GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

[denfromoakvillemilton]

^why the sudden interest in the social structure of my family?

Just Curious. I hear the same thing from lots of people as to why they can spend an hour - 90 minutes but can't live in the city they work in.

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

As an aside, I want to make it clear they aren't hiring new people just for lakeshore, otherwise the press release would have said so and Metrolinx would be bragging everywhere about "creating jobs"

 

[TOareaFan]

Just Curious. I hear the same thing from lots of people as to why they can spend an hour - 90 minutes but can't live in the city they work in.

I could live in the city, but on days when I don't use the car at all (ie bus to GO to office) it currently takes me about 5 minutes less time to get to work than my co-worker who lives at DVP sheppard...so I see little value there. Like I said, either my wife or I would commute...we pick me....thanks for the concern

We have deep family ties in Brampton, family members have been born and died in our former hospital, we have roots....it is home....and, as I said, my commute is not that bad.....just restrictive in terms of train schedules.

 

[TOareaFan]

Remember Milton was nothing until 10years ago. Brampton fine, and Mississauga had lakeshore. I think the problem is GO caters to the richer communities along lakeshore and for some reason feels the other lines current ridership don't justify that? I disagree though.

Well if GO caters only for the rich we have much deeper problem than could have been imagined. The superior transit links to the city are part of the Location/Location/Location formula that drives their house prices higher (average home price in Oakville is about double Brampton)...it is not the only factor but it is a factor....so by continually increasing the relative gap in those transit links, the government of Ontario is, quite literally, taxing people in Brampton (insert whatever community you like, I pick mine) in order to increase the wealth of people in Oakville (again, just the one I pick when I have this conversation with friends....a lot of whom live in Oakville).

Who knew the Ontario government was a reverse Robin Hood? Katherine Wynne....steals from the poor and gives to the rich!

BTW...while I believe in that wealth transfer theory I present above, I should say I don't feel particularly poor.

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

Well if GO caters only for the rich we have much deeper problem than could have been imagined. The superior transit links to the city are part of the Location/Location/Location formula that drives their house prices higher (average home price in Oakville is about double Brampton)...it is not the only factor but it is a factor....so by continually increasing the relative gap in those transit links, the government of Ontario is, quite literally, taxing people in Brampton (insert whatever community you like, I pick mine) in order to increase the wealth of people in Oakville (again, just the one I pick when I have this conversation with friends....a lot of whom live in Oakville).

Who knew the Ontario government was a reverse Robin Hood? Katherine Wynne....steals from the poor and gives to the rich!

BTW...while I believe in that wealth transfer theory I present above, I should say I don't feel particularly poor.

That's what I mean. I mean if you live in Oakville or Whitby and have this off peak service, what is the point of having a car? Home price will continue to rise, Just like in South York with the Subway, and North Peel is neglected. I guess because of current ridership and money(I think this is number one, they want more rides)

 

[TFC]

If you live elsewhere, you can wait 15 years for what we deem is not good enough near the lake today."

This is not favouritism towards the Lakeshore Line. It's a matter of the infrastructure, crews and vehicles being in place/ready to go. The people at GO would love to add trains to the Milton line but there's one issue: CP. GO would love to add more trains to Barrie but: it's largely single tracked (Teston siding has come about in the last little while), and the line isn't even fully signalized from Barrie-Parkdale. GO would love to add more trains to Kitchener but we have the GTS project. GO has been adding more service to Stouffville but again, it's constrained by having one track. Richmond Hill's numbers aren't raising red flags about adding service, so nothing is being done there.

This isn't Soviet Russia, where every line must recieve the same service regardless of its factors. This isn't favouritism towards Lakeshore East/West. It's a matter of the infrastructure being in place, crews available and $$ in the budget to carry this out.

. I think the problem is GO caters to the richer communities along lakeshore and for some reason feels the other lines current ridership don't justify that? I disagree though.

That's nonsense. GO caters to ridership levels, cost:recovery ratios, and available infrastructure to run the service.

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

This is not favouritism towards the Lakeshore Line. It's a matter of the infrastructure, crews and vehicles being in place/ready to go. The people at GO would love to add trains to the Milton line but there's one issue: CP. GO would love to add more trains to Barrie but: it's largely single tracked (Teston siding has come about in the last little while), and the line isn't even fully signalized from Barrie-Parkdale. GO would love to add more trains to Kitchener but we have the GTS project. GO has been adding more service to Stouffville but again, it's constrained by having one track. Richmond Hill's numbers aren't raising red flags about adding service, so nothing is being done there.

This isn't Soviet Russia, where every line must recieve the same service regardless of its factors. This isn't favouritism towards Lakeshore East/West. It's a matter of the infrastructure being in place, crews available and $$ in the budget to carry this out.



That's nonsense. GO caters to ridership levels, cost:recovery ratios, and available infrastructure to run the service.

It is favoritism. Laying track is not expensive. Hiring people is but on lakeshore they are just making everyone work longer hours. There is no reason why these other lines don't have all day service. And frankly Lakeshore has does have higher ridership like you said so they can make money there. They are scared of the low ridership of everywhere but the Milton and Lakeshore lines. And Milton is occupied by CP.

 

[nfitz]

Would have to dig through some dusty boxes to get the date....I would guess that meeting would have been +/- 20 years ago but you are testing my memory....does the timing of him being at that meeting have some relevance? or just curious?

I thought Gary McNeil had been at GO for less than 15 years.

