GO Transit

[dunkalunk]

The line is running elevated pretty much from the Grand River Crossing to King St where it transitions to median with an overpass over the ramp. Lots of money to be saved here if the MTO can play nice and run trains in their right of way, or if it Sayed side-running on the south side of King

[Bytor]

So was part of the LRT sales pitch a bait-and-switch and road construction wasn't going to slow down at all? Or did Waterloo Region's growth accelerate? Or was the staff figure actually "we'll not need 500 km/lanes of traffic [once we build out the next 1000 km/lanes on the books]"?

Where did you think that road construction would slow down because of ION LRT? ION was only said to *mitigate* the growth of congestion, never to halt it

We can have a growing modal share for transit and still have the raw numbers of cars on the road increasing.

[danbrotherston]

So was part of the LRT sales pitch a bait-and-switch and road construction wasn't going to slow down at all? Or did Waterloo Region's growth accelerate? Or was the staff figure actually "we'll not need 500 km/lanes of traffic [once we build out the next 1000 km/lanes on the books]"?

Where did you think that road construction would slow down because of ION LRT? ION was only said to *mitigate* the growth of congestion, never to halt it

We can have a growing modal share for transit and still have the raw numbers of cars on the road increasing.

I believe I originally introduced the claim, but it was explicitly stated by the Region's staff. Their projections showed us building 500 fewer lane kms over the transportation plans timeframe.

As for what ION does to congestion, that's arguable, but it of course has nothing to do with a transportation planner's transportation projections, which are, as I said earlier...a work of fiction, divination, reading of tea leaves, however you want to put it.

[KevinL]

Someone noticed the barrier texture near the Park Street crossing and posted to Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/trains/comments...t_is_this/

[danbrotherston]

Someone noticed the barrier texture near the Park Street crossing and posted to Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/trains/comments...t_is_this/

The comments are very interesting. They reveal a lot about peoples misperceptions about human nature and people. It kinda explains peoples responses to other policies.

[KevinL]

I didn't realize this until now, but the London GO run can be considered the 'longest commuter rail line in North America'.

Given that record, a Boston-based transit YouTuber took a ride on it.

[Acitta]

I didn't realize this until now, but the London GO run can be considered the 'longest commuter rail line in North America'.

Given that record, a Boston-based transit YouTuber took a ride on it.

Well, I guess it is till October 13th.

[ac3r]

It makes absolutely no sense to run a GO train all the way to London anyway. Even for commuters going between London and Waterloo Region it is still over a 2 hour long trip which nobody in their right mind would do on a regular basis. And to get to Toronto it's like what...4.5 hours? That's just one way. Very few people are willing to waste that much time.

I don't really get why they even tried to pilot this. Seems like a waste of money that could have been better spent improving other aspects of GO Transit.

[panamaniac]

It makes absolutely no sense to run a GO train all the way to London anyway. Even for commuters going between London and Waterloo Region it is still over a 2 hour long trip which nobody in their right mind would do on a regular basis. And to get to Toronto it's like what...4.5 hours? That's just one way. Very few people are willing to waste that much time.

I don't really get why they even tried to pilot this. Seems like a waste of money that could have been better spent improving other aspects of GO Transit.

Because VIA wants to stop using the line?

[tomh009]

It makes absolutely no sense to run a GO train all the way to London anyway. Even for commuters going between London and Waterloo Region it is still over a 2 hour long trip which nobody in their right mind would do on a regular basis. And to get to Toronto it's like what...4.5 hours? That's just one way. Very few people are willing to waste that much time.

I don't really get why they even tried to pilot this. Seems like a waste of money that could have been better spent improving other aspects of GO Transit.

1h36 from Kitchener to Union Station on what I would call a "semi-express" train. Don't know what the trip length is from London, but it'll be long for any kind of a daily commute.

[danbrotherston]

It makes absolutely no sense to run a GO train all the way to London anyway. Even for commuters going between London and Waterloo Region it is still over a 2 hour long trip which nobody in their right mind would do on a regular basis. And to get to Toronto it's like what...4.5 hours? That's just one way. Very few people are willing to waste that much time.

