GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

[Jonny5]

I was just checking on taking GO from downtown to Georgetown for an afternoon meeting later this week. Looking at the schedule - http://www.gotransit.com/publicroot/en/PDF/Quicktables/UNION/CurrentBoard/GEGO.pdf there is a great service between Union and Georgetown - some 25 departures a day, fairly well spaced ... but only 14 coming back?? With a gap between 2:50 pm and 6:15 pm ???? Am I missing something?

I guess I'm driving ... which is a shame, because I can get there in great time.

That's a quirky schedule. It looks like the major difference is that bus trips going to Union via Georgetown all originate in Guelph, which has very little service. Trips from Union are about every 30 min and pass through Brampton and then mostly terminate at Georgetown. Where do they go from there? Is that where GO has a bus garage?

 

[TOareaFan]

I was just checking on taking GO from downtown to Georgetown for an afternoon meeting later this week. Looking at the schedule - http://www.gotransit.com/publicroot/en/PDF/Quicktables/UNION/CurrentBoard/GEGO.pdf there is a great service between Union and Georgetown - some 25 departures a day, fairly well spaced ... but only 14 coming back?? With a gap between 2:50 pm and 6:15 pm ???? Am I missing something?

I guess I'm driving ... which is a shame, because I can get there in great time.

For some reason (which I do not know) the buses in the afternoon to Union mostly originate at the Brampton downtown bus terminal. So if driving to union is putting you off, you could drive to DT Brampton and catch a GO bus to union from there.

http://www.gotransit.com/publicroot/en/PDF/Timetables/CurrentBoard/Table31.pdf

 

[nfitz]

For some reason (which I do not know) the buses in the afternoon to Union mostly originate at the Brampton downtown bus terminal. So if driving to union is putting you off, you could drive to DT Brampton and catch a GO bus to union from there.

Doesn't work well if you live in Toronto and have to go to Georgetown! Perhaps I can take a taxi from Georgetown to Brampton ...

Though Halton Hills is certainly a fair size town ... over 55,000 ... perhaps they have transit ...

Though it only appears to be for the disabled from their website!

Wow, according to this website http://borgra.wordpress.com/2007/03/15/georgetown-transit-doesnt-existbut-why/ the reason they don't have transit is to keep Georgetown white! ???? Good grief ...

 

[smallspy]

On the CP Mainline question.....

I have to inquire with Mapleson, Vegeta , Smallspy and other rail experts..............

As I understand the GO Milton plan (for full day service), it is to 4-track the CP Galt through the all-day portion of the corridor.

That being the case, can't GO just 'buy' the 2 tracks and leave CP its 2 under separate ownership?

I was thinking of something similar for VIA beyond Durham Junction, where it could 4-track the corridor on the Kingston Sub to say Oshawa (or all of it for that matter) and simply own the 2 extra tracks, with CN maintaining ownership of its own 2 mainline tracks.

Is this feasible? Would the railways be likely to agree?

Inquiring minds want to know!

Thanks in advance for any insights.

In theory, 'tis possible.

The catch however would be whether CP would be willing to sell part of their ROW to GO for the tracks. And that is not an easy answer to determine. The ROW is not particularly wide anywhere along the Galt Sub, and to buy portions of the adjoining properties on one side or the other would cost enormous sums.

I suspect that CP would not be willing to go along with such as scheme, as it would limit what they would be able to do in terms of expansion. Having GO build another pair of tracks to create a 4-track corridor that can also be used by CP would greatly increase the capacity on the line for everyone involved, beyond the capacity of a pair of 2-track lines.

Before you ask the question as to why GO was able to do it to the east, the Government of Ontario owned a huge swath of land to the north of the CN tracks that was later used for the 401. After building (and widening) the highway, they still owned the portion immediately to the south of it and north of CN's land, and so they were able to build railway tracks on it.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

 

[TOareaFan]

Doesn't work well if you live in Toronto and have to go to Georgetown! Perhaps I can take a taxi from Georgetown to Brampton ...

