GO Transit

[Markster]

They are still around. I rode one in February (and I really wanted to ride a double decker...).  They tend to be more obvious on Thursdays and Fridays when they've got more trips running.

[MacBerry]

I can't recall the last time I saw a single deck GO bus in town.

Most likely to see a single level GO bus in early parts of the weekend ... Saturday and Sundays (my "unconfirmed guess")  until about 15:00 hours on Sunday. In the late Sunday afternoon students are returning and leaving as are the "DoubleDecker" buses.

[KevinL]

I was on Victoria North earlier today and happened to end up across the tracks from the location of the Shirley Avenue yard that Metrolinx has purchased. Here's how it looks right now:

[MidTowner]

There's an interesting post on Skyscraper Pages on Go's ten-year plan. I haven't seen this before, and am not sure where it's from. It identifies thirty-minute frequency during peak periods between Kitchener and Union Station.

[ookpik]

Pretty thin gruel and no gravy on the GO train between Waterloo/Guelph and the center of the universe for the next two decades: GO train expansion leaves little for Kitchener, Guelph  

Kitchener and Guelph will eventually see boosted GO train service and express trains to downtown Toronto as part of a planned rail service expansion announced by Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne in Barrie on Friday morning.

While commuters north of Toronto and along Lake Ontario on either side of Toronto will see two-way, all-day electrified service sometime in the next 10 years, commuters in Kitchener and Guelph will eventually see express trains to Brampton and trains departing every 30 minutes in a "peak direction" during "peak periods" on weekdays.

The expansion and electrification of the GO rail network is made possible by Thursday's announcement of a partial sale of Hydro One, which will provide the province with about $4 billion. The total cost of the upgrades to GO transit over the next 10 years is $13.5 billion.

Provincial transit agency Metrolinx says they'll add six peak morning and afternoon trips to the Kitchener GO train line between now and 2018. They'll also add 24 weekday and 28 weekend trips to the Kitchener corridor at "off peak" non rush-hour times by 2018. It is not clear how many of these new train trips will extend all the way to Guelph and Kitchener.

The section of the Kitchener GO train line between Bramalea and Union Station will eventually be upgraded to host electrified trains, departing every 15 minutes in both directions.

During the 2014 provincial election, the Liberals promised regional express rail, with trains running every 15 minutes in each direction on all seven GO train lines, by 2024.

Metrolinx said last year that electrified express rail would require upgrades at 60 of GO's stations, 130 bridge expansions, 150 kilometres of new train track, 500 kilometres of new overhead wire catenary and as many as 15 new rail-road grade separations.

Note that when the province says "Kitchener GO train line" they want to think Waterloo region but they really mean only the section between Brampton and Union Station. 

[MidTowner]

30 minute peak frequency between Kitchener and Toronto is a big improvement. And hopefully (and even more importantly, in my opinion) electrification means the travel time is trimmed.

[DHLawrence]

The best way to reduce travel times is to set up an express-local network. Have Kitchener trains make all stops to Brampton (for example) and run express beyond (maybe a stop at Malton for the airport) while local trains handle the others.

[innsertnamehere]

The trains are apparently going to run express past Bramalea.

It strikes me as odd that they are not proposing some kind of counter peak service to Kitchener in any form, but yet seem happy to provide hourly service to Barrie.. Makes me think there is more to this, especially given how huge of a local issue all day service to Kitchener was during the election.

[jamincan]

I'm wondering if there might be a HSR announcement in the future that would essentially cover two-way all-day service. The outside GTA fund doesn't have enough drawing out of it and 30-min peak service seems essentially pointless to me.

[YKF]

The trains are apparently going to run express past Bramalea.

It strikes me as odd that they are not proposing some kind of counter peak service to Kitchener in any form, but yet seem happy to provide hourly service to Barrie.. Makes me think there is more to this, especially given how huge of a local issue all day service to Kitchener was during the election.

One of the benefits of the Barrie line is that Metrolinx owns it in its entirety, whereas CN owns a good portion of the Kitchener line between Bramalea and just west of Georgetown. Their proposal to operate regional express rail to Aurora on the Barrie line also fits in with their phased approach of serving their core, inner network before expanding outward.

I'm wondering if there might be a HSR announcement in the future that would essentially cover two-way all-day service. The outside GTA fund doesn't have enough drawing out of it and 30-min peak service seems essentially pointless to me.

This. The talk at Urban Toronto is about how upgrades to the Kitchener line (everything west of Brampton) will likely be funded from the non-GTA pot and that true service expansion to Kitchener will come in the form of a high-speed rail EA. Essentially, true expansion to Kitchener is its own beast and excluded from today's phase 1 RER announcement.

[mpd618]

The best way to reduce travel times is to set up an express-local network. Have Kitchener trains make all stops to Brampton (for example) and run express beyond (maybe a stop at Malton for the airport) while local trains handle the others.

Very relevant quote:

In addition to the services outlined above, communities between Oakville and Hamilton on the Lakeshore West line, between Bramalea and Kitchener on the Kitchener line, and between Pickering and Oshawa on the Lakeshore East line would benefit from express services to-and-from Union Station.

[YKF]

^The quickest and easiest way of making that happen is by extending the 07:05 train out of Georgetown (express from Bramalea) in 2016, when we get the 2 additional peak period trains.

[ookpik]

What 15-minute GO service might mean for your house price  

...this year’s Ontario budget will be such a huge energizer. Its 10-year transit plan includes gradually increasing GO service to every 15 minutes along core lines, making travel around the Golden Horseshoe easier, reducing congestion and improving movement between regions.

It will also make real estate outside the city more attractive. House-price increases may not be dramatic, or universal in the 905. But as frequency and choice of travel times increase, the GTA price/location trade-off changes...

[Jeff Mahanna, president of the Oakville and Milton Real Estate Board] sees a bigger boost the farther out you go, because increased frequency changes commuting times significantly.

Matti Siemiatycki, a University of Toronto professor specializing in urban planning and transit, says the impact of GO expansion on real estate will be felt everywhere along the system. He expects it will be gradual, and will hit some places far more than others. The overall impact of the investment, though, is hugely positive for everyone, he says. “If you make a place more accessible, people will want to live there.”

15-minute GO train service between K-W and Union? Imagine what even hourly service would do to "energize" the region and boost real estate prices.

[willow]

When should we expect announcements for the non-GTA pot of the transit funding? It's been nearly a month now.

[BuildingScout]

According to Wynne municipalities will have to apply for it. One month is very little time when mass is traveling at government speeds, if I remember basic theory of relativity correctly.