hw621
Senior Member
It seems ION is running way more smoothly that Ottawa
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Waterloo Region Transit Developments (ION LRT, new terminal, GRT buses)
W. K. Lis
Superstar
ION opened earlier in the year.
tmlittle
Active Member
This is a really important aspect and I hope operators of future systems take note. The ION launch and bus network reconfiguration took place in late June, when most students were gone, and the people using transit were from demographics like commuters, seniors, ODSP, etc. These people who are usually older and more likely to rely on memorized routes, paper maps, and help point information got the benefit of staff being able to help them efficiently, while students (who probably more or less universally use Google Maps to plan routes) were able to adapt without problems to the now-existing system. In contrast, the Ottawa system launched only a few weeks into the new school term, and seems to have been much more chaotic overall.
robmausser
Senior Member
It also has way less ridership. Crush loads can cause a lot of problems, like door issues,
Leo_Chan
Senior Member
It is also important to mention that the ION LRT is basically a brand new route that no previous bus routes entirely ran on, so the ridership has to build up as people learn to change their commute to make use of it. On the other hand, the Confederation LRT is a direct replacement of an existing corridor of many bus routes, and those bus routes have been mostly disconnected, so everyone who were using those routes now have to use the LRT. These two are completely different situations with significantly different expected and real results and usage.
Haljackey
Active Member
From the 401 widening thread- found a PDF for phase 2 of ION:
urbantoronto.ca
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I was reviewing Phase 2 plans for Waterloo Region's ION LRT and I noticed it runs along King Street between Highway 8 and 401
I also see the proposed flyovers missing from the 8/401 interchange in the plans. Probably part of a separate project? That area of King is already a mess- would be even crazier with the LRT without these put in. Should be done first if possible
Link:
Roads: Highway 401 Widening - Highway 8 to Highway 410 (MTO, U/C, Planned)
I wouldn't be surprised if we see some more 400 widenings moving up towards Bradford. I believe the entire 400 is going to be "widened" up to Hwy 9 other than like a small 2km stretch in a few years due to interchange rebuilds, I imagine MTO will simply build the remaining 2km and bring the HOVs...
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I was reviewing Phase 2 plans for Waterloo Region's ION LRT and I noticed it runs along King Street between Highway 8 and 401
I also see the proposed flyovers missing from the 8/401 interchange in the plans. Probably part of a separate project? That area of King is already a mess- would be even crazier with the LRT without these put in. Should be done first if possible
Link:
jordanmkasla2009
Active Member
plans for that interchange project aren't finalized and so they aren't included in the preliminary designs.From the 401 widening thread- found a PDF for phase 2 of ION:
Roads: Highway 401 Widening - Highway 8 to Highway 410 (MTO, U/C, Planned)
I wouldn't be surprised if we see some more 400 widenings moving up towards Bradford. I believe the entire 400 is going to be "widened" up to Hwy 9 other than like a small 2km stretch in a few years due to interchange rebuilds, I imagine MTO will simply build the remaining 2km and bring the HOVs...
-----
I was reviewing Phase 2 plans for Waterloo Region's ION LRT and I noticed it runs along King Street between Highway 8 and 401
I also see the proposed flyovers missing from the 8/401 interchange in the plans. Probably part of a separate project? That area of King is already a mess- would be even crazier with the LRT without these put in. Should be done first if possible
Link:
jordanmkasla2009
Active Member
ION was a direct replacement of the leg of the 200 iXpress bus route between Fairview Park Mall and Conestoga Mall..
smallspy
Senior Member
jordanmkasla2009
Active Member
I can say from personal experience that around 2-3 PM ION vehicles get quite full. Perhaps not crush loaded but pretty darn close.
Streety McCarface
Senior Member
UW Has a mixed CO-OP System, meaning most students alternate between a co op term and a study term. Almost Half of the campus was probably still studying during the summer.
The line has many different sections, Central and University see the most crush loading, but only at very specific times (when workers are released from the google buildings, or when the GO train arrives on Friday at Central, and after certain classes all days at UW)
jordanmkasla2009
Active Member
Cameron Heights and KCI let out at around that time and both school's students flood Kitchener Market and Grand River Hospital stations.
tmlittle
Active Member
Co-op is a significant factor in load balancing, but not all students are at UW, and not all UW students are in co-op. Laurier and high schools are both significant factors (I don't think Laurier has co-op to such a significant extent -- I am a UW alumnus and am pretty aware of co-op dynamics, but I'm not very informed about what goes on at Laurier, especially nowadays). When I first rode the system Block Line station didn't make sense to me except as a transfer station/relief station for Fairway, until I spent some time around there when St. Mary's students were getting out of school and I saw the army of passengers in school uniforms marching across the bridge over the rail yard to get to the train station. One of the good aspects of GRT, in my opinion, is that it's not driven by student ridership to the same extent as (e.g.) Guelph Transit, so year-round ridership is a little bit more stable, and, I assume, easier to plan around.
Streety McCarface
Senior Member
Speaking of High School students, the fact that they're getting rid of the student discount is honestly the dumbest thing they can do. A huge portion of GRT's paying ridership outside of UPass users come from students (I know because I'd commute to and from WCI each day, and we packed up every bus for at least half an hour on 10 separate bus routes once school was out, and we were just one school).
tmlittle
Active Member
I understand where they're coming from with the LIT (lol) scheme, but I'm extremely cynical about means testing, and eliminating all the various discounts in favour of a general low-income means-tested one annoys me. I'm friends with a few people in social services and their response is pretty universally negative, a lot of the people they deal with day-to-day aren't exactly on the CRA's radar, have little to no income, but have no proof of that either, and generally live "off the grid" (as most homeless people do). The current scheme was never sustainable with its extremely long waiting list, but if the Region had only committed the funds to a real low-income pass in addition to the current discounts, they'd have had easy guaranteed ridership. Now many of these people will probably just walk, ride (honestly possibly stolen) bikes, or simply not travel at all. This is also no way to induce ridership in Cambridge (which realistically is a place where many poor people live) in advance of Stage 2 LRT.