|
|
|
GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)
- Thread starter drum118
- Start date
raptor
Senior Member
why not? last I checked, fares keep increasing as well as ridership
steveintoronto
Superstar
I can fully believe that, but there's a more complicated demographic depending on time of day. Are those parents going with their kids during rush-hour, and/or to and after school?
A way has to be found to accommodate both, without encouraging kids to take a bus everywhere/anytime instead of walking. I see a lot of kids pile on en-masse during peak blocking doors and taking seats, including the blue ones, and get off a few blocks later with no apparent connection. In other words, they could have walked...should have walked, both for health reasons and to not further exacerbate crowding and dwell at stops on bus/streetcar.
TOareaFan
Superstar
I heard Vester say that on the radio this morning....I am not sure but did the pilot not coincide with a fairly large boost in service levels too?
nfitz
Superstar
Why is this not hard to believe? TTC reported children ridership more than doubled - and that was before looking at Child Presto usage which are only a fraction of children's rides.
Many of these will be travelling with adults. It's not hard to imagine that there's been some resulting increase in adults riding as well. I've certainly seen it in my own family.
TOareaFan
Superstar
I am wondering how, or if, they separated out the increase in ridership caused by the increased levels of service as opposed to the increase in ridership caused by the kids ride free pilot.
Neutrino
Senior Member
I can fully believe that, but there's a more complicated demographic depending on time of day. Are those parents going with their kids during rush-hour, and/or to and after school?
A way has to be found to accommodate both, without encouraging kids to take a bus everywhere/anytime instead of walking. I see a lot of kids pile on en-masse during peak blocking doors and taking seats, including the blue ones, and get off a few blocks later with no apparent connection. In other words, they could have walked...should have walked, both for health reasons and to not further exacerbate crowding and dwell at stops on bus/streetcar.
Hear, hear. I would go further and say kids over whatever appropriate age (10?) should be walking to school alone (in line with my post about helicopter parenting in the other thread).
hw621
Senior Member
Child Presto usage...isn't that being abused?
Agreed completely. I support this move, though from a personal standpoint I don't like the idea of trains surrounding weekend Jays games being more packed than they already are. That's just me being selfish though.
I think this move will change the math for a lot of families looking to spend a day downtown.
nfitz
Superstar
Yes - but that's a different issue. GO will have no requirement for children under 13 to have Presto cards. Which also means they don't need to program in any discounted fares into cards that riders in other agencies use.
The TTC data for 2018 shows about 250% growth in children's rides since 2014. If you assume that ALL the children's Presto taps are fraudulent, it's still up over 220%. (and it's not all fraudulent ... both my kids have Presto cards for GO - which they use at TTC stations to go through the gates).
Yes, "children under 12 ride free" is much easier to implement in a POP system than in one with fare gates.
Side note, are the TTC's children's Presto cards a different colour or anything? Or are they literally the exact same design? (I don't have kids yet and I don't live in Toronto, so I haven't seen them)
nfitz
Superstar
The alternative you see in some places, is that kids only ride free with someone older than 12. They can ride by themselves, but must pay if alone. Then you can enter the subway with the person who is paying, through the accessibility gates - which is how Oyster works.
Identical. If you have a Presto card, you can take it in, and have it changed to a children's, seniors, or student card.
That would certainly make sense.
That seems like a missed opportunity to me. Even if they made the card blue or something, it would be much easier for a bus driver or subway fare inspector to notice if fare evasion/fraud is taking place. Adult + blue card = steep fine. Likewise, provide a different colour for seniors and students. That small change alone I think would cut down on fare evasion/fraud substantially.
W. K. Lis
Superstar
GO Transit/UPX has better fare inspection than TTC...
...up to today.
We'll see if the TTC gets a better handle with fare inspection, partly due to more inspectors, or not.
...up to today.
We'll see if the TTC gets a better handle with fare inspection, partly due to more inspectors, or not.
nfitz
Superstar
Maybe 5 years ago.
I find I'm getting inspected more frequently on TTC than GO now. I don't think I've ever been inspected on GO travelling between Danforth and Exhibition - maybe once! They seem to focus on the suburbs.