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Grand River Transit
I just noticed a new LCD monitor mounted to a light pole next to the route 7 stop @ Conestoga mall. It was not on, but maybe it's going to be a real time display like they have inside Charles terminal?
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Now, if the 206 sees more usage than the iON bus route, we'd have a good argument that the stay-off-King, stay-away-from-Preston LRT route folks aren't observing real trends.
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(11-05-2018, 12:23 PM)Viewfromthe42 Wrote: Now, if the 206 sees more usage than the iON bus route, we'd have a good argument that the stay-off-King, stay-away-from-Preston LRT route folks aren't observing real trends.

To be honest, after looking at a map, I have wondered if the "Straight down King and Coronation" option wouldn't be better.  I suspect it would be harder politically, and have less development potential, but it's more direct, visiting areas that are probably already transit oriented.

But I'm not an expert on Cambridge, so I cannot say for sure, but I do suspect the lower development potential is the real killer.
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(11-05-2018, 12:23 PM)Viewfromthe42 Wrote: Now, if the 206 sees more usage than the iON bus route, we'd have a good argument that the stay-off-King, stay-away-from-Preston LRT route folks aren't observing real trends.

the 206 is pretty much the existing 52 but with  a little bit that goes off on a separate small loop. I can't imagine it would be much different other than they can say something else is ion
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(11-05-2018, 10:18 PM)darts Wrote:
(11-05-2018, 12:23 PM)Viewfromthe42 Wrote: Now, if the 206 sees more usage than the iON bus route, we'd have a good argument that the stay-off-King, stay-away-from-Preston LRT route folks aren't observing real trends.

the 206 is pretty much the existing 52 but with  a little bit that goes off on a separate small loop. I can't imagine it would be much different other than they can say something else is ion

the existing 52 has more stops than the 206 will so theoretically the 206 will be much faster than the 52
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GRT crews are hooking up the digital sign at the Victoria/Lancaster WB stop.
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(11-05-2018, 11:42 PM)trainspotter139 Wrote:
(11-05-2018, 10:18 PM)darts Wrote: the 206 is pretty much the existing 52 but with  a little bit that goes off on a separate small loop. I can't imagine it would be much different other than they can say something else is ion

the existing 52 has more stops than the 206 will so theoretically the 206 will be much faster than the 52

if the goal is to get to fairway, it is faster t take the 200, if you are on King st somewhere the 52 won't be too much faster given half the route has been driven. Since the new 52 route is different it looks like the stops removed won't have 15 minute service down king st. And to get to ainslie st they would have to take a bus one stop down to get the 206 to get downtown.
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A couple times a week, I find myself in downtown Toronto for work. Generally I will drive to Aldershot and take the Lakeshore line in as I can get to the office by 7:30 to have a mostly full day before leaving at 3 to be home by 5:30. But occasionally, I don't have access to the car and have to take transit end to end from Forest Heights to the office. This involves leaving the house shortly after 5:30, walking to the nearest 204 stop, catching the bus, praying that it doesn't hit any red lights in order that I'll make the 6:04 express so I can be at the office by 8:30.

GRT's posted schedule has the 204 arriving at Charles St Terminal at 5:55 and departing at 5:56, with arrival at Weber/Victoria at 6:00. With a good run and skipping the official pedestrian routes, I can be on the train by one minute to door closing. But we know that red lights happen, and a surprising number of people are catching the first bus of the morning between The Boardwalk and Charles Street, so it easily turns a tight connection into a very tight connection with at least one time where I've stepped on the train seconds before the doors close.

When the bus drivers stop at Charles Street, allow passengers off and back on again, and leave immediately, it's OK. If I were to miss the train, I could rationalize it and then catch the later one and work from the station for 40 minutes. But twice in the past 3 weeks, the bus arrived at Charles Street late, and the bus driver pulled out the paper and spent the next few minutes reading. If it weren't for the train being late in pulling into the station or the fortune of getting all green lights through downtown, I would have missed the train. I don't like being the one who walks up to the front and gets into an argument with the driver over schedule adherence.

I know I'm an outlier in this scenario because it's only once a week at most and I'm the only passenger who gets off the bus at this stop, but it doesn't sit well with me that either (a) the bus driver can see the schedule and chooses to ignore it or (b) the posted schedule hasn't made it to the buses themselves. I've tweeted my story to GRT, so we'll see if anything comes of it.

Now that slippery weather is upon us, there is absolutely no way I'm going to run to the station, so I'll accept the later, bus, train and arrival time at work as part of the season.
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It's bizarre to me that GRT doesn't work on better GO connections, particularly to the morning trains. Not enough people see transit from a broader view.
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Yeah. Annoying the lack of GO connections. We even have transfers now but still painful.

If you want to link your tweet, can give a retweet and follow any replies from GRT.
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They did respond, but not with the "we're sorry, we will instruct the bus drivers to follow the posted schedule to the best of their abilities" that I was hoping for.
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Did they respond with "they're a union, and Charles is a no-matter-how-late-you-or-conditions-force-your-arrival-to-be break"? That's what I would suspect. Everyone deserves and needs breaks, and I've had my own mishaps with the 7, when it took Park, getting stuck behind the shuffling GO trains, but indeed it's quite unfortunate that the highest-use, highest-frequency routes aren't timed to give these connections to GO trains, even though it's only a very small number of users connecting, what, 8 total times a day in theory?
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This is the first bus of the day. There is no reason a break would/should be required 15 minutes after service begins. If you include time from the garage to the Boardwalk, it's still only 30 minutes in.

And not all drivers have done this.
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