GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

[crs1026]

^This is a “build it and they will come” proposition....people gradually build their choice of residence and workplace around what paths might be available.

As it happens, I took the TTC to Kennedy yesterday and then took GO to Milliken. I could have found an all-TTC routing, but having just turned 65 I’m now getting the discount. The added GO fare was......a whole two dollars and change. Saved a lot of time on the bus (and let me sightsee through the new track construction, which may not appeal to the average rider). With fare integration, using GO as an adjuct to TTC in this way will be very popular. Tory wasn’t completely off base with the Smarttrack concept, he just didn’t know enough about higher order transit to offer a viable design.

We need to stop thinking about GO solely as a service to haul people to Union Station. Those local trips can add a lot of value...and revenue.

- Paul

 

[Streety McCarface]

We need to stop thinking about GO solely as a service to haul people to Union Station. Those local trips can add a lot of value...and revenue.

- Paul

This is still a relatively niche commute. While it's true that additional stations throughout downtown on the GO network will dramatically improve connectivity, it's not the be-everything solution. RER works best for long-distance trips. Within the City of Toronto, the majority of these trips cannot be filled by the existing GO network. It'll definitely improve things for a bunch of people, especially those in the suburbs, but it will not directly improve things for all the 1.5 million people that take the TTC every day.

 

[micheal_can]

This is still a relatively niche commute. While it's true that additional stations throughout downtown on the GO network will dramatically improve connectivity, it's not the be-everything solution. RER works best for long-distance trips. Within the City of Toronto, the majority of these trips cannot be filled by the existing GO network. It'll definitely improve things for a bunch of people, especially those in the suburbs, but it will not directly improve things for all the 1.5 million people that take the TTC every day.

I feel that for GO to servve the GTA better, if it intersects a mass transit line (Subway, LRT, Streetcar, etc) there should be an intermodal station. Right now, not all Go trains stop at those which they intersect. For instance, why does the Barrie Line not connect to a Bloor station?

 

[Streety McCarface]

I feel that for GO to servve the GTA better, if it intersects a mass transit line (Subway, LRT, Streetcar, etc) there should be an intermodal station. Right now, not all Go trains stop at those which they intersect. For instance, why does the Barrie Line not connect to a Bloor station?

They've been trying to solve this with RER initiatives.

 

[torontocolin]

I feel that for GO to servve the GTA better, if it intersects a mass transit line (Subway, LRT, Streetcar, etc) there should be an intermodal station. Right now, not all Go trains stop at those which they intersect. For instance, why does the Barrie Line not connect to a Bloor station?

Well the station doesn't exist. There is one planned though, as well as one at Spadina and one at St Clair and King on the Kitchener line. (Whether any of those will actually get built is separate issue).

That could be an awful lot of stations though. Consider that both Barrie and Kitchener intersect with subway, streetcars or LRT at Eglinton, St Clair, Bloor, College/Dundas, Queen, King, Bathurst, and Spadina.

 

[Richard White]

I wish GO would just abandon stopping the Stouffville Line at Danforth (and the odd train that stops at Scarborough GO) altogether. The handful of people who use this connection can just take Lakeshore East trains or use the connection at Kennedy.

Late evenings it is express from Union to Kennedy both ways.

 

[Woodbridge_Heights]

It's not odd. No one needs to use this "connection." We know this given that no one uses it. There are more elaborate and more miserable transfers made by thousands of GO users daily. If no one is using this one after decades it's really because no one needs it.

No one? Danforth sees 1,400 daily riders vs 2,200 at Rouge Hill (based on GO's admittedly flawed ridership map here.) Making both stations fairly equally used (800 passengers a day isn't that big a deal), yet one is getting increased service and one is getting reduced service. I bet with a more convenient connection and non skipping of this station on peak express trains and ridership will surpass Rouge Hill.

 

[torontocolin]

800 passengers/day would be an increase in traffic of more than 50% at Danforth! You can drive more traffic at pretty well every station by increasing service, but I don't think you're going to see much from that Line 2 connection. The transfer is inconvenient, and there's really no reasonable way to fix that, so unless you're travelling between Scarborough and the Danforth, I think most people would use Union or Kennedy to transfer.

 

[Richard White]

The transfer is inconvenient, and there's really no reasonable way to fix that, so unless you're travelling between Scarborough and the Danforth, I think most people would use Union or Kennedy to transfer.

That's what I do. Last week on Friday I took the Lakeshore East train to Danforth because the Stouffville Line was out of service. I walked from Danforth to Main Street Station and while relatively quick it was a pain in the ass.

Normally I take the 23:15 Stouffville Line train to Kennedy from Union because literally it is just down a flight of stairs.

Nobody in their right mind would transfer at Danforth unless they had no other choice.

 

[dowlingm]

Is that Danforth / Rouge Hill change about customer preference or just the train controllers/dispatchers having an easier time with pushing trains through Scarborough Junction at the right intervals?