Though Halton Hills is certainly a fair size town ... over 55,000 ... perhaps they have transit ...

Though it only appears to be for the disabled from their website!

Wow, according to this website http://borgra.wordpress.com/2007/03/15/georgetown-transit-doesnt-existbut-why/ the reason they don't have transit is to keep Georgetown white! ???? Good grief ...

Sorry, I misunderstood what you were trying to do....now I get it.

I, honestly, do not know how prevalent the "mighty whitey" attitude is in Georgetown but I have heard that it exists. I grew up in Brampton and still live there. I am one of those people who kinda likes the ethnic diversity in our town. Ocassionally, though, I will bump into someone I went to highshool with....quite a few of them have moved to G-Town and often the code words used are "it is like the Brampton/Bramalea I grew up in".....yeah, right.

Anyway, back on to transit it does look like you will have to drive out to G-Town or wait around for the bus service to start up again before heading back to Toronto.

 

[nfitz]

I, honestly, do not know how prevalent the "mighty whitey" attitude is in Georgetown but I have heard that it exists. I grew up in Brampton and still live there. I am one of those people who kinda likes the ethnic diversity in our town. Ocassionally, though, I will bump into someone I went to highshool with....quite a few of them have moved to G-Town and often the code words used are "it is like the Brampton/Bramalea I grew up in".....yeah, right.

Wow ... absolutely shocking that such extreme racism still exists in the GTA.

Anyway, back on to transit it does look like you will have to drive out to G-Town or wait around for the bus service to start up again before heading back to Toronto.

The taxi is a great idea ... I just checked, it's a $30 cab ride from Georgetown to the Brampton GO station. It's good to know the option is there if my car isn't available.

 

[TOareaFan]

Wow ... absolutely shocking that such extreme racism still exists in the GTA.

Not sure how extreme or widespread it is (neither you nor I am quoting from large sample sizes after all)....I prefer to think of it as ill informed people scared of "change"....after those brief conversations (in which very early on they find out I do not share their view of the world) I am usually left with the impression that my world is better off that they moved out and left room for "the new folk!".

 

[ShonTron]

Wow ... absolutely shocking that such extreme racism still exists in the GTA.

The taxi is a great idea ... I just checked, it's a $30 cab ride from Georgetown to the Brampton GO station. It's good to know the option is there if my car isn't available.

It's not extreme, just a sense of either "culture shock" or just ignorance in most cases. Housing prices aren't hurting one bit, so theres no economic case for this variation of "White flight". It's more subtle than that. While I strongly disagree, there can be the sense that the new population is "taking over", when you find new plazas without many or any "traditional" retailers or see the school enrolment. It's a shame, but at least whitey up in Orangeville (another town full of ex-Bramptonians) can put up with the White-as-us snow 4 months of the year. Then I laugh, them paying all that gas and time added to their commutes. But to some, inexplictly, it's worth it.

 

[nfitz]

It's not extreme, just a sense of either "culture shock" or just ignorance in most cases.

Yes, it's very extreme ... it's not the 1950s any more! This is the kind of comment I recall hearing still in England in the 1970s or 1980s ... I've never heard anything like that here from a Canadian ... and I've been living in southwestern Ontario for most of the last 20 years.

 

[ShonTron]

No, while I really detest racism, it's not a mean-spirited hateful racism here. I live in Brampton and now live in North York. I know people who escaped to Caledon, Georgetown and Orangeville. Some people would go on with racist rants, but others just said they didn't feel comfortable anymore. I never cared - I moved only to get closer to work, while many others fled and have longer commutes.

Extreme is burning crosses or what northern cities like Chicago and Detroit went through in the 1950s and 1960s - open displays of racism with redlining, marches and overt vandalism and scare tactics. 'Extreme' is an overused word these days.

