GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

[nfitz]

Also consider that with the Spadina Subway extension, options for high order transit aren't that far away from these neighbourhoods.

Spadina? It's 8 km from Highway 27 to Spadina. And most of the buses go up Highway 50. That's 10 km away. It's still 5.5 km from the Bolton GO line at 7 (which is heading northwest there).

The 407 Park and Ride, depending on the pricing scheme, could totally cannibalize GO ridership.

It might slow it's growth ... but I doubt it would reduce the current ridership.

 

[Platform 27]

I think that GO should try running an O-Train style DMU service on that corridor between Mt. Dennis and Bolton, or at least Woodbridge. The reason why I suggest Mt. Dennis is because once the ECLRT is there and the Georgetown corridor is electrified, it's going to be a pretty major hub. By ending it there, you give passengers the option of transferring onto several pretty major routes (Brampton-Markham GO REX for a trip to Union, ECLRT for a trip elsewhere), but don't add any more train trips into Union itself. Besides, south of Mt. Dennis it would just be an unnecessary duplication of service.

Heck, by that time Ottawa will likely be in the process of electrifying the N-S LRT (the current O-Train line), so GO may even be able to just use those vehicles and repaint them.

Two problems.

1) Under the present regulatory environment, neither the current Talent nor the future Corradia DMUs could run on a heavily-used CP freight track.

2) Switching from a locomotive-pulled train to a DMU doesn't change the amount of track time the passenger service would be eating from the freight owner, and thus has no impact on the biggest costs for launching a service: how much CP would charge for running rights and how much extra track and other infrastructure that CP would require to be built.

 

[DavidH]

Some Durham Region GO changes coming at the end of June in conjunction with the launch of DRT's new Pulse "BRT light" service. This is from the 2013 Durham Region Transit Servicing Study, which is part of the Durham budget process:

- Route 94 discontinued and replaced by the Pulse service.
- 96 continues
- 95 renamed 92 and rerouted to Yorkdale, still serving as semi-express service,
- new route 98 Pickering/Finch between Pickering GO and Finch, serving Highway 2 from Liverpool to Fairport before going on 401.
- An accessible transfer stop will be set up at the between Whites and Liverpool. No word of any frequency changes to 96.

So GO will remain in the corridor with the primary route 92 going to Yorkdale and the new 98 providing a transfer option, plus service to Pickering GO, from Finch. The apparent loss is that any travel from east of Liverpool to Finch will require a transfer.

Related is that the DRT-GO "one fare anywhere" agreement will be discontinued for the Highway 2 corridor, so these routes will no longer accept DRT fares, although GO routes 71/81/88/90/91 will continue to do so.

 

[Voltz]

Some Durham Region GO changes coming at the end of June in conjunction with the launch of DRT's new Pulse "BRT light" service. This is from the 2013 Durham Region Transit Servicing Study, which is part of the Durham budget process:

- Route 94 discontinued and replaced by the Pulse service.
- 96 continues
- 95 renamed 92 and rerouted to Yorkdale, still serving as semi-express service,
- new route 98 Pickering/Finch between Pickering GO and Finch, serving Highway 2 from Liverpool to Fairport before going on 401.
- An accessible transfer stop will be set up at the between Whites and Liverpool. No word of any frequency changes to 96.

So GO will remain in the corridor with the primary route 92 going to Yorkdale and the new 98 providing a transfer option, plus service to Pickering GO, from Finch. The apparent loss is that any travel from east of Liverpool to Finch will require a transfer.

Related is that the DRT-GO "one fare anywhere" agreement will be discontinued for the Highway 2 corridor, so these routes will no longer accept DRT fares, although GO routes 71/81/88/90/91 will continue to do so.

I have been trying to find the stop locations for the DRT Pulse service, any idea what they are or where I could find out?

And I still haven't heard anything about Presto being compatible with the one fare anywhere agreement on GO buses, I'm assuming there still are no plans for this?

 

[ShonTron]

Some Durham Region GO changes coming at the end of June in conjunction with the launch of DRT's new Pulse "BRT light" service. This is from the 2013 Durham Region Transit Servicing Study, which is part of the Durham budget process:

- Route 94 discontinued and replaced by the Pulse service.
- 96 continues
- 95 renamed 92 and rerouted to Yorkdale, still serving as semi-express service,
- new route 98 Pickering/Finch between Pickering GO and Finch, serving Highway 2 from Liverpool to Fairport before going on 401.
- An accessible transfer stop will be set up at the between Whites and Liverpool. No word of any frequency changes to 96.

