Toronto Union Pearson Express | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx | MMM Group Limited

Northern Light said:
Paul, there has already been 15 minute service on Lakeshore on weekday-middays and currently on weekends from mid-afternoon through evenings.

There is no impediment to 15 service (once the USRC and joint corridor works are complete) between Oakville and Oshawa.

As no other line has yet delivered 15 minute off-peak I will leave it others to make assertions.
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Quite true, I could have been a bit more careful with my wording. I was more thinking of the other lines where double track is being slowed, or so it seems.

- Paul
 
urbancog said:
The Pearson Subdivision Guideway Engineering Study could be to understand options for using different rolling stock on the Pearson Airport service; what stock could be used with the guideway as it is? is it possible to utilize 2-deck GO cars?

As usual, the RfQ description is too opaque for us to know but given the statements above about the future of the service it seems like something Metrolinx would want to know.

Once there's a 4th platform at Bramalea and the Weston subdivision has 4 tracks, surely that would support 4 trains per hour to both Pearson and Bramalea, plus the service to Kitchener?
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Maybe the guideway study could also look at how hard it would be to convert to a Pearson-Woodbine APM, so that then all four KI tracks can be used for something bigger then a small DMU consist?
 
It may be too soon - but it’s impressive that transit factors this fully into plans for the Dodgers’ celebration.
Over to you, Metrolink.

- Paul

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grammin said:
Earlier this year, my son and I went to BMO for a TFC game, maybe about 20,000 fans there so no where near capacity. After the game we walked to Queen and Dufferin to avoid the crowds. I'm not exaggerating, we waited 45 minutes for a Dufferin bus to take us the Subway at Bloor, the first bus that came was full and drove passed us, the second, we barely squeezed on to, there was zero car traffic. Our conclusion, was next time, to simply drive to BMO. I expect busy transit and traffic after a game, but the services provided are just rank.
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I'm there at least 15 times to 20 times a year, for over 15 years. Including when there's been 40,000 there (in the 2016 playoffs).

TTC service is normally excellent - I'm not sure what went wrong - but I do try and avoid the Dufferin bus because it's so crap. And if I do take it, I'm certainly using the app to make sure there's one coming. If there's a 45-minute just pay the extra 40¢ and take the GO train to the subway.

The Ossington bus has never failed me, even during the G20 rioting - though if there is none coming I'd keep walking up Atlantic to King and catch the 504. The GO train is fantastic, now it runs more than once an hour. Every 15-minutes for Saturday games, and they often toss in an extra on weeknights when the frequency is only 30 minutes.

And even though the crowd for the streetcar can look big, the worst I've had is not getting on the one that was already stopped to load before I got there (and that was with the short CLRV cars). Another one is there quick, and they usually have extras sitting at Exhibition loop for the crowds. I just take a 509 or 510, whichever one looks less busy (usually the 510 to Bathurst station).

I've driven once to a TFC game. Driving there wasn't too bad. But I parked in the lot on the north side of the tracks, in Liberty Village. Trying to come home was a nightmare, heading east. (In retrospect I should probably have headed down Dufferin, and crawled onto the Gardiner). It took an extra 45-minutes to get home. Never again! I doubt it's improved since they built all those condos along Liberty Street.

I was at one game this season where my brother who lives nearby chose to drive, while I took the GO train. I got on the train about 5 minutes before he pulled out. I was up in the stands for a good half-hour before he appeared - parking seems more of a challenge with both Ontario Place lots closed. (before he had kids, he used to cycle ... and yes, that was faster).

dowlingm said:
A lot less available transit at Dodgers Stadium, ironically. They are proposing to build a gondola...
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LOL!

The big problem with Dodger stadium is that it is literally in a sea of parking lots. You almost need rapid transit from the far edge of the parking lots to the stadium! It's only about 700 metres from the edge of the parking lot to Chinatown Station on the A line - but they've never put in the infrastructure - so you have to walk nearly 2 km with no sidewalk. Which might be faster than being stuck in the post-game traffic jam - if there were actually sidewalks.

