GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

[nfitz]

GO Transit's train tracking web application is now available for public use.

http://www.gotracker.ca/gotracker/web/

(Okay, well, it's been available for public use for months if you knew the URL but now it's being publicized....)

That's very cool - but not great for mobile use. I wish I could figure out how to get the URL for the pop-up for just particular stations, because that's all I need when travelling.

 

[leopetr]

GO Transit's train tracking web application is now available for public use.

http://www.gotracker.ca/gotracker/web/

(Okay, well, it's been available for public use for months if you knew the URL but now it's being publicized....)

Is there any word of a GO Bus tracking application?

The Stouffville GO bus is routinely 20 minutes late going counterpeak from Unionville in the afternoons, and it would be nice to know when to expect it.

 

[wolfewood]

Pretty nice, too bad about using it on my cell phone since that's about the only time I'd use it.

Random question about Acton, seeing it on the map and all. Anyone know a timeline for opening other than 2013? Everything is there except Presto readers and a station but I suspect they could replicate Greyhound in Guelph and use a pre-fab building until it's ready.

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

The following changes to The Big Move are proposed for adoption by the Board.

Two-way all day service on three route segments is pushed back from the 15-year to the 25-year plan:
Milton from Meadowvale to Milton
Kitchener from Mount Pleasant to Georgetown
Barrie from East Gwillimbury to Bradford
Add the word “electrified†to the Union Pearson Express description.
Move the GO Bolton and Havelock lines from the 15-year to the 25-year plan.
Advance the eastern section of the DRL from the 25-year to the 15-year plan.
Shorten the Richmond Hill GO extension from Aurora Road to Bloomington Road as per the conclusions in the EA for this line.

Update the Lakeshore route to reflect the Bowmanville via CPR recommended alignment from the EA.


This is nonsense No wonder TOareafan is mad.
http://stevemunro.ca/?p=7026#more-7026

 

[TOareaFan]

The following changes to The Big Move are proposed for adoption by the Board.

Two-way all day service on three route segments is pushed back from the 15-year to the 25-year plan:
Milton from Meadowvale to Milton
Kitchener from Mount Pleasant to Georgetown
Barrie from East Gwillimbury to Bradford
Add the word “electrified” to the Union Pearson Express description.
Move the GO Bolton and Havelock lines from the 15-year to the 25-year plan.
Advance the eastern section of the DRL from the 25-year to the 15-year plan.
Shorten the Richmond Hill GO extension from Aurora Road to Bloomington Road as per the conclusions in the EA for this line.

Update the Lakeshore route to reflect the Bowmanville via CPR recommended alignment from the EA.


This is nonsense No wonder TOareafan is mad.
http://stevemunro.ca/?p=7026#more-7026

What am I mad about (now)?

 

[smallspy]

Still the trip times on the Barrie line are longer relatively than they are on Lakeshore W. Per GO's website a trip from Allendale to Union takes nearly 2 hrs by train. While a trip from Hamilton to Union takes just over one hr, extrapolate that the remaining inner stations have similar differences in travel times. I simply can't see many people taking a 2 hr trip each way from Barrie (or any station in between for that matter) to spend time in Toronto (and when they do I'd bet they choose to drive) vs those along the Lakeshore W line who are more likely, in my opinion, to do just that. And will more likely choose transit over driving.

You expect a train to travel over 95km in the same amount of time as it does to travel 64km?

For the record, Hamilton is 64.2km by rail from Union, and Bradford is 66.8. Hamilton is scheduled for about an hour and 15 minutes, Bradford for an hour and 11. The timing looks fine to me.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

 

[nfitz]

That's very cool - but not great for mobile use. I wish I could figure out how to get the URL for the pop-up for just particular stations, because that's all I need when travelling.

Ah, I discovered if I point my Blackberry to http://www.gotracker.ca instead of http://www.gotracker.ca/gotracker/web/ then it automatically detects a mobile version of the site at http://www.gotracker.ca/gotracker/mobile/ which gives you the basic data for each station, without the graphics.

And from there, you can find links to each individual station. Danforth - http://www.gotracker.ca/GOTracker/mobile/StationStatus/Service/09/Station/12

Very useful!

 

[Woodbridge_Heights]

You expect a train to travel over 95km in the same amount of time as it does to travel 64km?