So GO will remain in the corridor with the primary route 92 going to Yorkdale and the new 98 providing a transfer option, plus service to Pickering GO, from Finch. The apparent loss is that any travel from east of Liverpool to Finch will require a transfer.

Related is that the DRT-GO "one fare anywhere" agreement will be discontinued for the Highway 2 corridor, so these routes will no longer accept DRT fares, although GO routes 71/81/88/90/91 will continue to do so.

Will DRT Pulse continue to Scarborough Centre? I read somewhere that it will only go to UTSC.

 

[DavidH]

I have been trying to find the stop locations for the DRT Pulse service, any idea what they are or where I could find out?

And I still haven't heard anything about Presto being compatible with the one fare anywhere agreement on GO buses, I'm assuming there still are no plans for this?

Stop locations will at least initially be the same stops that GO 94 serves, more or less. The "more or less" is that DRT is suggesting they may remove some stops to ensure good service performance.

As for Presto/One Fare Anywhere, I believe (but would need to confirm) that they are waiting for PRESTO software updates to accomodate this. This is one of the reasons that apparently explains why DRT still hasn't fully implemented PRESTO.

 

[DavidH]

Will DRT Pulse continue to Scarborough Centre? I read somewhere that it will only go to UTSC.

UTSC only. GO and DRT will have a transfer location somewhere between Liverpool and Whites Road, so that people heading further inbound can change to GO, and of course people at major stop locations will be able to take the new 92 or 98 routes, both of should serve Scarborough Centre.

I really don't see this arrangement working well, though. I think there are going to be a lot of unhappy people come June.

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

The original post and my edits

• Meadowvale Station on the Milton GO line
• Mount Pleasant Station on the Kitchener GO line
• East Gwillimbury Station on the Barrie GO line
• Richmond Hill Station on the Richmond Hill GO line
• Mount Joy Station on the Stouffville GO line

Ok, I like what I see, and I would like to get closer to the :30 min LIRR/NJT/MNRR that the vaunted NYC has, but he's what I wanted

• Guelph Station on the Georgetown GO line - Extending to just Mount Pleasant does nothing for the masses in North Halton. Calling the line Kitchener when it gets just 4 (future 6?) trains is confusing.
• Bradford Station on the Barrie Line - Barrie is too far to have consistent service despite the fact go owns the line. Bradford brings in Simcoe and one more stop is not a lot to ask.
• Gormley Station on the Richmond Hill GO Line - Get the new users to the new station now. But you can't have that and the yonge subway line. Choose One. Or give Mississauga the Sherway-Dundas extension of the Bloor Danforth as well.
• Stouffville Station on the Stouffville GO Line - Come on, one more station, it's not that far, it's not asking a lot.

Any thoughts?

Here is the press release and cost

http://www.bigmove.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/MEDIA-RELEASE-The-Big-Move-final-11-29-0657.pdf

http://www.bigmove.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/TBM_NextWaveProject-GO-Rail-Service-Expansion.pdf

 

[APTA-2048]

UTSC only. GO and DRT will have a transfer location somewhere between Liverpool and Whites Road, so that people heading further inbound can change to GO, and of course people at major stop locations will be able to take the new 92 or 98 routes, both of should serve Scarborough Centre.

I really don't see this arrangement working well, though. I think there are going to be a lot of unhappy people come June.

Definitely from those who live east of Fairport and currently have a one-seat ride to Scarborough and Yorkdale.

 

[Komiksulo]

I've been thinking about this ever since GO Route 69 through Sutton was replaced by YRT Route 50.

They say that GO may not duplicate local service running along the same route. But GO doesn't! GO is an interregional service whose very purpose is to take people between regions. It would make sense for GO route 94 to continue, even if it served the same stops as Pulse in Durham... because it doesn't serve just Durham. It's part of an integrated network covering the whole GTA and beyond.

I used to travel from Brampton to Whitby. I did this via GO, and only needed one ticket. If I were to do this after the Pulse bus starts, I'd have to break my journey at least once to transfer to a different carrier. How is this improving things? It might make more sense for the Pulse bus to be part of GO...