Heck, it's only 1,400 metres to Union Station - if they built a staircase - but they can't even be bothered to build a sidewalk. And probably fine walking from the stadium - but it's quite the climb - because they built the damn thing on a mountain! And people complain about Rogers Stadium.

1762211825440.png

My gosh though - the development opportunities.
 
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I wonder if UPX actually has a limitation on extra late night service which the other lines don’t, since its northern terminus is on GTAA property and presumably the current timings are based on when GTAA has sufficient security in the station area to manage any issues. Once Woodbine is built presumably Metrolinx could choose to terminate there in situations where GTAA wanted to close shop?
 
nfitz said:
The big problem with Dodger stadium is that it is literally in a sea of parking lots. You almost need rapid transit from the far edge of the parking lots to the stadium! It's only about 700 metres from the edge of the parking lot to Chinatown Station on the A line - but they've never put in the infrastructure - so you have to walk nearly 2 km with no sidewalk. Which might be faster than being stuck in the post-game traffic jam - if there were actually sidewalks.

Heck, it's only 1,400 metres to Union Station - if they built a staircase - but they can't even be bothered to build a sidewalk. And probably fine walking from the stadium - but it's quite the climb - because they built the damn thing on a mountain! And people complain about Rogers Stadium.
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The one time I was taken to Dodger stadium, I was impressed with how easy the drive in and out was. Quite unlike other venues that have convoluted crawls to the Freeway (Amalie Arena, I'm looking at you)

There was a bus shuttle advertised from LAUPT to the stadium for today's victory rally.

- Paul
 
nfitz said:
I'm there at least 15 times to 20 times a year, for over 15 years. Including when there's been 40,000 there (in the 2016 playoffs).

TTC service is normally excellent - I'm not sure what went wrong - but I do try and avoid the Dufferin bus because it's so crap. And if I do take it, I'm certainly using the app to make sure there's one coming. If there's a 45-minute just pay the extra 40¢ and take the GO train to the subway.

The Ossington bus has never failed me, even during the G20 rioting - though if there is none coming I'd keep walking up Atlantic to King and catch the 504. The GO train is fantastic, now it runs more than once an hour. Every 15-minutes for Saturday games, and they often toss in an extra on weeknights when the frequency is only 30 minutes.

And even though the crowd for the streetcar can look big, the worst I've had is not getting on the one that was already stopped to load before I got there (and that was with the short CLRV cars). Another one is there quick, and they usually have extras sitting at Exhibition loop for the crowds. I just take a 509 or 510, whichever one looks less busy (usually the 510 to Bathurst station).

I've driven once to a TFC game. Driving there wasn't too bad. But I parked in the lot on the north side of the tracks, in Liberty Village. Trying to come home was a nightmare, heading east. (In retrospect I should probably have headed down Dufferin, and crawled onto the Gardiner). It took an extra 45-minutes to get home. Never again! I doubt it's improved since they built all those condos along Liberty Street.

I was at one game this season where my brother who lives nearby chose to drive, while I took the GO train. I got on the train about 5 minutes before he pulled out. I was up in the stands for a good half-hour before he appeared - parking seems more of a challenge with both Ontario Place lots closed. (before he had kids, he used to cycle ... and yes, that was faster).


LOL!

The big problem with Dodger stadium is that it is literally in a sea of parking lots. You almost need rapid transit from the far edge of the parking lots to the stadium! It's only about 700 metres from the edge of the parking lot to Chinatown Station on the A line - but they've never put in the infrastructure - so you have to walk nearly 2 km with no sidewalk. Which might be faster than being stuck in the post-game traffic jam - if there were actually sidewalks.

Heck, it's only 1,400 metres to Union Station - if they built a staircase - but they can't even be bothered to build a sidewalk. And probably fine walking from the stadium - but it's quite the climb - because they built the damn thing on a mountain! And people complain about Rogers Stadium.

