GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

[gweed123]

As opposed to GO plus, I always thought the secondary units should be 'GO North'; 'GO East', and 'GO West' ...........while Toronto-centric service could be GO T.O.

Always just appealed to me as a marketing thing.

Start by absorbing Ontario Northland; and it becoming GO North

That could work too, but I think for a lot of people separating based on service type is a more natural division than by geographic region. Most transit systems categorize routes by type (bus, express bus, rapid transit, etc). From a funding perspective, it's also easier to direct funding to "GO+ improvements" than it is to list "GO North, GO West, etc", because inevitably one agency will get less than everyone else, and then people start complaining. Just look at how much crap the GTA and Non-GTA infrastructure pot funding stirred up, and that distribution was relatively even!

And yes, Ontario Northland would be a very logical addition.

I'd like to see Ottawa get the moose rail set up first.

Yes, Moose Rail is certainly an interesting model. Time will tell if it's successful or not.

 

[mdrejhon]

Or just simply get GOFAST beverage as a sponsor and name the expresses or HSR-lite train service after that. Would be funny.

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

That could work too, but I think for a lot of people separating based on service type is a more natural division than by geographic region. Most transit systems categorize routes by type (bus, express bus, rapid transit, etc). From a funding perspective, it's also easier to direct funding to "GO+ improvements" than it is to list "GO North, GO West, etc", because inevitably one agency will get less than everyone else, and then people start complaining. Just look at how much crap the GTA and Non-GTA infrastructure pot funding stirred up, and that distribution was relatively even!

And yes, Ontario Northland would be a very logical addition.



Yes, Moose Rail is certainly an interesting model. Time will tell if it's successful or not.

I think a capital region should have much better transit then what ottawa currently has. No reason why they could not get it done along with RER.

Or just simply get GOFAST beverage as a sponsor and name the expresses or HSR-lite train service after that. Would be funny.

Now this I can get behind!

 

[gweed123]

I think a capital region should have much better transit then what ottawa currently has. No reason why they could not get it done along with RER.

The issue with Ottawa is the lack of a truly central rail station. That and most of the rail lines were ripped up about 50 years ago. It would require some pretty innovative solutions to bring a regional rail system in Ottawa up to the degree of utility that GO is to the GTHA (relative to population, of course). Also, not all cardinal directions are covered. For example, there is no existing rail corridor that heads due east to Orleans and Rockland, or due west to Carleton Place (there was, but it was removed).

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

The issue with Ottawa is the lack of a truly central rail station. That and most of the rail lines were ripped up about 50 years ago. It would require some pretty innovative solutions to bring a regional rail system in Ottawa up to the degree of utility that GO is to the GTHA (relative to population, of course). Also, not all cardinal directions are covered. For example, there is no existing rail corridor that heads due east to Orleans and Rockland, or due west to Carleton Place (there was, but it was removed).

It's probably going to coast a lot of money... but I feel it would be worth it. It would open up the Ottawa Valley a bit more, and the province (or Metrolinx) would own most of the tracks unlike what happened when GO first started.

 

[micheal_can]

The issue with Ottawa is the lack of a truly central rail station. That and most of the rail lines were ripped up about 50 years ago. It would require some pretty innovative solutions to bring a regional rail system in Ottawa up to the degree of utility that GO is to the GTHA (relative to population, of course). Also, not all cardinal directions are covered. For example, there is no existing rail corridor that heads due east to Orleans and Rockland, or due west to Carleton Place (there was, but it was removed).

What if the 2 Lakeshore lines were combined into one through train? What if Kitchener and Barrie were one line?

That is effectively what Ottawa's Commuter system would look like.

For Toronto's Subway or Montreal's Metro is there one station all lines go to?

As far as a provincial rail carrier, Ontario Northland has a refurbishment shop in North Bay that was passed over by the current government because they were trying to sell it. Just imagine the cost savings of having an in house refurbishment shop.

 

[SaugeenJunction]

What if the 2 Lakeshore lines were combined into one through train? What if Kitchener and Barrie were one line?

FYI most Lakeshore East trains become Lakeshore West trains, and most Lakeshore West trains become Lakeshore East trains, in other words "through" service already exists on the Lakeshore GO Lines.

 

[micheal_can]

FYI most Lakeshore East trains become Lakeshore West trains, and most Lakeshore West trains become Lakeshore East trains, in other words "through" service already exists on the Lakeshore GO Lines.

I knew that. I just mean, what if Union Station did not exist? What if where ever they met the other line(s) they transferred. Having Union makes sense, but if there were none, you could still have transfer points.

 

[mdrejhon]

What if the 2 Lakeshore lines were combined into one through train?

It already is. Most allstop trains are. (Not the peak expresses).

What if Kitchener and Barrie were one line?

Kitchener (Bramalea) and Stoufville are being combined into one line eventually. It is also called SmartTrack too.

 

[smallspy]

Also there is actually one daily UP job(out of 16) that is a split shift. Don't ask me how they came up with the crew scheduling because it's a mess and could be much improved, but they haven't changed it even once since the service started. I suppose they're going with the "If it anit(completely) broke don't fix it" way of thinking.

It's your own union reps who wrote those crew schedules. My understanding is that the guys they were hearing from at the time wanted more compressed work.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

Excited this year for Barrie weekend service and full Brampton service. Also excited for Stouffville weekday service. Lets go!

 

[SaugeenJunction]

Excited this year for Barrie weekend service and full Brampton service. Also excited for Stouffville weekday service. Lets go!

It's a huge year for GO Transit service expansions. Just hope that there is enough awareness around them to drive ridership. As someone who lives along the Lakeshore West corridor, I can say that it has become the de-facto way to get to Toronto's core - but we had hourly service for years, and now with half-hour service it has been even more widely adopted.

Also hoping for a surprise re: service to Hamilton's West Harbour station.

 

[vegeta_skyline]

It's your own union reps who wrote those crew schedules. My understanding is that the guys they were hearing from at the time wanted more compressed work.

Indeed the 4 day work week has been well received and we do have a fair bit of say in scheduling but they still need to be finalized and approved of by management. Many of our proposed job changes have been rejected.

 

[dowlingm]

Kitchener (Bramalea) and Stoufville are being combined into one line eventually. It is also called SmartTrack too.

I have gotten a couple of Bramalea-Toronto afternoon trains which turned into Stouffvilles at Union and took me on to Danforth

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

It's a huge year for GO Transit service expansions. Just hope that there is enough awareness around them to drive ridership. As someone who lives along the Lakeshore West corridor, I can say that it has become the de-facto way to get to Toronto's core - but we had hourly service for years, and now with half-hour service it has been even more widely adopted.

Also hoping for a surprise re: service to Hamilton's West Harbour station.

For sure. I'm hoping the Mt Pleasant service will be a boon to Brampton, which has lower income residents without cars who need access to downtown for jobs. I so agree with you about Hamilton, they also need it and I hope commuter can start looking at hamilton to live as the prices are so much lower than other places.