GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

[steveintoronto]

Once again a certain poster has lost the plot, arguing on whether the shoes with holes in them are Oxfords or Adidas, and whether they're size 8 or 12, all the time missing the essential point.

Here is the most telling point on standing room as opposed to seats on GO commuter trains that I emboldened and posted prior:

Toronto’s GO commuter system has seen significant overcrowding in recent years, with many travellers in the Greater Toronto area forced to stand on 30-minute journeys downtown. The GO operator’s goal is to provide seats for 80% of its peak time passengers, but it achieved only 66% at the most recent count.

#13,752

The article that is quoted from is:
Cattle-class: are Thameslink's new 'tube-style' trains the future of commuting?
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/...ube-style-standing-up-future-commuting-london

And the answer for Thameslink, Metrolinx and Timbuktu is "Yes". Metrolinx themselves allude to that with their RER reports.

Obviously the use of "hour" on my part was illustrative, and the claim stands, but if the certain poster wants to argue endlessly on the colour of the laces while the open toes freeze, then so be it.

The fact is indisputable: With crush loading on GO trains, standing room is becoming more the viable currency than seats are.

To argue otherwise has the 'certain poster' undoing many of his own claims on the K/W line.

 

[nfitz]

I recall from my GO commuting days on the Stouffville line that the end cars on either end of the train almost always had seats while the middle cars were nearly full. My (albeit more limited) experience with the Toronto subway is the same - the end cars are never quite as busy.

And yes, for the stouffville line, there were typically seats after Agincourt at latest. occasionally it took to Milliken. Certianly never to Stouffville, by then the trains were mostly empty.

Most trains are similar. Many standing simply are more concerned about being first out the closest door to their car rather sitting down, with seats to be found upstairs or even downstairs at the 'wrong end of the platform'.

 

[timio]

I almost missed getting out of the first car at Bloor one morning because there were so many people standing around the doors waiting to get out at Union. Got out just as the doors chimed.

 

[raptor]

Changes to 4:35 Kitchener line GO Train to Begin February 13

Metrolinx creates special interim rail platform for Bramalea customers.

 

[Krypto98]

Kitchener can be car 2/3 as well, pending on if you want to go into the station. Car 1 will drop you at the fastest, although not official, path to the remote parking lot up Victoria or bus stops (not safe in the Winter).
Acton it's cars 2/3
Georgetown can be cab car for north parking lot or 4/5 for south parking lot.

So overall its
Kitchener 5/2/3/1
Guelph, 10/9
Acton 2/3
Georgetown 10/9/4/5
Mount Pleasant 10/9/2/1
Brampton 8/4/3/2/1
Bramalea 8/7/5/4/2/1
Malton 9/8/7/6
Etobicoke North 12/11/10/9
Weston 8/4?
Bloor 10/9/2/1

As you can see Cars 1,2,3 8,9 and 10 are the most packed usually with 6 and 7 being the least packed. I've been on the express train a few times and there a few empty seats in car 6 and 7.

 

[TOareaFan]

When you guys give cat numbers what direction are you numbering? eat to west or west to east?

 

[Krypto98]

When you guys give cat numbers what direction are you numbering? eat to west or west to east?

Locomotive to Cab Car so east to west

 

[timio]

I don't think it's consistent. Anyone want to try again with standard reference?

 

[TOareaFan]

Locomotive to Cab Car so east to west

The loco is always at the east?

 

[Fritter]

The loco is always at the east?

Yes. Only exception is the Niagara train. The engine ends up being on West end upon rounding Burlington bay..

 

[TransitBart]

God that's ugly.

Also recessed lighting is a thing. Enough w/the big ugly fluorescent or LED rows.


That screams cattlecar.

How about we live w/the fact 'nice' commuter service won't break even.....and we just put more leg room and do one side of the car in quads, the other 50% forward facing, 50% rear facing, but not in quads?

Yup. Screams Cowcar. I imagine a prison cell in North Korea has about the same inviting lighting.

 

[drum118]

GO Transit struggling to meet on-time targets

 

[steveintoronto]

For those who still don't get the need for more standing room, the CLRV's were modified a while back to use single seats down one side to replace the double seat benches. This is a GO string, but the same applies, especially with imminent (one hopes) RER carriages.

