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+--- Thread: Intercity bus transportation (/showthread.php?tid=1616)
RE: Intercity bus transportation - danbrotherston - 10-16-2022
(10-16-2022, 02:58 PM)ac3r Wrote: That's a shame. I never regularly took a bus that stopped in Guelph but I'm curious, are the buses full enough to warrant GRT and/or Guelph Transit just adding a route a few times a day? It would be very handy and although Guelph isn't part of Waterloo Region they're so close they might as well be part of us so a connection would be nice. It's no further away than the distance between Waterloo and Cambridge.
"A few times a day"...
They'd do much better to run regular bus service.
There's huge travel between KW and Guelph...it's why people believe they should expand the highway.
But we refuse to invest in high quality frequent transit service.
RE: Intercity bus transportation - neonjoe - 10-16-2022
Yeah this needs to happen asap
https://linkthewatershedtransit.wordpress.com/
RE: Intercity bus transportation - ac3r - 10-16-2022
(10-16-2022, 03:26 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:(10-16-2022, 02:58 PM)ac3r Wrote: That's a shame. I never regularly took a bus that stopped in Guelph but I'm curious, are the buses full enough to warrant GRT and/or Guelph Transit just adding a route a few times a day? It would be very handy and although Guelph isn't part of Waterloo Region they're so close they might as well be part of us so a connection would be nice. It's no further away than the distance between Waterloo and Cambridge.
"A few times a day"...
They'd do much better to run regular bus service.
There's huge travel between KW and Guelph...it's why people believe they should expand the highway.
But we refuse to invest in high quality frequent transit service.
If the ridership is there then I'd love to see local transit agencies run buses then. Even if at the start it was just a single bus in each direction (so 2x) departing every hour it would be so useful. But better yet, a more frequent schedule would be amazing...say every 15, 25 or 30 minutes. A route with that frequency would be so helpful for people opening up opportunities for employment, education, socialization, recreation etc. When the population of Waterloo Region and Guelph is combined, we've got about 800'000 people between us which is even larger than Mississauga.
The lack of transit in this country is truly abysmal. It's especially pathetic in Southern Ontario where we've got about 13.5 million people - 35% of the Canadian population - living within less than an 800 kilometer wide area yet you're basically forced to drive everywhere and not even because we lack good trains (we definitely do) but because we don't even have intercity buses in the most important and populace area of one of the main G7 nations.
RE: Intercity bus transportation - ijmorlan - 10-16-2022
And then everybody talks about how good transit is “impossible” because Canada is so spread out. I mean, sure, we’re not going to run LRT to every village in Nunavut, but around here we have tons of people to justify transit construction.
RE: Intercity bus transportation - nms - 10-18-2022
If I recall correctly, is there some barrier about provincial funding for transit that prevents transit services from crossing municipal boundaries? While Waterloo paid Kitchener for the Kitchener Transit service (and that may have pre-dated whatever provincial rules now exist), I understood that transit service between Kitchener and Cambridge didn't really happen until Waterloo Region took over transit.
Maybe if Guelph Transit and GRT each committed to sending two express buses each between the Kitchener train station and the Guelph station on a half-hourly-ish schedule, that would call GO Transit's bluff increase inter-city transit in the Region that didn't have to include a stop in Aberfoyle/Morriston. Or (not to get greedy) at least Kitchener - Breslau - West Guelph - Downtown Guelph?
And if that worked, do the same that went Galt - Hespeler - Guelph along Highway 24/124?
RE: Intercity bus transportation - ijmorlan - 10-19-2022
(10-18-2022, 11:55 PM)nms Wrote: If I recall correctly, is there some barrier about provincial funding for transit that prevents transit services from crossing municipal boundaries? While Waterloo paid Kitchener for the Kitchener Transit service (and that may have pre-dated whatever provincial rules now exist), I understood that transit service between Kitchener and Cambridge didn't really happen until Waterloo Region took over transit.
I don’t know the actual rules, but that sounds like an excuse. If two adjacent municipalities want a joint service, then even if there is a hard rule about crossing the boundary, they could each run service to an island platform with one curb in each jurisdiction, and schedule the buses to arrive and depart simultaneously in both directions.
In the old days this sort of situation would probably evolve into a new town developing at the transfer point, but I’m sure zoning and planning have that sufficiently locked down that no organic growth would ever occur now.
RE: Intercity bus transportation - KevinL - 10-19-2022
There are lots of routes that cross borders in the denser GTA; the TTC has buses to Pearson Airport in Mississauga (and the subway now has stations in Vaughan), Durham Transit has buses to Scarborough Centre, and many other examples. I don't see why similar cross service can't happen in our area.
RE: Intercity bus transportation - neonjoe - 10-19-2022
Before deregulation of intercity transit each operator needed a license for routes over boundaries. This is why Cambridge and Kitchener transit didn’t cross over. There were only a few ways to cross from Kitchener into Cambridge and Greyhound and Trentway Wager had those locked down.
Now there is really no reason why not. Even Perth county runs routes into KW
RE: Intercity bus transportation - nms - 10-23-2022
How many letters will it take to launch a joint Guelph-Kitchener bus service? Perhaps using the same buses that are currently in use for the Fairway to Cambridge express bus route?
RE: Intercity bus transportation - Bytor - 10-25-2022
(10-23-2022, 08:39 PM)nms Wrote: How many letters will it take to launch a joint Guelph-Kitchener bus service? Perhaps using the same buses that are currently in use for the Fairway to Cambridge express bus route?
Why would the use the GRT ION-branded busses for a Kitchener→Guelph bus route?
RE: Intercity bus transportation - panamaniac - 10-25-2022
(10-25-2022, 03:17 PM)Bytor Wrote:(10-23-2022, 08:39 PM)nms Wrote: How many letters will it take to launch a joint Guelph-Kitchener bus service? Perhaps using the same buses that are currently in use for the Fairway to Cambridge express bus route?
Why would the use the GRT ION-branded busses for a Kitchener→Guelph bus route?
Why not?
RE: Intercity bus transportation - nms - 10-25-2022
I was thinking more specifically of the model of bus rather than one that was branded with the for the ION. According to the GRT website:
Quote:ION buses have a number of special features:
- USB charging stations
- Wifi
- High-back seating
- Tinted, flush-mounted windows
- Aluminum wheels
- High-visibility white destination sign
RE: Intercity bus transportation - ac3r - 10-26-2022
It would make sense to brand it ION. It is a BRT system too.
RE: Intercity bus transportation - Bytor - 10-26-2022
(10-26-2022, 05:42 PM)ac3r Wrote: It would make sense to brand it ION. It is a BRT system too.
ION isn't really BRT, though.
* no pre-pay and all-door boarding
* no dedicated lanes
* no signal priority except that one place at Sportsworld.
It's just an regular express route.
RE: Intercity bus transportation - ijmorlan - 10-27-2022
(10-26-2022, 09:37 PM)Bytor Wrote:(10-26-2022, 05:42 PM)ac3r Wrote: It would make sense to brand it ION. It is a BRT system too.
ION isn't really BRT, though.
* no pre-pay and all-door boarding
* no dedicated lanes
* no signal priority except that one place at Sportsworld.
It's just an regular express route.
Agreed, and it’s a perfect example of how BRT can be watered down to nothingness. Not to say that anybody ever promised (that I can recall) that it would be real BRT, but if an LRT is promised it’s much harder to get away with a system that doesn’t really qualify. Although given how slowly ours runs in a few places, the Region appears to be giving it a try … but they’re forgetting the part where the watering down is supposed to save money so there is more money available for cars.