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ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit
(02-17-2018, 05:04 PM)KevinL Wrote: Every station has at least one way in that ticks all those boxes - nothing there indicates there must always be more than one. (Particularly, neither Mill nor Northfield seem capable of more than one.)

The approaches we're talking about seem to be Grandlinq's acknowledgement that people will want to get to stations like Frederick, Kitchener Market, and Borden from the non-primary direction and give another method of access. It just seems to be built strangely given tactile strips on the station side of the crossings but nothing on the curb side.

After doing a bit more reading I now think the the approaches we are talking about, either by design or in error, are probably considered emergency exits:
(viii) Provide clear emergency exiting from platforms.
(xi) Exits shall provide safe exiting from trains and platforms under normal operational and emergency conditions. Platforms and exits shall allow passengers to completely clear the platform prior to the arrival of the next train. 


Based on the final configuration at Frederick and Duke it looks like they could have extended a sidewalk boulevard/platform right to Duke had they not placed the utility boxes on the south side in such an awkward place. The sidewalk jogs south, the road jogs north. Had the road just gone straight there would be 1.0-1.5m available to use the middle of the road to combine with they >1m curb boulevard the did managed to fit in the middle.


Also, here is weird statement I came across in my reading today:
"Platforms to be a fare paid zone."

Surely that is a mistake or won't actually be enforced? Are the really expecting someone, for example, out for a walk along the west side of Charles between Water and Gaukel or Queen and Benton to cross the street mid-block to avoid being on the Victoria Park or Queen St platforms without a ticket?
Everyone move to the back of the bus and we all get home faster.
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I guess if you're clearly waiting for a train on one of those platforms you can expect a fare inspection. So no loitering or using station benches unless you've tapped in!
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That's a pretty horrible policy.
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(02-17-2018, 10:45 PM)Square Wrote: The Region road closures states that section of construction is ongoing till Monday, February 26th.  @Canard, thank you for the info about the equipment blocking the northbound route from Fairway to Mill.   I heard on the radio that they were going back North using the Southbound track and wondered why.

Hopefully they move the equipment and test that section early next week.
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(02-18-2018, 12:06 AM)KevinL Wrote: I guess if you're clearly waiting for a train on one of those platforms you can expect a fare inspection. So no loitering or using station benches unless you've tapped in!

(02-18-2018, 03:29 AM)Bob_McBob Wrote: That's a pretty horrible policy.

Standard on virtually every other transit system in the world.
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Agnes comes to mind as another infill spot, there's enough room for side-running platforms here if the roadway is widened in front of Tim Hortons/King Edward Public School.

In addition, University Ave (South Side) would be an obvious infill on if a University ION line is built (It should have been here in stage one, but I've been saying this for 10 years).
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(02-18-2018, 08:00 AM)Canard Wrote:
(02-18-2018, 12:06 AM)KevinL Wrote: I guess if you're clearly waiting for a train on one of those platforms you can expect a fare inspection. So no loitering or using station benches unless you've tapped in!

(02-18-2018, 03:29 AM)Bob_McBob Wrote: That's a pretty horrible policy.

Standard on virtually every other transit system in the world.

As long as they don’t really mean it on the platform segments that are also part of the sidewalk I agree, it’s normal.

Also R&T park station. Until they finish the connectivity (it’s not done until through traffic doesn’t have to travel the length of the platform, regardless of what their designers might think), it has to be permitted to use the platform as a path without paying.
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Here’s how they do it in Cinci on the sidewalk:

   

When there is room, they do it like this:

   

I don’t think anyone’s going to give you a hard time at any station where the station is part of the sidewalk. Fare inspectors will be humans capable of making decisions.
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I guess I don't understand then. Admittedly, I am not well travelled, but of the systems I have ridden there are two distinct zones, paid, where you are actually boarding and alighting the system, and unpaid, where you pay your fare and get information, etc.

In this set-up though, as someone new to the system, how does one look at a route map to see if the system will actually take me where I want to go, or when the next train is coming, or even buy a ticket without trespassing in to the paid fare zone?

   

Bringing it back to Ion though: I thought we had bare-bones amenities until I saw this set-up.
Everyone move to the back of the bus and we all get home faster.
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(02-18-2018, 12:14 PM)Pheidippides Wrote:
I guess I don't understand then. Admittedly, I am not well travelled, but of the systems I have ridden there are two distinct zones, paid, where you are actually boarding and alighting the system, and unpaid, where you pay your fare and get information, etc.

In this set-up though, as someone new to the system, how does one look at a route map to see if the system will actually take me where I want to go, or when the next train is coming, or even buy a ticket without trespassing in to the paid fare zone?

[url=https://www.google.ca/maps/@39.1073228,-84.5111195,3a,15y,197.87h,86.33t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sPxzoRyMG0HaSkvx8toV-nw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656][/url]

Bringing it back to Ion though: I thought we had bare-bones amenities until I saw this set-up.

I think some GO platforms that say something like “fare must be paid or you must be in the process of buying a fare”. Not a full answer to your question but if I’m right the idea is that the platform is a bit of a halfway zone where you can enter before paying your fare but there is an expectation that you will pay, certainly before entering the vehicle.
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(02-18-2018, 12:14 PM)Pheidippides Wrote: In this set-up though, as someone new to the system, how does one look at a route map to see if the system will actually take me where I want to go, or when the next train is coming, or even buy a ticket without trespassing in to the paid fare zone?

As noted above, fare inspectors are human. If your purpose on the platform is to absorb this information, that will likely be clear and easily explained to them, and if they're not otherwise busy I imagine an inspector would be happy to help with a concern. They're not constant enforcement gatekeepers, they have a broader customer service and education role as well.
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(02-18-2018, 01:31 PM)Canard Wrote: ijmorlan, it is no different than pulling into a parking space on a street, getting out and walking to the meter to put your coins in.

That's a really good analogy.

Here is what on the signs as you enter the fare paid zone:
[Image: 29920805734_d4294651f8_c.jpg]
Streetcar Paid Fare Zone by Travis Estell, on Flickr
Everyone move to the back of the bus and we all get home faster.
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I imagine signs similar to this will go up once operations begin. A note of reminder, if anyone didn't realize: fare inspection is fully run by the Region/GRT, and will have little overlap with GrandLinq.
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(02-18-2018, 01:31 PM)Canard Wrote: ijmorlan, it is no different than pulling into a parking space on a street, getting out and walking to the meter to put your coins in.

Good analogy. I hadn’t thought of the analogy, but that’s the kind of thing I was getting at, and the way I think GO platforms work too. Except for the R&T park and part of the sidewalk aspect — those areas aren’t just platforms, they are also paths/sidewalks, completely independent of their function as platforms. It’s not obvious to me what a parking analogy to that would be — some space that was both a parking space and a turn lane? But that doesn’t work as a concept.
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