GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

[andrewpmk]

Huge traffic jams on Lake Shore and other places causes by the "Ride for Heart" Gardiner and DVP closure today.

All GO bus service to Union Station was discontinued between 9am and 2:30pm. There were a few Metrolinx employees telling confused passengers where to go.

The disruption by this event is unacceptable and this needs to be discontinued. I can't imagine that Metrolinx is very happy about having to shut down GO bus service for a large part of a day.

 

[robmausser]

Let me know how you feel about it when you have a heart attack.

 

[Kitsune]

... I tend to have one every time this year when I look out the windows and see all the cyclists on the gardiner.

 

[andrewpmk]

These charities need to find an alternative way of raising money that does not involve extremely disruptive road closures. I don't think that the amount of money this event raises is all that large, and my guess is that the Heart and Stroke Foundation could find a way to replace the funding, or perhaps city council should just donate money to them in exchange for cancelling this event. The traffic congestion caused by "Ride for Heart" is so severe that the damage caused by the economy when thousands of people decide to not go downtown may well exceed the amount of money it generates. Lake Shore Blvd was gridlocked far more than it would be in rush hour. If it gets to the point that Metrolinx is forced to shut down GO bus service to Union Station then Metrolinx must be very unhappy about this. I am not aware of any other city that has any similar event because shutting down major expressways for no reason is a really bad idea. I would worry that emergency vehicles could get stuck in traffic because of this.

 

[steveintoronto]

GO appears to want a double flyover at Mount Pleasant - well worth the cost if we are also looking at HFR/HSR on this line.

Interesting. It would appear to make no sense to half do it. It's good to read that there's some degree of planning, albeit I still scratch my head wondering how the Brampton bottleneck can be addressed.

I'm merely illustrating the typical pattern - it's not set in stone.

As always, an excellent aid to visualizing what is and what can be. Nothing like a schematic (map) to simplify understanding how something works. Many thanks for that.

 

[LNahid2000]

These charities need to find an alternative way of raising money that does not involve extremely disruptive road closures. I don't think that the amount of money this event raises is all that large, and my guess is that the Heart and Stroke Foundation could find a way to replace the funding, or perhaps city council should just donate money to them in exchange for cancelling this event. The traffic congestion caused by "Ride for Heart" is so severe that the damage caused by the economy when thousands of people decide to not go downtown may well exceed the amount of money it generates. Lake Shore Blvd was gridlocked far more than it would be in rush hour. If it gets to the point that Metrolinx is forced to shut down GO bus service to Union Station then Metrolinx must be very unhappy about this. I am not aware of any other city that has any similar event because shutting down major expressways for no reason is a really bad idea. I would worry that emergency vehicles could get stuck in traffic because of this.

lol do you really think the city is just going to hand the Heart and Stroke Foundation $8 million? The amount of money raised far exceeds the economic cost of congestion on a Sunday morning. Also, traffic wasn't even that bad. I did the ride and then drove into the financial district and it took maybe 10 minutes to get from Dufferin to Bay. This really isn't a big deal at all...except for you because you hate bikes.

You also fail to realize that the 20,000 people who did the ride/walk spend money in the city after doing the event (which is an attraction in itself). My parents came from out of town for the event, and ended up spending quite a bit of money on lunch in the city afterwards.

Also, here are some other events that shut down expressways in other cities for bikes:

http://www.nyctri.com/
http://www.bike.nyc/events/td-five-boro-bike-tour/
http://www.freewaybikehike.com.au/
http://californiaclassicweekend.com/phone/cycle-events.html

 

[Megaton327]

My parents came from out of town for the event, and ended up spending quite a bit of money on lunch in the city afterwards.

I was going to go downtown and spend money and didn't once I realized the roads were closed and GO buses not running, so I didn't spend money in the city. Lots of people avoid the city when there are closures like this.

 

[LNahid2000]

I was going to go downtown and spend money and didn't once I realized the roads were closed and GO buses not running, so I didn't spend money in the city. Lots of people avoid the city when there are closures like this.

And lots of people raise hundreds of dollars, and come into the city specifically for this event. Neither of us can say whether one outweighs the other.

 

[ShonTron]

It's unfortunate that GO Transit didn't run special Sunday trains on the Stouffville and/or Barrie Lines (which they should do any time the DVP is closed as well), but Ride for Heart impacts transit much less than most marathons and running events, like the Yonge Street 10K, no TTC routes are affected.

