Toronto Union Station Revitalization | ?m | ?s | City of Toronto | NORR

This is the email I sent to GO Transit's Safety Officer.

TO: Bill Grodzinski

Hello,

The coaches in York concourse is dangerously overloaded while the coaches in the middle is empty.

Also, the lack of presto machines in the Bay teamways is causing too many people to overload York.

This is a serious safety issue, please read:
http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/thread...italization-city-of-to-u-c-norr.4308/page-160

Please expedite the Presto machines into the Bay concourse.
-- Move the Presto machines inside the closed concourse
-- Mount them to temporary concrete blocks
-- Dangle power/Ethernet cables from the bleachers of York concourse
-- Connect them.
-- Done!

Thanks,
Mark Rejhon​
 
The lack of enough Presto tap-on machines, and platform display screens, in the Bay West Teamway has been creating huge bottlenecks. Serious issue. Lots of complaints to GO on twitter, and they've been saying that they're working as fast as they can to install more.

Just today, however, I was browsing through their tweets and saw they have changed their response to say "Adding more [Presto tap-on] machines may not be possible at Bay [West Teamway]". Is it honestly physically impossible to put any more in? Incredible.

I am not sure if this is related, but you may find it interesting to know:

I was passing through the Bay West teamway yesterday and I noticed that there are quite a few network drops being installed in the ceiling at the south end of the teamway. This would indicate that some form of infrastructure is planned for this area; be it fare machines, Presto readers, platform screens, or other I am not sure. These network drops are not yet complete, however the conduit has been installed and the ethernet cabled pulled.(I have circled these points in the attached pictures.)

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EDIT: 2015-11-30 -- It turns out that these CAT5 drops were mounting points for CCTV. Many cameras! :)
 

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Updated closure map, concourse level, current as of August 22, 2015.

UnionToronto_ConcourseLevel_Current-20150822.jpeg

EDIT: Updated map to include closure of exit to York St from NW retail.
 

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I am not sure if this is related, but you may find it interesting to know:

I was passing through the Bay West teamway yesterday and I noticed that there are quite a few network drops being installed in the ceiling at the south end of the teamway. This would indicate that some form of infrastructure is planned for this area; be it fare machines, Presto readers, platform screens, or other I am not sure. These network drops are not yet complete, however the conduit has been installed and the ethernet cabled pulled.(I have circled these points in the attached pictures.)

img_20150822_191258-jpg.53285


Those are TV mounts below the network boxes.

These pictures really bring to light how dilapidated the teamways are. I can't believe that these aren't part of restoring the station. Why would they be left out? If not, why haven't we heard anything in the plans?
 
These pictures really bring to light how dilapidated the teamways are. I can't believe that these aren't part of restoring the station. Why would they be left out? If not, why haven't we heard anything in the plans?

Maybe they will do some work on them once the Bay terminal are is finished.
 
Those are TV mounts below the network boxes.

Aha! Okay that explains the location of the power outlets. There is a new power outlet installed high on the wall near every set of TV mounts/network drops. If I recall correctly, every "set" has the following: one (1) "two-plug" power outlet, two (2) TV mounts, and three (3) network drops.

Does anybody know if PRESTO terminals are POE (power-over-ethernet)?
 
I passed through Union Station after a quick weekend trip to Ottawa. I walked through the old Bay Concourse between the VIA arrivals area and the subway; it is wonderfully eerie.

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What get me is why have all these so called "helpers" directing pedestrians when they should have equipped them with Presto readers and help clear the lineups proactively instead.

AoD
 
Wow Union Station is ugly on the inside! I don't take GO, but the lack of Presto readers is rather disturbing. It's not like the TTC where the Presto penetration is low. I imagine almost all regular GO commuters use Presto.
 
These pictures really bring to light how dilapidated the teamways are. I can't believe that these aren't part of restoring the station. Why would they be left out? If not, why haven't we heard anything in the plans?
I may be in the minority, but I like the scruffy walls (spray paint and all) juxtaposed with the clean strips of bright LED lights.
 

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