GO Transit

[Bytor]

Man we can certainly dream. 

I need to bust out a huge map on a wall and start planning out ideal routes.


Wasn't the now-scrapped like 1 or 2 a day LONDON TO UNION  2h30m marathon trains running through Stratford station? Or am I thinking Woodstock?

There was a trial run of GO to Fake London that was not extended. It ran through Stratford and took 2-2.5 hours to get from London to Kitchener.

[plam]

A first-past-the-post voting system doesn't help either, as that leads to a small number of large parties where control regularly fully swings between them. Something more proportional would foster a larger number of smaller parties, usually making governments in coalitions, meaning power transfers more gradually, and long-term projects are more feasible.

well, that doesn't seem to always work out; NZ sometimes has had cross-party agreements between National and Labour, the 2 big parties, to ensure stability. However National has been busy undoing lots of good things that Labour did last term without a clear replacement strategy (sound familiar?) and they have also been being pushed by the wacko libertarian ACT party funded by Atlas and whose leader was trained in part in Canada (sigh).

[Momo26]

Man ~4.5hrs LON to UNION is wild.

And I'm guessing it cost at least $50 round trip? (If KIT to UNION alone is ~$33).

In other words, cheaper to about equal to rent a little compact car in the weekdays and spend on gas and spend at least one hour less each way on the road.

Once you get to 2+ people sharing the cost then it becomes a no brainer.

[danbrotherston]

Man ~4.5hrs LON to UNION is wild.

And I'm guessing it cost at least $50 round trip? (If KIT to UNION alone is ~$33).

In other words, cheaper to about equal to rent a little compact car in the weekdays and spend on gas and spend at least one hour less each way on the road.

Once you get to 2+ people sharing the cost then it becomes a no brainer.

If I recall it wasn’t that expensive. But yeah, I said it at the time, it’s pretty clear it was designed to fail. A real option would have either taken the route through Hamilton that Via rail uses for most trains 2.5hrs for via, (at least a rational time) or would have been timed for a London to Stratford/KW commute rather than a Toronto commute. The fact it took the slow route and also was timed to arrive in Toronto around 9 made the intentionality of the failure clear. 

That being said I did actually ride it. From KW to London once. The evening time wasn’t entirely unreasonable, it wasn’t worker focused but I took it in the evening after dinner with friends and it was fine. GO trains are much more convenient than Via rail trains.

[ac3r]

It was "designed to fail" because it was a dumb idea to run a suburban commuter train 170 kilometres outside of Toronto. There was no reason to. VIA Rail is meant to cover longer distances (though I obviously understand they don't because they're also a failure of a transit organization).

[KevinL]

Phil Verster has stepped down as Metrolinx CEO. Multiple delayed projects can be put at his feet; hopefully someone new can bring a stronger push to get things completed.

[tomh009]

Phil Verster has stepped down as Metrolinx CEO. Multiple delayed projects can be put at his feet; hopefully someone new can bring a stronger push to get things completed.

Is it Metrolinx, really, or the lack of provincial government direction and funding?

[danbrotherston]

Phil Verster has stepped down as Metrolinx CEO. Multiple delayed projects can be put at his feet; hopefully someone new can bring a stronger push to get things completed.

Is it Metrolinx, really, or the lack of provincial government direction and funding?

Is Phil Verster the kind of person to rock the boat? Or does he exist to implement the non-priority that is provincial policy? I have my opinion, but it's not based on anything more than what I've seen in the media.

It's clear that regardless of the outcome...he's the fall guy for the failures.

Of course, this seem to be most of the role of CEO of crown corporation.

[bravado]

Doug is an enlightened Emperor when things go well, and tragically misled by evil minions when things go bad!

[greybird]

Is it Metrolinx, really, or the lack of provincial government direction and funding?

Is Phil Verster the kind of person to rock the boat? Or does he exist to implement the non-priority that is provincial policy? I have my opinion, but it's not based on anything more than what I've seen in the media.

It's clear that regardless of the outcome...he's the fall guy for the failures.

Of course, this seem to be most of the role of CEO of crown corporation.

I always thought Verster's "I will give everyone three months' notice when the Eglinton line is ready to open but we're not there yet" line was him trying to find a creative way around restrictions he'd been given on what he could and could not say.

[ac3r]

Doug Ford is a moron, but he's not the one making the day to day decisions that impact things - including at Metrolinx. Blaming Ford for every failure of our province is lazy and stupid, not much different than the "orange man bad" rhetoric the left used in America (only they reelected the guy, so...). Ford's role is to sign documents and rubber stamp things, so it's not like he's controlling the day to day choices that Metrolinx does.

No idea why Phil Verster stepped down, but him taking another likely better position in the same industry out of the country sounds normal. Who would want to work in Canada? The place is a disaster. Perhaps he is just simply bad at his job as well.

[KevinL]

 Perhaps he is just simply bad at his job as well.

Before he was at Metrolinx he ran the Scottish railway franchise, which had poor performance and was nationalized soon after he left. Take that as you will.

[tomh009]

No idea why Phil Verster stepped down, but him taking another likely better position in the same industry out of the country sounds normal. Who would want to work in Canada? The place is a disaster.

Shockingly, some of us do want to live and work in Canada.

[LesPio]

Ford directs Metrolinx to study GO Transit expansion by diverting freight rails

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/d...-1.7426944

Service could expand on Kitchener and Milton lines, Ford says

Premier Doug Ford has directed Metrolinx to study expanding GO Transit across the Greater Golden Horseshoe region by diverting freight rails from existing lines.

The expansion, dubbed GO 2.0, could increase service along the Kitchener and Milton lines and create new GO lines and stations, Ford said in a letter to Metrolinx on Thursday.

"By leveraging existing freight rail infrastructure, GO 2.0 could help alleviate congestion and reduce travel times for passengers," Ford said in the letter, shared by a spokesperson with the premier's office.

He said the expansion could happen by building a new freight rail bypass adjacent to the Highway 407 corridor.

The freight rail bypass could be built between the Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) main line near Trafalgar Road in Milton and the Canadian National (CN) Bypass line at Bramalea, he said.

The premier directed Metrolinx to do a preliminary analysis of the benefits of GO 2.0 for passenger rail operations, compared to existing GO train expansion plans.

The Greater Golden Horseshoe region stretches north to Georgian Bay, south to Lake Erie, west to Wellington County and Waterloo Region, and east to Peterborough and Northumberland, according to the province.

Speaking on Thursday, Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles said the Ford government hasn't opened a single major transit project since they were elected.

She referred to the long-delayed Eglinton Crosstown, which is set to open no earlier than mid-2025, despite construction on the project beginning in 2011.

On the GO Transit expansion plan, Stiles said, "I'll believe it when I see it."

[panamaniac]

Call me when they start laying track...