 

[ShonTron]

I'm wondering how much longer routes 34 and 35 will last in their current form. GO was quick to withdraw and reallocate their services in York and now Durham, but Brampton is the land that GO Transit forgot. Those two routes replicate Brampton Transit/BT Zum routes closely for many origin/destination pairs (Brampton, Bramalea City Centre, Humber College, Pearson Airport. Route 35 now is only really useful if your destination is Yorkdale or somewhere in that area of Toronto, Woodbine Mall, or Belfield Road. Pearson Airport and the airport industrial lands are better (and more cheaply) reached by BT services from Brampton, or TTC from the east. Humber College has express routes from Brampton, Mississauga and Toronto, so the only reason to take GO to/from there is to save some time to Yorkdale/York Mills or connect to Georgetown or Durham Region. Routes 32, 33 and 36 at least are express to North York, I would have bumped those up (along with the 31 Union Station service) while phasing out the locals.

 

[DavidH]

I've been thinking about this ever since GO Route 69 through Sutton was replaced by YRT Route 50.
They say that GO may not duplicate local service running along the same route. But GO doesn't! GO is an interregional service whose very purpose is to take people between regions. It would make sense for GO route 94 to continue, even if it served the same stops as Pulse in Durham... because it doesn't serve just Durham. It's part of an integrated network covering the whole GTA and beyond.

Nonetheless, the Durham portion of 94 IS a local service, run with equipment not suited to local service. Have you seen how long a stop takes on a full bus with standees?

I'm entirely in favour of eliminating 94 in its current form in favour of DRT taking over the route, and GO spending the money on other interregional services in the corridor.

The major problem with the current plan is that DRT is only going to UTSC, not to Scarborough Town Centre. Eventually they will have to go to STC - Metrolinx is certainly talking about the route going there in the future - but the day one implementation of the BRT is not going to the de-facto regional transit hub in its destination region.

I've seen a statement on CPTDB that route 96 will go to all-day service. I'm not sure what the source for this information is, but if true it will also help greatly by providing a fast (faster than the 94) all-day connection from Durham GO stations to STC and Finch.

If we were seeing Pulse going to STC, all day route 96, and the planned 92/98 services, I think it would work well once the adjustments are made. But Pulse is NOT going to STC, and that's going to force an additional transfer for many who do not live close to one of the stops route 92 (current 95 redirected to Yorkdale) will make.

 

[wolfewood]

Assuming GO Transit will be reducing bus service in Durham and eventually Brampton as regional and local transit improves and picks up the slack, I'd like to see some service move west toward Wellington and Waterloo region. In particular it certainly wouldn't hurt to set up a few routes between Guelph and both the smaller places in Wellington County and Kitchener/Waterloo/Cambridge.

The new train service is nice but if we're going to bring Waterloo and Wellington under the GO Transit umbrella we need better bus service to complement pretty bare bones rail service. Besides I think there'd be some demand for inter-regional transit, there are about 650,000 people in this area, give or take (wiki numbers for Guelph Metro area and Waterloo regional population) and growing pretty quick, if sprawled out.

 

[M II A II R II K]

GO launches new Quiet Zones on Barrie trains

Read More: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/02/05/go_launches_new_quiet_zones_on_barrie_trains.html


GO Transit is kicking off what’s believed to be the first Toronto-area experiment in quiet commuting. Starting Feb. 11, the upper level of most southbound and northbound Barrie trains will be designated Quiet Zones .

That means muted cellphones, tablets and laptops, and ear phones that don’t bleed noise. Signs will be posted to indicate the low-volume areas. The three-month pilot is in response to ongoing requests from GO passengers, said Metrolinx spokeswoman Anne Marie Aikins.

“We differ from TTC passengers. You’re on the train for a significant period of time. People want to use that time to either sleep or work,†she said. Barrie to Union riders spend a scheduled 93 minutes on the train, often in the pitch darkness of early morning.

.....

 

[RandomBusGuy]

While I like the idea of having quiet zones on GO Trains I find it strange that it's by level instead of by coach. Maybe it's just because I'm used to the quiet coaches in the UK, but I would have thought it would make sense to have say the two cars on either side of the accessibility coach (to be away from the noise of the horn) be zoned quiet and the rest are normal. That way noise from the lower levels isn't making it's way upstairs. Advertise that it is the quiet coach beside the doors, so people know what it is right away and can choose whether or they want that.

Also, earphones that don't bleed noise and quiet laptops and tablets are just being polite. People shouldn't have those too loud anywhere on public transit.