I don't really get why they even tried to pilot this. Seems like a waste of money that could have been better spent improving other aspects of GO Transit.

1h36 from Kitchener to Union Station on what I would call a "semi-express" train. Don't know what the trip length is from London, but it'll be long for any kind of a daily commute.

The commute from London to Kitchener was...not great, but certainly the type of commute that GO transit would support, however, the timing was bad...it arrived in KW way too early for commuters.

And if they wanted to serve London->Toronto, the Via mainline is much faster, and it would be an extension of the trains to Aldershot.

As for what they're thinking...at best, blindly idioticallly Toronto centric, at worst, intentionally bad with the goal of killing the idea, and frankly, I have trouble giving the benefit of the doubt here...despite Hanlon's Razor, a GO BUS would have been faster since the London->KW tracks are well...lets just say...a century out of date. So it takes a ridiculous level of apathy and ignorance to decide to implement that train instead of literally any other option. Hence, I strongly believe it was intentionally bad.

That being said, it was at least useful to me once...sadly, when we visit at Christmas I'm going to have to find another way from KW to London.

[ac3r]

That being said, it was at least useful to me once...sadly, when we visit at Christmas I'm going to have to find another way from KW to London.

VIA would still be the most direct option at just under 2 hours. Alternatively PC Connect still operates, but it's almost a 4 hour trip which is ridiculous and you don't get a whole lot of time between transfers, but it's still doable.

[Acitta]

That being said, it was at least useful to me once...sadly, when we visit at Christmas I'm going to have to find another way from KW to London.

VIA would still be the most direct option at just under 2 hours. Alternatively PC Connect still operates, but it's almost a 4 hour trip which is ridiculous and you don't get a whole lot of time between transfers,  but it's still doable.

Flixbus and ONEXBUS have direct routes to London, but Flixbus only has westbound trips in the evening and ONEX only stops at Sportsworld.

[danbrotherston]

VIA would still be the most direct option at just under 2 hours. Alternatively PC Connect still operates, but it's almost a 4 hour trip which is ridiculous and you don't get a whole lot of time between transfers,  but it's still doable.

Flixbus and ONEXBUS have direct routes to London, but Flixbus only has westbound trips in the evening and ONEX only stops at Sportsworld.

Yeah, won't be tacking Flix or Onex...stopping at Sportsworld is pointless....MAYBE I'd take the ION to Fairway to pickup a bus, but connecting to Sportsworld...forget about it!

In any case, I will probably end up taking Via, but pretty much all the options are frustratingly awkward with a stroller and baggage and a little one. The GO train was nice for being able to roll on...and for it being basically empty lol.

I'm still frustrated with Via for charging me an extra 500 bucks because they only had first class seats available on the train the day after they restored service last winter...although not being stuck on an unmoving train for what was it...12 hours or more? I can't complain too much.

Well, who knows, maybe we'll get lucky and they'll have managed to roll out their new trains by then.

[Acitta]

Flixbus and ONEXBUS have direct routes to London, but Flixbus only has westbound trips in the evening and ONEX only stops at Sportsworld.

Yeah, won't be tacking Flix or Onex...stopping at Sportsworld is pointless....MAYBE I'd take the ION to Fairway to pickup a bus, but connecting to Sportsworld...forget about it!

In any case, I will probably end up taking Via, but pretty much all the options are frustratingly awkward with a stroller and baggage and a little one. The GO train was nice for being able to roll on...and for it being basically empty lol.

I'm still frustrated with Via for charging me an extra 500 bucks because they only had first class seats available on the train the day after they restored service last winter...although not being stuck on an unmoving train for what was it...12 hours or more? I can't complain too much.

Well, who knows, maybe we'll get lucky and they'll have managed to roll out their new trains by then.

I have been taking ONex for the return trip after taking the GO train one way. I don't mind going home from Sportsworld, but rushing to get there to catch the bus on time is a different story.