Waterloo Region Connected
ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - Printable Version

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RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - ac3r - 10-23-2025

(10-19-2025, 08:54 PM)KevinL Wrote:
(10-19-2025, 06:58 PM)ac3r Wrote: Does anyone know why they've bolted black plastic strips on the platforms at Fairway? They're similar to the yellow ones with bumps they have for blind people, but these aren't sunk into the concrete. They're slippery in the rain and serious tripping hazards.

Per GRT on Facebook,

Quote:Installation of a new tactile pathway on bus and train platforms at Fairway Station is ongoing until early November. We’re testing tactile wayfinding at Fairway and Conestoga stations as part of work we’re undertaking to make our stations more accessible.

Weird. I've had to include these in designs before so I was fairly confused because the way they have them laid down is awkward. I'm sure they adhere to specifications but the path they were on was just odd. A very obvious "accessibility came after the fact" type of solution.

And I can see I'm not the only one that finds them a tripping hazard as they are now, though I imagine they'd install proper ones eventually. But like a comment on FB said, they don't really care much about accessibility when it comes to transit. Bus stops are frequently a mess in winter and all the "new Canadians" have zero manners and will push onto the LRT without waiting for anyone to get off first.

Which reminds me, I really need to start pestering the region about adding arrow markers on the platforms that can try to help make it obvious that you stand to the damn side to let people GET OFF first. 99% of the time you roll up to a station and there are 10 Indians on the platform standing right where the doors open and immediately push on when they open. It's funny because the Indians that have been here longer understand that it's poor etiquette and it annoys them too, but India has a notoriously severe problem with a lack of civic sense back there and we've seen that manifest here with all these new comers who really don't care much about the country because they have no stakes here.

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - ijmorlan - 10-23-2025

(10-22-2025, 02:39 PM)creative Wrote: I like many people drive for convenience. Time is my most valuable asset and I am willing to pay for that. I used to work in the tech park. I could drive there in 15 minutes or take 60 minutes by transit. Probably longer then as the ION had not been built. I was able to spend more time with my family plus I volunteer coached youth basketball for 25 years, 3 nights a week and would never had been home in time to do that. What works for some people does not work for everyone. More frequent transit would not have really helped plus I live 3 minutes to the expressway which gets me to Waterloo conveniently.

That doesn’t explain why people freak out at the thought of paying for parking (or indeed for use of a road). Cars are undeniably useful; but why do they need to be so subsidized?

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - Kodra24 - 10-23-2025

Perhaps municipalities are scared that if they start charging for parking it would reduce traffic as many drivers won't want to pay and will look for cheaper alternatives

As creative mentioned convenience is king - plus most people don't have time to take public transit, not to mention safety related issues on board and at the stops

I typically drive in to pick up my Soi Thaifoon order, park at TD bank for a minute or two, and I'm out in a jiff - if I had to pay for parking I wouldn't go there

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - ijmorlan - 10-24-2025

(10-23-2025, 03:22 PM)Kodra24 Wrote: Perhaps municipalities are scared that if they start charging for parking it would reduce traffic as many drivers won't want to pay and will look for cheaper alternatives

As creative mentioned convenience is king - plus most people don't have time to take public transit, not to mention safety related issues on board and at the stops

I typically drive in to pick up my Soi Thaifoon order, park at TD bank for a minute or two, and I'm out in a jiff - if I had to pay for parking I wouldn't go there

That’s in a location where you expect to be able to find parking however. The mystery for me is why people seem to prefer free parking (or an expressway) that is full of others’ cars to paid parking.

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - ac3r - 10-25-2025

Why pay when you can park for free?

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - ac3r - 10-26-2025

Looks like the first (?) frost has incapacitated the LRT. I'm on one right now and sparks are flying, the wheels are slipping and the train keeps stalling out and stopping...lol.

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - Momo26 - 10-27-2025

Has that been an issue in years past?

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - ac3r - 10-28-2025

Not usually, it was kinda odd. The LRT left Fairway and was barely moving along the tracks, then by the time we crossed Fairway Road it ended up stalling around that Chevrolet dealership. It was there that the lights started going out inside the LRV and we came to a complete halt. Then it limped along to Block Line, barely made it around the corners on Hayward and then struggled to make it to Mill Station. After it got to maybe Borden or Market it seemed to be able to keep a consistent speed.

Very likely just the frost and it was interesting that once the train was next to asphalt and concrete, it improved and it only struggled along the hydro and rail corridor sections where there would be more moisture lingering around in the air. Flexity vehicles struggle in snow/ice, so it was unusual to see frost likely have an influence too.

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - Momo26 - 11-24-2025

Cross posted

What a colossal oversight

.https://www.reddit.com/r/waterloo/s/dw7INVmQpO

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - danbrotherston - 12-16-2025

Oh FFS.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/kitchener/article/motion-calling-on-the-region-to-reimburse-cambridge-residents-for-lrt-costs-goes-to-council/

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - Momo26 - 12-16-2025

Lol beat me to it. I guess there is some argument ro be made on both sides ;/

Cambridge ciunsel should tread lightly. They may end up with a motion to partition Cambridge out from Waterloo Region hhaha

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - bravado - 12-16-2025

(12-16-2025, 08:38 AM)Momo26 Wrote: Lol beat me to it. I guess there is some argument ro be made on both sides ;/

Cambridge ciunsel should tread lightly. They may end up with a motion to partition Cambridge out from Waterloo Region hhaha

Ha, another braindead councillor already had that thought. And he’s got an urban planning degree!

Adam Cooper really is quite a miserable guy. I didn’t know you could get so many negative headlines in your first term as a relatively powerless low level councillor, but he’s really trying. He seems to really be an emulator of Poilievre’s angry loser style. Not the most effective way to make friends politically.

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - danbrotherston - 12-16-2025

(12-16-2025, 08:49 AM)bravado Wrote:
(12-16-2025, 08:38 AM)Momo26 Wrote: Lol beat me to it. I guess there is some argument ro be made on both sides ;/

Cambridge ciunsel should tread lightly. They may end up with a motion to partition Cambridge out from Waterloo Region hhaha

Ha, another braindead councillor already had that thought. And he’s got an urban planning degree!

Adam Cooper really is quite a miserable guy. I didn’t know you could get so many negative headlines in your first term as a relatively powerless low level councillor, but he’s really trying. He seems to really be an emulator of Poilievre’s angry loser style. Not the most effective way to make friends politically.

I don't know how feasible that is. While Cambridge is working hard to keep a separate identity from the region (often based on accurate or not victimhood), the reality of how infrastructure and jobs are laid out is not something you can just change in a day.

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - bravado - 12-16-2025

I wouldn’t waste too many brain cells thinking about it - we are at the point where Ford has taken so much responsibility from cities that councillors are basically angry Uncles on Facebook and that’s all they really get paid to do.

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - ZEBuilder - 12-16-2025

(12-16-2025, 02:38 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: Oh FFS.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/kitchener/article/motion-calling-on-the-region-to-reimburse-cambridge-residents-for-lrt-costs-goes-to-council/

They're clearly forgetting that some of the infrastructure built for the ION also already their case for LRT (OSMF for example), or even aBRT, let alone the marked increase in property taxes that the Region now collects thanks to densification along the CTC that is being dispersed around the Region, but it's complainbridge after all what are we really going to expect?