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(02-17-2020, 02:56 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: I have availed myself of the free transit weekends most of the weekends this month. I must say I have seen a far larger number of children on the train than I usually do. However, I rarely rode it on weekends before. Does anyone know if this is typical, or if we are seeing a really big surge.
I think this is probably a big surge, which really shows the current fare structure is a huge obstacle to families using the LRT. Cars (even when people think otherwise) are almost always more expensive than transit. But for a family of four, transit probably is going to be more expensive than almost all driving scenarios using a single car.
My family has taken advantage of the free transit a few times this month, including one trip as the entire family. We have almost never done this, as there are no trips we take within the Region (given cheap parking) that are less expensive by transit than by car. We only have the one car, so if one parent wants to get somewhere with one or two of the kids, we'll take the bus or train for that. I'm thinking that the last time we took transit all of us together was shortly after the Ion started running.
Two of my kids and I encountered friends of ours downtown on Saturday while we were waiting for a bus, and they had apparently taken the train to the market for the first time ever, and the kid was pretty excited about it. I know of a couple of other trips that were planned by acquaintances, specifically so the kids could have the experience of taking the train.
I had an e-mail exchange with a Regional Councillor back in September when staff was proposing to eliminate concession fares for children and seniors to help pay for the new low-income transit pass. At first, the wording in staff's report made it unclear even to the councillor whether concession fares for elementary students were to be eliminated. When it was clear that they would be, the justification was in part that so few kids take transit that it the impact could be considered small.
That seemed backwards to me, but so it is. In a lot of ways, GRT is a commuter system, and its fare structure is just one of them. I think the family pass is a good product, along with the summer pass (though it's still not exactly cheap).
Anyway, good observation, I expect that one positive from these free weekends are that a lot of kids are getting exposure to transit.
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02-18-2020, 11:25 AM
(This post was last modified: 02-18-2020, 11:27 AM by ac3r.)
(02-18-2020, 01:09 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: (02-17-2020, 11:01 PM)plam Wrote: Montreal has that now. Don't think it did when I was a kid.
http://www.stm.info/en/info/fares/specia...ly-outings
1 adult + 5 children up to and including age 11 ride free Friday evening - Sunday, school break, summer, and the holidays.
Boston's MBTA had free companion rides on Sundays for those with passes I think.
GO Transit and TTC have that soundly beat: Children 12 and under are always free.
I think children 12 and under should get a free ride. That's at the right age where they're still kids (as opposed to perhaps someone who is 13+ who starts to take the bus to middle school). It's a good way to get a child introduced to transit and let them have a fun time taking the bus or train around, while perhaps learning the economic, environmental and planning benefits as they grow older. It'd also help low income families who may otherwise not afford to pay $3.25 per person for each single ride. It seems GRT only offers free rides for children 4 and under.
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(02-18-2020, 01:09 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: GO Transit and TTC have that soundly beat: Children 12 and under are always free.
When my kids were under 13, TTC was charging 25¢. I am actually surprised they reduced it as the fair was tiny to begin with.
Either way, it's a good idea to charge younglings less, not just to help parents when the kids are too young to ride by themselves, but also for when the kids are a bit older (12-16) so they get used to the transit. I think charging a young teen $1 to ride per day isn't asking for too much especially during weekends/stats and summer holidays.
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(02-17-2020, 03:17 PM)panamaniac Wrote: (02-17-2020, 02:56 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: I have availed myself of the free transit weekends most of the weekends this month. I must say I have seen a far larger number of children on the train than I usually do. However, I rarely rode it on weekends before. Does anyone know if this is typical, or if we are seeing a really big surge.
I think this is probably a big surge, which really shows the current fare structure is a huge obstacle to families using the LRT. Cars (even when people think otherwise) are almost always more expensive than transit. But for a family of four, transit probably is going to be more expensive than almost all driving scenarios using a single car.
If the kids you’re seeing are in the under 10 age bracket, my first thought might be that parents are taking advantage to give the kids a “train ride”.
Friends of ours did this
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Does GRT post route detours? King is closed downtown tomorrow, and I'm trying to sort out where I would catch the bus but can't seem to find it on the get site.
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(02-20-2020, 07:43 PM)BruceAshe Wrote: Does GRT post route detours? King is closed downtown tomorrow, and I'm trying to sort out where I would catch the bus but can't seem to find it on the get site. Detours - Grand River Transit
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(02-20-2020, 07:53 PM)Acitta Wrote: (02-20-2020, 07:43 PM)BruceAshe Wrote: Does GRT post route detours? King is closed downtown tomorrow, and I'm trying to sort out where I would catch the bus but can't seem to find it on the get site. Detours - Grand River Transit Thanks! I have no idea how I couldn't find that. You just saved me from trying to catch a bus at a closed stop.
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(02-20-2020, 07:59 PM)BruceAshe Wrote: (02-20-2020, 07:53 PM)Acitta Wrote: Detours - Grand River Transit Thanks! I have no idea how I couldn't find that. You just saved me from trying to catch a bus at a closed stop.
Luckily, when a stop has a detour, they will put up a sign at each stop along the closed route which shows you where it's been rerouted to, and it's usually just down the nearest next street they can navigate a bus down. But it's more helpful to use the website and know that before hand.
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Autorenew Issue
If your card is set to autorenew monthly passes or autoload stored value you need to cancel it and do it manually.
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I just got a email saying GRT is now free till the end of May, and anyone that purchased a April pass will get a June pass for free.
I did cancel the auto renew in mine during the processing issues in Feb and did not reset it up as my office was bumped to wfh mid March.
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Free in June if free transit stops at the end of May - there's always a chance the isolation protocols continue for longer (though hopefully not).
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Grand River Transit is asking the region to limit the amount of passengers on a bus to 10. Right now, they kind of eyeball it and if a bus is - at the most - half full, they will not pick up any more passengers until the next one.
I think they really should have been doing that sooner, as some routes still do get pretty full. I'd like to see the drivers get their wish and only have 10 people per bus. It'd also make sense to block off access to every other seat or something with some yellow rope. Not everyone who gets on is distancing themselves, and the couple times I've been on the bus or ION, I've had two get up and move twice. While we do seem to have community transmission minimized in the region, that does not mean you can't have a couple positive carriers who unknowingly get on a bus and suddenly we get another spike.
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https://www.kitchenertoday.com/coronavir...rt-2275956
"Regional staff already identified some savings to be had, including about $2.6-million for the year by not proceeding with planned expansions to transit."
Looks like Regional Staff are going to take another crack at killing transit expansion.
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I suspect there will be a good number of "killings" in the coming year, as municipalities shift their short/mid-term focus to paying down the debt that will be incurred this year. That's if they are allowed/obliged to go into deficit, rather than the Province bailing them out.
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04-23-2020, 10:53 AM
(This post was last modified: 04-23-2020, 10:53 AM by danbrotherston.)
(04-23-2020, 10:30 AM)panamaniac Wrote: I suspect there will be a good number of "killings" in the coming year, as municipalities shift their short/mid-term focus to paying down the debt that will be incurred this year. That's if they are allowed/obliged to go into deficit, rather than the Province bailing them out.
This would be an unfortunate time for that to happen.
We all know what "cutting" means...we build more roads...that never gets cut.
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