Like it or not, standing room at the expense of seats is the trend. I guess now someone will post a picture of a streetcar somewhere in gaudy paint that has that. And then blame horror of the paint scheme on the seating arrangement.

subway car configurations: a matter of taste?
Posted on April 18, 2013 in Access, Public Outreach, Rail Transit 27
Chicago Transit Authority is asking its customers how seating should be configured in its rail rapid transit cars. Whet Moser has a good writeup in ChicagoMag.com. Here are the choices:



The one on the left is "Chicago-style" seating, with most seats in pairs facing along the length of the car. The one in the middle is "New York-style" seating, with most seats facing sideways. The third is a hybrid.

Transit agencies commonly do surveys that imply that these things are just a matter of taste, as though they'll go with whatever their riders prefer. This question is not just a matter of taste. The left hand image has the most seats but the least capacity. The middle image as the fewest seats but the greatest capacity. Seats with their backs to the wall take up much less space than seats in pairs facing forward or back. And of course, any seat takes up more space than a standee in a crowded car. This is why really crowded subway systems inevitably gravitate toward side-facing seats.

So the question should be not whether you like the the configuration on the left, but whether you like it so much that you don't mind being left behind at rush hour because the train is full.

The survey asks you which configuration you prefer, and which you like better in terms of "personal space." But it doesn't inform the reader that the more forward- and back-facing seats there are, the more people will be left behind on the platform during the peak and the less ridership the system will be able to handle.

subway car configurations: a matter of taste? — Human Transit

Chicago Transit Authority is asking its customers how seating should be configured in its rail rapid transit cars. Whet Moser has a good writeup in ChicagoMag.com. Here are the choices: The one on the left is "Chicago-style" seating, with most seats in pairs facing along the length of the car...

humantransit.org

THE IDEAL SUBWAY SEATING ARRANGEMENT? NO MIDDLE SEATS

• EITH BARRY
• GEAR
• 04.16.13
• 02:59 PM

[...]
Researchers from the Transportation Research Board (TRB) recommend designing a subway car with vertical poles in the middle to maximize that premium near-the-door space for short-trip passengers, and transverse seating at the ends of the cars for long-distance riders. There would also be some seats along the walls near the doors separated by poles and partitions.

That design is the result of a study conducted during the winter of 2011-2012, in which researchers rode the New York City subway system and recorded where passengers stood or sat, for how long and how close they got to their fellow passengers. The study was conducted outside of rush hour, the authors noted, because "riders in overcrowded cars have virtually no choice in seating."

The TRB's most general findings won't surprise anyone: Subway riders don't like to be close to one another, and would rather stand than squeeze into the last available seat. In fact, a train has to be at 120 percent of its capacity for 90 percent of its seats to be in use.

But study authors also observed some interesting phenomena: New York transit passengers prefer standing near a door to standing in the middle of the car, even when more space is available there. The planners recommend cars with asymmetrical door placements, to "lure" passengers away from crowding the door areas. And "straphangers" may be a misnomer, since standees prefer grabbing onto vertical poles in the middle of cars to reaching for the horizontal poles above seats.

[...continues at length with diagrams and analysis...]

The Ideal Subway Seating Arrangement? No Middle Seats

Transit planners in New York are trying to design the ideal subway car interior by observing existing passenger behavior, and while their designs are still preliminary, their research gives a fascinating look inside the minds of subway riders.

www.wired.com

 

[PinkLucy]

This is great.

 

[steveintoronto]

This is great.

Yeah, I just sent that off to a friend in advertising. It's clever, it appears to have a hook for younger viewers, but that remains to be seen. It's certainly a change of approach badly needed for GO's PR machine.

Btw: The latest upgrade to the forum software is also a 'throwback'...in that the asterisks do what earlier BBD software did. In this case, it italicizes the word asterized for emphasis.

Addendum: Just watching this yet again. The resolution is surprisingly high, will do a tech check later to see what the audio is clocking at. Both visual and audio quality are exceptional.