GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

[nfitz]

Is there any plan to create any infrastructure such as a TTC bus drop off/loop for a re-routed 63 or other service at the north side of Exhibition post-tunnel?

No, but it's only a short walk. I do it frequently. And bus down there wouldn't really have anywhere to turn. Might as well just wait until that new road is built along the tracks.

Ummmm....

A lot of work was completed, but for some reason they never started building the tunnel itself. I'm guessing they had some issue. There's a lot of contaminated land around there.

 

[dowlingm]

thanks for the link there - was scouting around for info on that but wasn't using the right searches.

 

[nfitz]

The Barrie summer (June 29/2013) schedule is up - http://www.gotransit.com/public/en/updates/seasonal2013/Table65.pdf

GO has changed their website to show that the new Lakeshore schedules are now late-May instead of mid-May, and the Niagara Falls service now says early June. Some of the Durham schedules are up as well - see http://www.gotransit.com/public/en/updates/durhamchanges.aspx

The Barrie schedule is very different than last summer (which is available at http://web.archive.org/web/20120904...ot/en/PDF/Timetables/CurrentBoard/Table65.pdf)

Instead of 2 trains to/from Barrie and 4 trains to/from East Gwillimbury there is a much simpler schedule of 4 trains from Barrie. And the GO Bus schedule has been completely rearranged to feed the GO Trains rather than compete with them. Looks like a significant improvement! Though ironic (like last year)that you can catch a train from Barrie to Toronto on Saturday/Sunday evening but not Friday evening. I'd have thought a simply running the late Saturday/Sunday train on Friday's as well would have worked well with this.

Still, it's a step forward. Should be year-round. And should be done on all lines!

 

[nfitz]

The Lakeshore and Niagara Falls schedules are out.

Lakeshore West - http://www.gotransit.com/public/en/updates/30minute/Table01.pdf
Lakeshore East - http://gotransit.com/public/en/updates/30minute/Table09.pdf
Niagara - http://gotransit.com/public/en/updates/seasonal2013/Table12.pdf

The Lakeshore increases are pretty much as advertised. 30-minute mid-day and evening service, except the last run on weekdays and Saturdays. No Saturday/Sunday morning 30-minute service and no Sunday evening 30-minute service. The only surprise I see is that there is still a bit of an AM service gap eastbound on Lakeshore East, with stop everywhere trains arriving at Union at 06:50, 07:15, 07:30, 08:08, 08:42, 09:10. I'd have thought they'd have at least had the 07:38 (which would become 07:50) adding stops. Similarly in the evening, arrivals are at 16:41, 17:11, 17:27, 18:21, 18:41, 1905. I'd have thought the 17:45 would stop everywhere (becoming 17:59). Still other than these small quibbles (which hopefully will be resolved in the future as more equipment and crews are available), it's a massive service increase. Between Oakville and Pickering, this is the first major off-peak service increase in evenings and weekends since September 1967!

The Niagara service is similar to 2012 except that and extra early Saturday/Sunday run from Niagara Falls to Toronto has been added at 8 AM. I bet some people would love to see that train on weekdays!

 

[UWGrad09]

There's also a gap on Lakeshore West, heading eastbound from Aldershot. On weekdays a train leaves at 4:36pm (getting to Union at 5:41) and then not again until 5:31pm (getting to Union at 6:41). That's the gap that I was most looking forward to filling, as for a 7 o'clock hcokey/baseball game, the first train is quite early, while the second train is a little too close to the start time. I'd imagine it has to do with train availability during rush hour.

 

[nfitz]

There's also a gap on Lakeshore West, heading eastbound from Aldershot. On weekdays a train leaves at 4:36pm (getting to Union at 5:41) and then not again until 5:31pm (getting to Union at 6:41). That's the gap that I was most looking forward to filling, as for a 7 o'clock hcokey/baseball game, the first train is quite early, while the second train is a little too close to the start time.

Ah yes, that's unfortunate. The missing train only starts in Oakville. Now they did add stops on the 5:31 to fill some other holes ... so they appear to be conscious of these issues.

I'd imagine it has to do with train availability during rush hour.

I'd think that is the issue. And I'd think some very targeted complaining about these gaps would help fill them sooner than later.

 

[andrewpmk]

30 minute service... except Exhibition in rush hour. Most trains still skip this stop in rush hour, even though there has been a lot of condo development near here which ought to increase demand. Also some of the other local stops in rush hour have service less frequent than 30 minutes, as does reverse peak service on Lakeshore West in the morning, and 1 gap in reverse peak service in the afternoon on both Lakeshore East and West. So the service at certain stops is actually worse in rush hour than off peak.

It seems that the next priority ought to be to provide 15 minute to all stations in rush hour, including reverse commute service and stations skipped by express trains. Having worse service in rush hour than off peak makes no sense, and I do not understand why Lakeshore West has worse reverse commute service than Lakeshore East (surely the demand on the former is higher due to people working in Mississauga/Oakville?)

 

[gweed123]

I'd think that is the issue. And I'd think some very targeted complaining about these gaps would help fill them sooner than later.

