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+--- Thread: Grand River Transit (/showthread.php?tid=13)
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RE: Grand River Transit - Bob_McBob - 02-21-2018
Does anyone know why there are a bunch of GRT buses parked in the lot behind the old Waterloo North Hydro building at Northfield and University? Is it just storage for retired vehicles?
RE: Grand River Transit - trainspotter139 - 02-21-2018
(02-21-2018, 02:01 AM)Bob_McBob Wrote: Does anyone know why there are a bunch of GRT buses parked in the lot behind the old Waterloo North Hydro building at Northfield and University? Is it just storage for retired vehicles?
Possibly. GRT owns the site now as part of the plans for a new garage to be built there. They retired a bunch of buses over the last few months so my guess is they needed some place to put them before they are taken away by new owners or scrapped.
RE: Grand River Transit - bgb_ca - 02-21-2018
And if anyone is interested in the tech specs of the cards, it looks like they are using MiFare DESFire cards. (https://www.mifare.net/en/products/chip-card-ics/mifare-desfire/). Not sure if it EV1 or EV2 as my reader is not that sensitive, but I would guess EV1 as EV2 has only been out about 2 years.
RE: Grand River Transit - KevinT - 02-21-2018
(02-21-2018, 10:06 AM)bgb_ca Wrote: And if anyone is interested in the tech specs of the cards, it looks like they are using MiFare DESFire cards. (https://www.mifare.net/en/products/chip-card-ics/mifare-desfire/). Not sure if it EV1 or EV2 as my reader is not that sensitive, but I would guess EV1 as EV2 has only been out about 2 years.
Excellent, that's what Presto uses, so the possibility exists to migrate to a common province-wide system someday without changing all the hardware. :-)
RE: Grand River Transit - Bob_McBob - 02-21-2018
(02-21-2018, 03:24 AM)trainspotter139 Wrote:(02-21-2018, 02:01 AM)Bob_McBob Wrote: Does anyone know why there are a bunch of GRT buses parked in the lot behind the old Waterloo North Hydro building at Northfield and University? Is it just storage for retired vehicles?
Possibly. GRT owns the site now as part of the plans for a new garage to be built there. They retired a bunch of buses over the last few months so my guess is they needed some place to put them before they are taken away by new owners or scrapped.
That explains why there are so many buses there and why they just started demolishing the existing building.
RE: Grand River Transit - KevinT - 02-21-2018
Just noticed this on the EasyGO faq page:
Quote:14. Can GO train riders still get the 50¢ Connect-to-GO fare?
GO Transit riders with a valid Presto card can have a Connect-to-GO flag set on their EasyGO fare card. When you tap to board the bus, the full fare will be deducted from your balance. When you tap on a device at the Central Station ION stop, your card will be reimbursed.
To have the Connect-to-GO flag set on your EasyGO fare card, you will need to provide your Presto card number.
So if you arrive at the Via station to catch your GO train on a 4, 8, 6, 20, or 204 iXpress bus, you have to walk two blocks over and back to an ION Central Station platform to obtain your $0.50 discount? Awkward!
RE: Grand River Transit - Canard - 02-21-2018
That does not sound “Easy”.
RE: Grand River Transit - timio - 02-21-2018
Not considering those who might arrive by GO bus to Charles Street, Laurier, or UWaterloo either. Downfall of not integrating with Presto. Maybe someday.
RE: Grand River Transit - KevinL - 02-21-2018
Can we convince them to put a temporary connect-fare device at the current train station? If you don't board a GRT bus or Ion within a set limit, the discount gets undone.
RE: Grand River Transit - danbrotherston - 02-21-2018
To be fair, long term, both GO Train and GO Busses at Charles St. Terminal will be relocated to Central Station. But it is too bad that they don't make the transfer more seamless. You should be able to scan your EasyGo card on the GO Transit vehicle to get the discount.
RE: Grand River Transit - chutten - 02-21-2018
And what if you don't pay with Presto?
RE: Grand River Transit - danbrotherston - 02-21-2018
(02-21-2018, 08:46 PM)chutten Wrote: And what if you don't pay with Presto?
Is this a question for me? I'm not sure what the payment method on GO Transit would matter, it wouldn't stop you from tapping your EasyGo card. They should be able to set it up so that GO Transit's equipment will validate that an EasyGO card user has actually boarded (or deboarded) a GO Transit vehicle.
I suppose it would allow the particularly dedicated fraudsters to walk up to the GO Train platform and tap there, before continuing on their journey, but it's still better than the planned system.
Edit: Never mind, I realize you're asking about the original system, where you must give your presto card number to GRT/EasyGO.
To be honest, I think most of the GO Transit Transfer discounts are only available through presto anyway. I don't really have a big problem with this. Yes, it's another way that being poor might cost more, but compared with other ways, this is small. But I'm sure others will disagree. Although, I'll point out, that my suggestion does not suffer from a requirement to have a Presto Card.
RE: Grand River Transit - KevinL - 02-21-2018
All other GO Transit co-fares are managed via Presto, yes. Any other payment method will not grant a discount.
RE: Grand River Transit - Pheidippides - 02-23-2018
Planning and works agenda has a MovingForward (20XX) update.
Has a few interesting points. Including this proposed rapid transit network map with Ion phase 3 (BRT):
And implementing a frequent transit network providing 10-min or better frequency, all-day, by 2041.
RE: Grand River Transit - Canard - 02-23-2018
Question: If it's just buses... why would this be something that couldn't just be implemented immediately?