For the record, Hamilton is 64.2km by rail from Union, and Bradford is 66.8. Hamilton is scheduled for about an hour and 15 minutes, Bradford for an hour and 11. The timing looks fine to me.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

Yeah well the discussion was whether GO expansion/service increases should focus on the Lakeshore line, which currently has the highest ridership level and the highest service level, vs improvements to other lines on the system. The point made was that the Barrie line had/has such low ridership that weekend service was cancelled, therefore the implication being that based on performance of the Barrie line that all other lines should not get service improvements over Lakeshore (apparently until Lakshore gets all day 15 min service). The point I was trying to make was that the two lines have very different profiles, as you've illustrated the Hamilton line is 64 km while the Barrie line in 95 km. Even counting from Bradford which is 66 km the lines still pass through different regions, the lakeshore catchment area is more dense than Barrie's catchment.

So I say it's unfair to compare two so very different lines in GO's system and use that comparison to justify improvements on only one line over all others. For example the Milton, Kitchener, and even Stoufville line (especially if more stations were added in the 416 and TTC acknowledged Go's existence), pass through similarly dense areas that the lakeshore lines do and in fact have good ridership. To handicap those lines because of the performance of the Barrie line is dumb in my opinion, that's all I was trying to say.

Maybe I misunderstood the initial post that I responded to but that is how I interpreted the comment.

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

What am I mad about (now)?

Ho about 25 years (another 25) for all day service on georgetown.

This is simple proceed as going on lakeshore. and Hourly service to Bradford and back to Union. Go owns those tracks. This can be done in 3 years.

 

[TOareaFan]

Ho about 25 years (another 25) for all day service on georgetown.

This is simple proceed as going on lakeshore. and Hourly service to Bradford and back to Union. Go owns those tracks. This can be done in 3 years.

Don't they own the Gtown line too.....or most of it?

I expect that while full service for the entire length of the line may take 25 years, it will be gradual and full service will unroll at various times along that time spectrum.

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

Don't they own the Gtown line too.....or most of it?

I expect that while full service for the entire length of the line may take 25 years, it will be gradual and full service will unroll at various times along that time spectrum.

I think so. I shouldn't have sparred with you before. I get it now. Why does Ontario suck so bad when it comes to transit? This does not need 25 years. This can be done before 2020.

 

[wolfewood]

I think so. I shouldn't have sparred with you before. I get it now. Why does Ontario suck so bad when it comes to transit? This does not need 25 years. This can be done before 2020.

Because $$$. Seriously, no one wants to pay for it whether through increased taxes, fees (both tolls and fares) or loans.

 

[rbt]

I think so. I shouldn't have sparred with you before. I get it now. Why does Ontario suck so bad when it comes to transit? This does not need 25 years. This can be done before 2020.

Commuter rail problems seem to be a Canadian thing rather than something Ontario or Toronto specific.

AMT and WestCoast rail aren't very agressive either and both of those agencies receive significantly more operating funding per passenger than GO. AMT's 2-hour off-peak frequencies isn't much better than no service at all.


Metra (Chicago) blows the pants off all of 'em for service but only makes about 60% higher ridership than GO; Metra serves 300k passengers per day on trains versus GO's 175k. GO has a much higher growth rate (6% versus 1% for Metra).

 

[TOareaFan]

Because $$$. Seriously, no one wants to pay for it whether through increased taxes, fees (both tolls and fares) or loans.

Only two suggestions get me mad/frustrated.

1). That we can't afford all day service on the main parts of the KW/Gtown line. The truly expensive part (the roadblock thrown our way for over 20 years) has/is being done. By 2015, the line will be capable of carrying the required service due to the combo of Union upgrades/Strachan crossing/west diamond/and improved tracks and overpasses. Failure to deliver that full service at that time is, in a way, "wasting" all that money ; and/or

2). The notion that we somehow can afford 30 minute offpeak on Lakeshore but we can't afford bringing this line to current Lakeshore levels.

 

[Platform 27]

Ho about 25 years (another 25) for all day service on georgetown.

I think you're completely misreading both Steve's post and the Metrolinx document he linked to. There were a smattering of discrepancies between GO's plans and Metrolinx's plans from before the two sides merged. GO's plan had said let's have all day service on that line running as far as Mt. Pleasant in the medium term, and Metrolinx's plan had said have it as far as Georgetown in the medium term. What I got out of that Metrolinx document is that now that they've come to an opportunity to match the plans up with one another, the old GO position is prevailing. The piece that's left between the two stations gets punted to the longer-term list.