With such a massive bump in service, there's bound to be some hole somewhere. I'm sure that there will be some tweaks coming in the coming months. I do like the fact that by and large the existing train trips were kept at the same time, so it's easy most of the time to extrapolate when the new trip is (ex: Lakeshore West trains usually left Union on the 43s, now they also leave on the 13s).

 

[nfitz]

30 minute service... except Exhibition in rush hour. Most trains still skip this stop in rush hour, even though there has been a lot of condo development near here which ought to increase demand.

To be fair, service to Exhibition has significantly increased over the years. PM peak trains all stop here (except expresses that also skip Mimico, Long Branch, and Port Credit). And all the westbound AM peak trains stop here. It's only the eastbound AM peak trains at 7:38 AM and earlier that skip this stop. This schedule eliminated the last of the PM trains skipping Exhibition.

Also some of the other local stops in rush hour have service less frequent than 30 minutes, as does reverse peak service on Lakeshore West in the morning, and 1 gap in reverse peak service in the afternoon on both Lakeshore East and West. So the service at certain stops is actually worse in rush hour than off peak.

That's what I was trying to point out in my overly verbose post.

It seems that the next priority ought to be to provide 15 minute to all stations in rush hour, including reverse commute service and stations skipped by express trains. Having worse service in rush hour than off peak makes no sense, and I do not understand why Lakeshore West has worse reverse commute service than Lakeshore East (surely the demand on the former is higher due to people working in Mississauga/Oakville?)

Agreed, though I'd settle for 30 minutes initally, and then 20 minutes. At 30 minutes instead of 60 minutes (particularly for travel from Lakeshore West to Lakeshore East rather than to Union), suddenly you don't have to worry about the schedule as much.

I do like the fact that by and large the existing train trips were kept at the same time, so it's easy most of the time to extrapolate when the new trip is (ex: Lakeshore West trains usually left Union on the 43s, now they also leave on the 13s).

Indeed. Though there are still some odd off-peak exceptions to watch for ... such as the westbound Lakeshore East on weekdays arriving at 14:41, 15:11, 15:31, 16:11, 16:41, 17:11. Really, there isn't a way to delay that 15:31 arrival by 10 minutes?

 

[TOareaFan]

I'd think that is the issue. And I'd think some very targeted complaining about these gaps would help fill them sooner than later.

if the issue is train shortages how will complaining, well targetted or not, change the number of trains?

 

[nfitz]

if the issue is train shortages how will complaining, well targetted or not, change the number of trains?

They can purchase more rolling stock.

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

30 minute service... except Exhibition in rush hour. Most trains still skip this stop in rush hour, even though there has been a lot of condo development near here which ought to increase demand. Also some of the other local stops in rush hour have service less frequent than 30 minutes, as does reverse peak service on Lakeshore West in the morning, and 1 gap in reverse peak service in the afternoon on both Lakeshore East and West. So the service at certain stops is actually worse in rush hour than off peak.

It seems that the next priority ought to be to provide 15 minute to all stations in rush hour, including reverse commute service and stations skipped by express trains. Having worse service in rush hour than off peak makes no sense, and I do not understand why Lakeshore West has worse reverse commute service than Lakeshore East (surely the demand on the former is higher due to people working in Mississauga/Oakville?)

The streetcar goes to the same union station

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

the lakeshore and niagara falls schedules are out.

Lakeshore west - http://www.gotransit.com/public/en/updates/30minute/table01.pdf
lakeshore east - http://gotransit.com/public/en/updates/30minute/table09.pdf
niagara - http://gotransit.com/public/en/updates/seasonal2013/table12.pdf

the lakeshore increases are pretty much as advertised. 30-minute mid-day and evening service, except the last run on weekdays and saturdays. No saturday/sunday morning 30-minute service and no sunday evening 30-minute service. The only surprise i see is that there is still a bit of an am service gap eastbound on lakeshore east, with stop everywhere trains arriving at union at 06:50, 07:15, 07:30, 08:08, 08:42, 09:10. I'd have thought they'd have at least had the 07:38 (which would become 07:50) adding stops. Similarly in the evening, arrivals are at 16:41, 17:11, 17:27, 18:21, 18:41, 1905. I'd have thought the 17:45 would stop everywhere (becoming 17:59). Still other than these small quibbles (which hopefully will be resolved in the future as more equipment and crews are available), it's a massive service increase. Between oakville and pickering, this is the first major off-peak service increase in evenings and weekends since september 1967!

The niagara service is similar to 2012 except that and extra early saturday/sunday run from niagara falls to toronto has been added at 8 am. I bet some people would love to see that train on weekdays!

yes! I guess this will be extended to Hamilton when the new station opens in 18 months!

 

[andrewpmk]

The streetcar goes to the same union station

Not everyone works at Union Station. There are a number of office buildings and quite a few new condos north of Exhibition, the streetcar is useless for people working in those office buildings who come from the western suburbs. What other station in the GO train system has hardly any service for most of AM rush hour?

 

[TOareaFan]

What other station in the GO train system has hardly any service for most of AM rush hour?

it depends what time you define "a.m. Rush Hour". But my 7 - 9:30 definition sees 8 trains service this station during that time......give me a few minutes and I'll try and think of a few stations that don't see 8 trains in the a.m rush.