ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[MidTowner]

I actually really like it. It's super simple, but contains the information you need.

But ... weren't the trains supposed to run every 7.5 minutes at peak times?

I think this should have been an inset to the full schedule. There are a lot of reasons why someone might want to know, for instance, the travel time between two particular stations. And even ten-minute frequency is not quite enough for people to just show up at the station for all trips- I can imagine some riders wanting to know specific time points some of the time.

[Acitta]

Ion train defects delay higher-frequency LRT service in Waterloo, Kitchener

[MidTowner]

It's disappointing that GRT wouldn't have simply stated this when the fall schedules were released last week, instead of trying to ignore it. Most people were probably aware that the train was operating on a summer schedule, and that headways would improve in September.

I can't understand the mentality that tells GRT to hide information from its customers, instead of just plainly telling us what the problem is, what solutions are being tried, and what outcome when is expected.

[robdrimmie]

I can't understand the mentality that tells GRT to hide information from its customers, instead of just plainly telling us what the problem is, what solutions are being tried, and what outcome when is expected.

I think that tax-funded, highly visible and somewhat contentious organizations like GRT are strongly incentivized to not discuss problems. There are plenty of people who feel strongly that public transit is a waste of money, and a lot more that feel that way specifically about ION. Sometimes that fails and the problem is announced and there is egg on faces, but we have no idea how many times the strategy of secrecy keeps them from another shitty CTV article, or hordes of people posting garbage on Facebook or whatever.

I very much agree with you that this form of secrecy is a garbage tactic, but I can understand why they do it even though I think it's wrong for many reasons. One of which is that it means I'm disincentivized to advocate for them because of the chance that I do and then contradictory information they've sat on comes out and makes me look stupid for defending what occasionally presents as incompetence.

[MidTowner]

I appreciate that perspective and can understand that GRT might naturally have a culture of hiding since it is subject to a lot of criticism, and might not want to give more ammunition. I wonder whether it is ever spared controversy by this approach. In this case, it was pretty obvious to anyone with much knowledge at all that the new September timetable was offside of the project agreement, and so something- we could only speculate- must be wrong. It seems inevitable that someone from the media would eventually dig and find out the answer.

This same culture seems linked to the one that has handled the EasyGO roll-out so poorly. I think the course should have been to admit to the system's many many flaws and promise to address them when able. At least in my experience with GRT staff (not all, but many), the view is to keep parroting the "reasons" for the inconveniences as though they were immutable laws of reality, and not flaws in a system that really will need to be addressed eventually.

[timio]

The continuous improvement ethos that DevOps espouses is hard to pick up for many people, both technical and non.

While I accept the value of releasing the minimum viable product (MVP) and iterating with new features and improvements, others aren't as patient or understanding. It's hard to build in this mentality to contacts, I'm guessing, so we end up with overengineered crap as the initial (and in many cases, final) release because the relationship with the developers is temporary.

[MidTowner]

I think that if, in the case of EasyGO, an MVP had been released with the caveat that it was going to be improved based on user feedback, most people would be accepting of that.

Most riders want to like GRT and want to see it succeed. There would be frustration, sure, but if the message were repeated "this will be improved" down the line at every opportunity, it would be much abated.

[robdrimmie]

I hope that the fact that they did a beta for GRTEasyGoFareCard suggests they'll do more of the same in the future. I had no bad experiences during that period, but given the challenges they've had since launch I'm very grateful they got at least some hiccoughs out of the way early.

[tomh009]

I think that if, in the case of EasyGO, an MVP had been released with the caveat that it was going to be improved based on user feedback, most people would be accepting of that.

Most riders want to like GRT and want to see it succeed. There would be frustration, sure, but if the message were repeated "this will be improved" down the line at every opportunity, it would be much abated.

A poor first impression still impacts many people's perceptions, so in many cases that drives decision-makers to scale up the MVP to a more highly functional level.

[CuilTard]

Ion train defects delay higher-frequency LRT service in Waterloo, Kitchener

One of the article's claims is that,

"Payment readers have been finicky, leading to the installation of fare card holders."

But I thought these holders have been discussed before, as a good idea and independent of any payment reader issues?

https://twitter.com/GRT_ROW/status/1154396132362969088

[bgb_ca]

Something going on downtown? The platform announcement said shuttle busses are running on charles.

[danbrotherston]

Something going on downtown? The platform announcement said shuttle busses are running on charles.

I can see trains running on Charles now, the train that passed reported on the radio that previously reported collision at Charles and Water is cleared--not sure if an LRV was involved, it doesn't sound like it, the dispatcher reported speed restrictions were lifted and operations are back to normal.  I also saw an ambulance southbound on Charles earlier.

[panamaniac]

Something going on downtown? The platform announcement said shuttle busses are running on charles.

I can see trains running on Charles now, the train that passed reported on the radio that previously reported collision at Charles and Water is cleared--not sure if an LRV was involved, it doesn't sound like it, the dispatcher reported speed restrictions were lifted and operations are back to normal.  I also saw an ambulance southbound on Charles earlier.

"East"bound? 

[danbrotherston]

I can see trains running on Charles now, the train that passed reported on the radio that previously reported collision at Charles and Water is cleared--not sure if an LRV was involved, it doesn't sound like it, the dispatcher reported speed restrictions were lifted and operations are back to normal.  I also saw an ambulance southbound on Charles earlier.

"East"bound? 

Charles is a regional road, and the region uses waterloo compass directions, not Kitchener.  of course the road is still labeled east west. 

Really I shouldn't have used any cardinal directions.

[ert86]

I was at the CNE (Argo tickets meant free admission onto the grounds) on Friday. I had taken my car to the 407-ETR subway station, then the subway to Union Station, then the LRT to the CNE.

Anyway, I was amazed at how many pressed the "Stop Request" button. The LRT is stopping at all LRT stations regardless. Even for Union Station someone pressed the "Stop Request" button.

I do prefer the seat set-up to our Ion, it's a little different, and has a few more 'private seats' than our trains (as in, people not facing on another as much).  Another difference, and I am not sure why this is true, but the TTC LRT is constantly honking a motorists. The Union LRT loop I don't believe shares the road anywhere, but obviously it crosses path quite a bit, and motorists can't seem to see the train. No accidents though, if the horn is going off constantly. I wonder if perhaps at intersections the Ion should start honking regardless, being that there are so many ignorant drivers on our roads.

The booth seating is the worst, always see people using the other as a foot rest. At least on the bus there's a gap under it and some use that instead.