 

[SlickFranky]

It's not extreme at all...but it's very much present. I spend a decent amount of time out there, and the sentiment truly is strange and unsettling.

I don't mean to defend their behaviour in any way, but someone earlier referred to their Bramptonian neighbours as 'multicultural'. I don't think that's the right word, and is related to what's happening in Georgetown I think. They don't see pockets of diverse cultures from all around the globe integrating into a new multi-ethnic city. They see one group moving in and supplanting theirs, and I can see how that could be a little intimidating.

 

[TOareaFan]

It's not extreme at all...but it's very much present. I spend a decent amount of time out there, and the sentiment truly is strange and unsettling.

I don't mean to defend their behaviour in any way, but someone earlier referred to their Bramptonian neighbours as 'multicultural'. I don't think that's the right word, and is related to what's happening in Georgetown I think. They don't see pockets of diverse cultures from all around the globe integrating into a new multi-ethnic city. They see one group moving in and supplanting theirs, and I can see how that could be a little intimidating.

Since I am the one that referred to the ethnic diversity......I feel I have respond. No one is supplanting anyone!

The "one" group, I presume, you mean is our relatively large south Asian community? Well, firstly, it is nowhere nearl as large as some would let on.......some would have you believe that the majority of Bramptonians are south Asian......check the census....it is not true. Secondly, even if it were true, so what? How is tha supplanting? Thirdly, I will gather a group of Pakistani people and Indian people and Sri Lankan people and invite you along so that you can break the news to them that they are all "one group".

Brampton is a multi-ethnic city. With the fastest growth region of our population being immigration from South America.

The south Asian community is targeted by angry bigots who blame them for everything that is wrong in town (from high taxes to low attendance at junior hockey games) because, IMO, they are visible and make an easy target!

 

[Jonny5]

Yes, it's very extreme ... it's not the 1950s any more! This is the kind of comment I recall hearing still in England in the 1970s or 1980s ... I've never heard anything like that here from a Canadian ... and I've been living in southwestern Ontario for most of the last 20 years.

It is of course not universal, but when you get to the rural towns in Durham, York, Halton, Simcoe and Dufferin it's there. I recall incidents in Kewswick and around Kwartha Lakes that made the papers in the past few years. This sentiment may crop up more often now that GO is pushing more service into these areas.

 

[SlickFranky]

Since I am the one that referred to the ethnic diversity......I feel I have respond. No one is supplanting anyone!

The "one" group, I presume, you mean is our relatively large south Asian community? Well, firstly, it is nowhere nearl as large as some would let on.......some would have you believe that the majority of Bramptonians are south Asian......check the census....it is not true. Secondly, even if it were true, so what? How is tha supplanting? Thirdly, I will gather a group of Pakistani people and Indian people and Sri Lankan people and invite you along so that you can break the news to them that they are all "one group".

Brampton is a multi-ethnic city. With the fastest growth region of our population being immigration from South America.

The south Asian community is targeted by angry bigots who blame them for everything that is wrong in town (from high taxes to low attendance at junior hockey games) because, IMO, they are visible and make an easy target!

You're 100% right. No need for exclamation points. I was just pointing out that to them it looks like it's overwhelmingly one group. You seriously think they can tell the difference between Sri Lankans, Indians, and Pakistanis??? Trust me, they can't. I've had so many random discussions with Georgetowners that suddenly veered into this subject matter. All they see in Brampton is 'Pakis', and they think 'they're taking over'....it's messed up out there. All I was saying is that a more visibly diverse group of immigrants would have caused less panic.

 

[Allandale25]

All I was saying is that a more visibly diverse group of immigrants would have caused less panic.

What do you mean by that? Panic among whom?

Anyways, Moderators, the last six or so posts have NOTHING to do with "GO Transit Service thread (including extensions)". Can you please delete them? The thread is being cluttered with debates on demographics, not GO Transit service. Please do something about this!