 

[Richard White]

Is that Danforth / Rouge Hill change about customer preference or just the train controllers/dispatchers having an easier time with pushing trains through Scarborough Junction at the right intervals?

It may be the proximity to the USRC. Rouge is far enough away not to impact things.

 

[APTA-2048]

That's what I do. Last week on Friday I took the Lakeshore East train to Danforth because the Stouffville Line was out of service. I walked from Danforth to Main Street Station and while relatively quick it was a pain in the ass.

Normally I take the 23:15 Stouffville Line train to Kennedy from Union because literally it is just down a flight of stairs.

Nobody in their right mind would transfer at Danforth unless they had no other choice.

I’ve benefitted from the walking transfer a few times. The most recent being the times I accompanied my father to Toronto East Hospital from Rouge Hill GO Station. We didn’t find it too bad, a bit a annoying though.

Another annoying transfer is between GO and DRT at Pickering GO Station. Depending on the bus you need to take, you have to walk up the stairs to the bridge, cross the 401, and then down to the mall side terminal. It also doesn’t help that the bus scheduling is tight. Most of the time when you’re trying to catch the train, the bus gets to the bridge as the train is pulling in or pulling out. I cannot imagine anyone with limited mobility trying to make this transfer.

 

[WillTo]

Well that was a poor e-ticket experience!

To take advantage of Sunday Funday I thought I would roam around to Hamilton and back.
Well I did the transaction online, got the email, then went to activate using the link provided. But it is showing as Expired, despite the fact it is not past the Deactivation Time:

So as I am heading to the bus terminal I try tweeting to GO Transit (no reply) about my problem. When I get to the bus terminal I figure I would ask the staff there. Well I have never used a GO transit ticket booth in years and sure enough it is not staffed on weekends. My bus is ready to leave. I don't want to chance it, so I let it go and wait for the next one. Fortunately there is a pay phone (haven't used one of those in years either) and figure that would be handier that calling on my cell in case I have to look up stuff on my phone at the same time. I call GO Transit (never did that in my life) and have to hear their whole automated spiel about changes to the holiday schedule, then I get the menu commands. Nothing matches so I hit zero. I am asked again to please give the automated menu a try, but I refuse. Only then am I patched into the queue for an operator. A 5 - 10 min hold later I am finally punched through to an operator. I begin explaining what happens and she knows immediately what I am talking about. She says there is a glitch but it will still be accepted.

So after a long wait the bus pulls up and he refuses to accept the e-tickets of the people infront of me. I jump in and inform the driver that I phoned in and am in the same boat. Well the driver lets us on but tells us he didn't know.

Second bus driver was aware of the problem. When riding the train I actually was inspected and the Fare Inspector was also aware. 2 out of 3 ain't bad?

Uggg...

I have been asked to fill out a survey about this e-ticket experience....

 

[Allandale25]

^ I got the same message. I immediately called the GO 1-800 number (it was in the email confirmation) and they said that it was a technical glitch and they were aware of it. The ticket would still be considered valid. I bought mine about an hour after you.

From what I'm told the technical glitch was fixed shortly after I purchased my ticket.

 

[Northern Light]

Well that was a poor e-ticket experience!

To take advantage of Sunday Funday I thought I would roam around to Hamilton and back.
Well I did the transaction online, got the email, then went to activate using the link provided. But it is showing as Expired, despite the fact it is not past the Deactivation Time:
View attachment 221840

So as I am heading to the bus terminal I try tweeting to GO Transit (no reply) about my problem. When I get to the bus terminal I figure I would ask the staff there. Well I have never used a GO transit ticket booth in years and sure enough it is not staffed on weekends. My bus is ready to leave. I don't want to chance it, so I let it go and wait for the next one. Fortunately there is a pay phone (haven't used one of those in years either) and figure that would be handier that calling on my cell in case I have to look up stuff on my phone at the same time. I call GO Transit (never did that in my life) and have to hear their whole automated spiel about changes to the holiday schedule, then I get the menu commands. Nothing matches so I hit zero. I am asked again to please give the automated menu a try, but I refuse. Only then am I patched into the queue for an operator. A 5 - 10 min hold later I am finally punched through to an operator. I begin explaining what happens and she knows immediately what I am talking about. She says there is a glitch but it will still be accepted.

So after a long wait the bus pulls up and he refuses to accept the e-tickets of the people infront of me. I jump in and inform the driver that I phoned in and am in the same boat. Well the driver lets us on but tells us he didn't know.

Second bus driver was aware of the problem. When riding the train I actually was inspected and the Fare Inspector was also aware. 2 out of 3 ain't bad?

Uggg...

I have been asked to fill out a survey about this e-ticket experience....

Do fill out the survey, and make sure they realize the additional issue that once GO knew they had a problem, they neither communicated this to all staff nor to customers.

***

Can someone explain to me why they don't run the software in simulation to make sure it works? Sigh