Whatever the reason, what value do their promises have?

The promises are only as good as the politicians behind them. I'm not sure how staff would be in any place to make promises.

I am surprised that you are surprised. Everyone pays into GO through their taxes. So the juxtaposition of articles saying "X" won't get off peak service for 15 - 20 years and articles saying "Y" will have its offpeak service doubled has got to get all the "X"s raising spokian eyebrows....no?

Not when it turns out that the article is talking about Guelph not getting off-peak service for 15-20 years, rather than Brampton.

 

[TOareaFan]

I thought Gary McNeil had been at GO for less than 15 years.

Like I said....that particular promise/comment/conversation may only be 15 years old...i would have to dig into (well find first) a very old box of letters/correspondence (I recall we had a bit of back and forth via letter after his comments).

EDIT...just looked it up....He has led GO Transit since 1999....Robertson was in office until 2000....and the "Summit" he hosted was within his last year in office so that makes sense....so that correspondence is about 14 years....not sure I said it was 25 years ago...but if I did I was wrong.

The promises are only as good as the politicians behind them. I'm not sure how staff would be in any place to make promises.

Not when it turns out that the article is talking about Guelph not getting off-peak service for 15-20 years, rather than Brampton.

But nor does the article say there will be all day service in Brampton any sooner....just "added service"

 

[TOareaFan]

This is not favouritism towards the Lakeshore Line. It's a matter of the infrastructure, crews and vehicles being in place/ready to go. The people at GO would love to add trains to the Milton line but there's one issue: CP. GO would love to add more trains to Barrie but: it's largely single tracked (Teston siding has come about in the last little while), and the line isn't even fully signalized from Barrie-Parkdale. GO would love to add more trains to Kitchener but we have the GTS project. GO has been adding more service to Stouffville but again, it's constrained by having one track. Richmond Hill's numbers aren't raising red flags about adding service, so nothing is being done there.

I know you are new here (at least as a poster) so you may not have been part of the pages of conversation about what they plan for the KW line after the GTS project is complete. Relative to the pre-construction/pre-spending of $1.2B...it is 5 extra return trips.

When you ask them when that line (to any point in the line) will get all day service the answer is quite clear in its vagueness....there are no plans, maybe some day...be patient.....and that is the corridor that they themselves describe as the second highest density in the region....with large population centres and some pretty significant ridership drivers along the way....so (given a bit of time with a decent schedule) there is no reason to expect/assume that ridership and cost recovery would not be very significant.

 

[nfitz]

But nor does the article say there will be all day service in Brampton any sooner....just "added service"

6 months ago, Metrolinx wouldn't commit to all-day Lakeshore service in any particular time-frame either. Just more shoulder trips, with the ultimate intent of increasing service. And yet here we are.

If you want this, you need to lobby those who have power to do something. And I don't think any Metrolinx/GO staff fit that bill. I wrote Wynne more than once begging for increased Lakeshore service when she was Transport minister.

 

[TOareaFan]

6 months ago, Metrolinx wouldn't commit to all-day Lakeshore service in any particular time-frame either. Just more shoulder trips, with the ultimate intent of increasing service. And yet here we are.

If you want this, you need to lobby those who have power to do something. And I don't think any Metrolinx/GO staff fit that bill. I wrote Wynne more than once begging for increased Lakeshore service when she was Transport minister.

My files of letter include every MPP I have ever had represent me.....every minister of transport since I was interested in GO, every mayor that has been the Mayor of Brampton and newspapers/etc for media.

My current MPP actually shocked me with a couple of things said...one was the "don't believe the Mayor" comment see previous discussion and the other one was (in response to a very detailed email I wrote her on ideas I had about the corridor, why it was important and what should be done)...this, remember, is an MPP that has been a Queen's Park since 2003...so 10 years into representing a riding with a serious underserving of GO trains (whether you agree with what I have been saying or not up to now that is probably a point we can agree on...regardless of priorities there is something wrong when a city 40k from Toronto with a population of 500k has this sort of rail service)....so 10 years later her response was "I'll be candid I have limited knowledge regarding many of your suggestions "....she has paid no attention to the GO/transit file as it relates to Brampton and the only thing that I can say in her defense is.....no one has.

I am pretty settled in my career and have gotten into a commuting rythm that works for me (whether it is the days I drive or the days I leave the car in the garage).......so there really is not much in it for me personally and, after 25 years of being ignored I am probably close to the end of the days of lobbying/pitching/complaining.....but the situation really is abysmal on an overall basis.

 

[nfitz]

...but the situation really is abysmal on an overall basis.

And yet they are spending into the $billions to improve infrastructure to move to full day service on that line, with a significant service increase scheduled in 2 years, and commitments to then further increase service, and even electrify.

Sure, it's not as fast as we want. It never is ... with the rare exception (the Eglinton Crosstown seemed to happen very fast compared to many projects). But it is going in the right direction. It certainly sounds like you've gone above and beyond to push for this!

 

[BMO]

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/04/19/go_trains_to_run_every_30_minutes_all_day_on_lakeshore_lines.html

GO trains to run every 30 minutes all day on Lakeshore lines

In the largest single service expansion of its 44-year history, GO transit is increasing train service along the lakeshore — from Oshawa to Aldershot — to every 30 minutes, seven days a week....

 

[M II A II R II K]

Now if only it can also travel at a decent speed and not some crappy 70 kph.