Eden is not that popular, as its one of the smallest hills in the area and at the same time one of the steepest. Its really niche.

What I would love to see is the extension of the Barrie Line to Collingwood, with track built to Blue Mountain resort.

This would be something that would actually get some usage in my opinion.

We should ’borrow’ the hydrogen tourist fleet from QC and the Charlevoix line for the winter months. The line to BM exists (just needs tracks, signals, infrastructure etc etc…), and I believe one of the stations still exists below the Mountain at ….? Tie this into GO service, or make it a GO service with cars that carry extra luggage, plus skis and bikes. A couple of surplus cars converted to ‘baggage‘ cars? (You could do the same for the Niagara Run). There would be summer service potential here.

 

[lenaitch]

We should ’borrow’ the hydrogen tourist fleet from QC and the Charlevoix line for the winter months. The line to BM exists (just needs tracks, signals, infrastructure etc etc…), and I believe one of the stations still exists below the Mountain at ….? Tie this into GO service, or make it a GO service with cars that carry extra luggage, plus skis and bikes. A couple of surplus cars converted to ‘baggage‘ cars? (You could do the same for the Niagara Run). There would be summer service potential here.

The ROW exists to the east side of Collingwood where industrial spurs were served. I believe an alignment remains as a foot path/utility easement towards the downtown but beyond that and out to the west has been built over. West of town it exists as the Georgian Rail Trail. I'm assuming you are referring to the former station at Craigleith, which stands as a library/museum/community place. Rail went close, but not to, what is now Blue Mountain Resort.

 

[ShonTron]

The ROW exists to the east side of Collingwood where industrial spurs were served. I believe an alignment remains as a foot path/utility easement towards the downtown but beyond that and out to the west has been built over. West of town it exists as the Georgian Rail Trail. I'm assuming you are referring to the former station at Craigleith, which stands as a library/museum/community place. Rail went close, but not to, what is now Blue Mountain Resort.

Yeah, the ROW is intact to with a few blocks of the downtown core, but the rails are gone across Hume Street, and impassable in several sections between the industrial park and Stayner, and even beyond.

It’s pretty much gone.

 

[reaperexpress]

One thing that may not address for bike couriers coming in from outside of the downtown core is that they may be using their bike/eBike for the last mile trip between home and the go train.

This is why there are more bicycles than people in the Netherlands. People have one bike to go to their local station, and store a second bike at the station near where they work.

 

[Northern Light]

Yeah, the ROW is intact to with a few blocks of the downtown core, but the rails are gone across Hume Street, and impassable in several sections between the industrial park and Stayner, and even beyond.

It’s pretty much gone.

I'm uncertain of your take here.

If simply one of realism, that a significant rebuild is required, fair enough.

But it reads as very dooms-day....lost cause.....

I think this proposal is one that makes business sense, if not strictly on the rails, on the overall tourism/economic platform.

We're spending billions on highways w/ lower theoretical returns.

 

[wopchop]

For what it's worth, Collingwood is expected to grow significantly over the next 20-30 years. And all those people will not all be working in Collingwood. Traffic and transit solutions will be required.

 

[afransen]

One thing that may not address for bike couriers coming in from outside of the downtown core is that they may be using their bike/eBike for the last mile trip between home and the go train.

Good point. The way the NLs addresses that is having a one bike for each end of the commute that is parked at the station.

 

[crs1026]

This is a good example of my issue with rail routes not being given enough consideration in urban planning.

If the town of Collingwood has not inserted a rail corridor in its official plan, it doesn't matter what dots could hypothetically be connected.... things will get built in the way and the corridor will likely never happen. Orangeville is another example.

I suspect most municipalities in this situation will assume that rail is never going to return and they are free to repurpose the old rail corridor. Plenty of examples where that has happened. So maybe a higher level of government has to impose some higher level plan. (Given that some governments of note are hugely accommodating to developer wishes.... this requires a level of self discipline that may be unrealistic....)

The other problem is that where the rail is today (or was) may create adverse impacts on the city's urban plan. Barrie is a good example - while the loss of the rail line to Orillia was incredibly unfortunate, Barrie's waterfront is much, much nicer today than if the tracks were still in use. So the urban plan for rail lines can't be imposed unilaterallly. And municipalities may have plenty of good reasons to wish the railway was gone.

The transport legislation is fairly stringent with regards to preservation of operating railways. But once the railway line reaches the point of land banking....those other uses tend to carry the day. Perhaps that's a good thing and the right balance exists. If so, then I think some of these interesting ideas for rescuscitating rail lines are fantasy and nothing more. It will be only the exceptional case that brings an old rail line back to life.

- Paul

 

[afransen]

This is a good example of my issue with rail routes not being given enough consideration in urban planning.

If the town of Collingwood has not inserted a rail corridor in its official plan, it doesn't matter what dots could hypothetically be connected.... things will get built in the way and the corridor will likely never happen. Orangeville is another example.

I suspect most municipalities in this situation will assume that rail is never going to return and they are free to repurpose the old rail corridor. Plenty of examples where that has happened. So maybe a higher level of government has to impose some higher level plan. (Given that some governments of note are hugely accommodating to developer wishes.... this requires a level of self discipline that may be unrealistic....)

The other problem is that where the rail is today (or was) may create adverse impacts on the city's urban plan. Barrie is a good example - while the loss of the rail line to Orillia was incredibly unfortunate, Barrie's waterfront is much, much nicer today than if the tracks were still in use. So the urban plan for rail lines can't be imposed unilaterallly. And municipalities may have plenty of good reasons to wish the railway was gone.

The transport legislation is fairly stringent with regards to preservation of operating railways. But once the railway line reaches the point of land banking....those other uses tend to carry the day. Perhaps that's a good thing and the right balance exists. If so, then I think some of these interesting ideas for rescuscitating rail lines are fantasy and nothing more. It will be only the exceptional case that brings an old rail line back to life.

- Paul

MTO should be reserving future passenger/freight rail ROWs, much as they do with highways.

 

[wopchop]

This is a good example of my issue with rail routes not being given enough consideration in urban planning.

Simcoe County should be leading the way.

It's not just Collingwood either. Stayner, Angus, Alliston, Tottenham. These places are going to see significant subdivision and growth. Simcoe County as a whole is expected to double in size in twenty years. Just like Collingwood, huge portions of people who will live there will be commuting out to to the Barrie area, or further south.

Georgian Bay itself has some popular tourist destinations: Blue Mountain, Craigleth, Scandinave Spa, Wasaga Beach, etc. A connection to the GTA could be pretty popular just like Niagara trains.

 

[Bureaucromancer]

Simcoe County should be leading the way.

It's not just Collingwood either. Stayner, Angus, Alliston, Tottenham. These places are going to see significant subdivision and growth. Simcoe County as a whole is expected to double in size in twenty years. Just like Collingwood, huge portions of people who will there will be commuting out to to the Barrie area, or further south.

Georgian Bay itself has some popular tourist destinations: Blue Mountain, Craigleth, Scandinave Spa, Wasaga Beach, etc. A connection to the GTA could be pretty popular just like Niagara trains.

Agreed, and to go a step further - this is one of my bigger concerns with the attempts to push out upper tier municipalities. There really are big picture planning issues that lower tiers are ill suited to handle, but even a limited and specialized upper tier that delegates most authority would be better at.

 

[reaperexpress]

The Barrie Collingwood railway also has a really good alignment. It's physically possible to upgrade the line to 160 km/h between towns, which means that a future GO train service could be much faster than driving. Which is not something that can be achieved with buses in such a rural context.