View attachment 693087
My gosh though - the development opportunities.
Click to expand...

That image instantly reminded me of Homer the Great.
 
crs1026 said:
I don't disagree, but I learned a new internal Metrolinx acronym this week : MVP.

No it's not baseball, it stands for "Minimum Viable Product". ie how little can we build without completely walking back GO Expansion.
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The term Minimum Viable Product comes from tech, and the idea is that you should launch something (the minimum that's useful to someone) as soon as possible, and then iteratively expand and improve in response to feedback. Rather than making people wait years while you build the (supposedly) perfect product.

I'm not sure how much the feedback part is useful for Metrolinx, 15min two-way all-day is a pretty obvious end state. But the idea of get incremental improvements out as soon as possible isn't a bad idea.

Whether Metrolinx can competently execute this, or truly understands the MVP process, is of course another question entirely. But I don't think it's an inherently terrible idea.
 
Someone pointed out on Reddit that one reason the game would not have been brought forward is Japanese TV viewership - game start would have been 9.07am there if the online calculator I tried is correct.
 
dowlingm said:
I wonder if UPX actually has a limitation on extra late night service which the other lines don’t, since its northern terminus is on GTAA property and presumably the current timings are based on when GTAA has sufficient security in the station area to manage any issues. Once Woodbine is built presumably Metrolinx could choose to terminate there in situations where GTAA wanted to close shop?
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To the best of my knowledge there is no such restriction from the GTAA, as the airport terminals are open 24 hours in any event. And pre-COVID, the last trains were scheduled to run around 2am.

Dan
 
dowlingm said:
I wonder if UPX actually has a limitation on extra late night service which the other lines don’t, since its northern terminus is on GTAA property and presumably the current timings are based on when GTAA has sufficient security in the station area to manage any issues. Once Woodbine is built presumably Metrolinx could choose to terminate there in situations where GTAA wanted to close shop?
Click to expand...

Eh. It's not like UPX drops you right inside the airport terminal. The station is between the parking garage, and the terminal building. If there were concerns about late night access from the UPX station, than there would be the same concerns re. the parking garage, and I don't believe the parking garage closes at any time nor is there security preventing access to the airport from the garage during the overnight hours.

FWIW, the initial plan (at least to my memory) was for the UPX to provide service from just before the first flight departure of the day to just after the last arrival of the day. There are a handful of departures between midnight and 1 am (these can arguably be covered by the previous day's UPX schedule. Then start up again at 6 am. The last arrivals are scheduled around 3am (there is a ~2 hr gap from the last 2 am arrival and the next bank of arrivals around 6am. So a UPX service day could reasonably run 24/7 but realistically from around 4am (to get people to the airport in time to check in for their 6 am flights) to 1am. And, looking at their website the last train leaves Pearson at 0:57 am and the first train arrives at Pearson at 5:20 am
 
I wrote more about UP Express’ changing role, and what needs to be done. If only we had clear plans and public transparency at Metrolinx and Queen’s Park.

Right now, UP Express looks to be the unholy spawn of SmartTrack.

seanmarshall.ca

The revenge of SmartTrack

Metrolinx is looking to serve new Kitchener Line SmartTrack stations with its UP Express trains only. It’s only fair that the transit agency comes clean to transit riders on how it will make …
seanmarshall.ca seanmarshall.ca
 
ShonTron said:
I wrote more about UP Express’ changing role, and what needs to be done. If only we had clear plans and public transparency at Metrolinx and Queen’s Park.

Right now, UP Express looks to be the unholy spawn of SmartTrack.

seanmarshall.ca

The revenge of SmartTrack

Metrolinx is looking to serve new Kitchener Line SmartTrack stations with its UP Express trains only. It’s only fair that the transit agency comes clean to transit riders on how it will make …
seanmarshall.ca seanmarshall.ca
Click to expand...
Not sure I would be giving SmartTrack's existence any credit at all while the clown with the radio show is still dancing around the possibility of running again
 
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