The worst is when the city closes the Gardiner for weekend maintenance, which used to be from Humber to the Don. Now its from the 427 to the Don, which messes up GO buses on the Hamilton, Milton and Kitchener corridors much more because even the old QEW-Lake Shore diversion is blocked.

 

[TOareaFan]

It's unfortunate that GO Transit didn't run special Sunday trains on the Stouffville and/or Barrie Lines (which they should do any time the DVP is closed as well), but Ride for Heart impacts transit much less than most marathons and running events, like the Yonge Street 10K, no TTC routes are affected.

The worst is when the city closes the Gardiner for weekend maintenance, which used to be from Humber to the Don. Now its from the 427 to the Don, which messes up GO buses on the Hamilton, Milton and Kitchener corridors much more because even the old QEW-Lake Shore diversion is blocked.

This year for the first time (that I can remember) they moved the bus operations out to Port Credit on maintenance weekend....so customers were directed to take a train at Union then transfer to their bus which was now at Port Credit rather than the Union Bus terminal.

 

[crs1026]

I live reasonably close to the Gardiner near Humber Bay - it's our traditional route to get downtown and especially to get up to the 401 to head east of the city. (I worked east of the city for a number of years, and reverse-direction DVP was my commute for that time) For the last couple of years, between events and construction, we've got accustomed to simpoly not having it available on weekends. After we got used to that, it's become no big deal. If I need to get to the 401, I go up Royal York or Islington.

I took my car downtown last week on a weekday for a 7AM breakfast meeting. At that hour, you can cruise along the Queensway and King and get right downtown much faster than transit. I realised I actually felt guilty doing it (and half expected someone to walk up and verbally shame me !).

That's a real change in culture for those of us who still own cars. My point is - you make the transition eventually, and things are fine. I'm close to buying into a car-free downtown. The only time I really had to drive downtown in the last two years was to haul furniture (rented van) when a family member moved downtown to attend U of T. It's nice to get home fast in the evening after a Jays game or night school - public transit can be a bit tedious at that hour - but that's what Uber/Taxi's are for.

These events are for a good cause and I support lettting them take the roadway away from motorists (who ought to learn to do without, IMHO)

- Paul

 

[ShonTron]

This year for the first time (that I can remember) they moved the bus operations out to Port Credit on maintenance weekend....so customers were directed to take a train at Union then transfer to their bus which was now at Port Credit rather than the Union Bus terminal.

When the Gardiner is closed only from Humber to DVP, I find the Lake Shore route isn't too bad - as long as it's a Sunday morning. So Ride for Heart shouldn't affect routes 16, 21 and 31 too badly, except maybe between 12PM and 2:30PM, when traffic picks up and the Gardiner isn't yet open.

I don't know why GO felt like it had to disrupt its buses coming from the west.

 

[mdrejhon]

Although I kind of understand all sides, one also needs to decide future dividends (by attendees) like increased demand for safe&proper bike infrastructure. That -- alone -- justifies the event totally for me, even with zero donations.

Sure, as a driver, I have been detoured onto a gridlocked Lakeshore.... But NO, it does not change my stand.

Plus, GO could easily run slightly modified GO bus schedules via the Lakeshore route, and the default single decker buses at downtown terminal have no clearance issues on these detours. Longer ride, but at least people will still be moving along. Late buses are preferable to unexpectedly zero buses...

 

[TOareaFan]

When the Gardiner is closed only from Humber to DVP, I find the Lake Shore route isn't too bad - as long as it's a Sunday morning. So Ride for Heart shouldn't affect routes 16, 21 and 31 too badly, except maybe between 12PM and 2:30PM, when traffic picks up and the Gardiner isn't yet open.

I don't know why GO felt like it had to disrupt its buses coming from the west.

To be clear...I don't think they did it this weekend...I was responding to the maintenance weekend earlier this spring....they did it then.

 

[smallspy]

All indications seem to suggest that GO will introduce hourly weekend and/or midday service on the Barrie Line from Union to King City starting this September,.....

Not this September - next April.

The third track dead-ends west of Mount Pleasant due to ongoing construction for the Creditview grade separation. That work will be complete long before we start seriously considering a rail-to-rail grade separation

No, it predates any Creditview grade separation construction by at least a year, and possibly two. There was some quirk of the CN dispatching system that made it not like that point (there is a similar issue with the plant at Snake, between Aldershot and Bayview), and in concert with the moving of the interlocking plant at Creditview it was decided to remove the track altogether.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.