GO Transit

[ac3r]

Based on data from the 2018 PiT count, ASU [addiction, substance abuse and homelessness] was the most commonly reported reason for housing loss, with 25.1% of all respondents identifying ASU as a reason for housing loss. As a reason for recent housing loss, ASU was most common among adult males and individuals without dependants.

Wow who could have guessed that I am not just making up bullshit. It's simply reality.

Most homeless are addicted to something and a significant amount of them also suffer from psychiatric issues. Beating addiction and improving their psychiatric health is perhaps the single most important thing that is required. The first step - as defined by the American Psychological Association - is to admit one has a problem. It also takes the public to admit there is a problem. It is only when you begin to shatter the chains of addiction or when you provide dedicated, focused psychiatric care that you can begin to lift people out of this sort of life.

An addict with an affordable apartment is still an addict. They need housing, but it needs to be transitional housing combined with a serious desire to want to quit and improve. You need to put these people into programs that can help them detox but also relearn life skills most of us don't even think about. You provide those in need shelter, first. Then you begin to work out a strategy to improve - so long as they have the desire to do so. As they taper themselves off of drugs and then begin to develop a more normal routine, you put these people into transitional housing. Then social housing, followed by affordable housing and so on. It would be hoped that by the time they may enter an affordable housing program, they have broken the cycle of additive habits and/or petty criminal activity. Maybe at this point they have also obtained a job or are working on improving their skill sets. You give these people back their dignity and desire to live a normal life once again, whilst continuing to work on preventing any further relapse as well as an improvement to their health.

It's not all homeless but it's a damn good percentage of them. We have to provide them the methods and support to get them off drugs as well as stabilize their mental health. We also have to provide them with housing. But we also need to provide them with education for even the most trivial things we take for granted. If someone has been on the street for 1, 5, 10 or 20+ years, then they're going to need to relearn typical skills and habits most people don't think about such as planning a budget, developing a daily routine and how to maintain legitimate employment. If all you do is give them a room to sleep in, then they aren't going to get better.

Also lol at the suggestion that it's homelessness itself that sometimes causes chemical detachment. Okay, technically, that happens I guess? But it's not exactly ones first priority if they were to wake up tomorrow, no longer have a home and have no family willing to help. Those on the street are sometimes there for unfortunate reasons, but the majority of time they're out there because they have burned every bridge for possible assistance (friends, family etc) while also having likely no potential way to keep working due to addiction having consumed their entire life.

[tomh009]

Based on data from the 2018 PiT count, ASU [addiction, substance abuse and homelessness] was the most commonly reported reason for housing loss, with 25.1% of all respondents identifying ASU as a reason for housing loss. As a reason for recent housing loss, ASU was most common among adult males and individuals without dependants.

Wow who could have guessed that I am not just making up bullshit. It's simply reality.

Most homeless are addicted to something (...)

25% is not "most". It may be a "common" reason but far from "most".

[bravado]

https://www.engagewr.ca/cambridge-to-uni...enger-rail

The Region is developing an Initial Business Case to explore passenger rail service between Cambridge and Guelph, connecting to Union Station via the Kitchener GO Line. 

Providing an efficient, well designed transit service for Cambridge residents to take GO transit has been a long-standing priority for the Region and City of Cambridge. This builds on previous work completed in 2021 which also included a review and comparison of service between Cambridge and Guelph, and between Cambridge and Milton. The outcome of the 2021 Study indicated a connection to Guelph was the preferred option.

[SF22]

https://www.engagewr.ca/cambridge-to-uni...enger-rail

The Region is developing an Initial Business Case to explore passenger rail service between Cambridge and Guelph, connecting to Union Station via the Kitchener GO Line. 

Providing an efficient, well designed transit service for Cambridge residents to take GO transit has been a long-standing priority for the Region and City of Cambridge. This builds on previous work completed in 2021 which also included a review and comparison of service between Cambridge and Guelph, and between Cambridge and Milton. The outcome of the 2021 Study indicated a connection to Guelph was the preferred option.

If this gets implemented, and ION Phase 2 finally gets built, we'd actually have KW, Cambridge and Guelph all directly connected by some form of rail!

I don't know why the proposed routes between Cambridge and Guelph never seem to suggest an additional station in Hespeler? Is it just too close to Pinebush to warrant it?

[bravado]

https://www.engagewr.ca/cambridge-to-uni...enger-rail

If this gets implemented, and ION Phase 2 finally gets built, we'd actually have KW, Cambridge and Guelph all directly connected by some form of rail!

I don't know why the proposed routes between Cambridge and Guelph never seem to suggest an additional station in Hespeler? Is it just too close to Pinebush to warrant it?

Hespeler is a strange place that seems to be refusing growth at any opportunity, so it likely doesn’t get a seat in any future growth projects.

My main beef is that this whole plan seems to be based on the thought that the Milton line will never extend to Galt, which is just such a lack of ambition and more mediocrity for the area.

This Pinebush stop is a dead end, as far as rail goes. It can’t connect to anything in the future. Using the Milton line connects to downtown Galt where the growth is, and lets Ayr + Woodstock be future connections on the existing rail.

[KevinL]

The Milton line issue is, I understand, mostly intransigence from CP. Which is capable of being overcome, but I can see how this is considered an easier approach.

[nms]

It will be interesting to see whether any of the experience that CP (now CPKC) has with the Mexican government pushing for passenger rail on CPKC tracks trickles north. I do know that some US carriers have passenger friendly policies to at least not stand in the way of Amtrak expansion. Maybe some day the train will go from Milton to Galt, but for not a Guelph-Galt connection is a good first step.

[westwardloo]

Personally I think Pinebush is the wrong terminating location. Looking at the walking radius at Pinebush, the catchment area is minimal. I think they should terminate at Hespeler Rd near Coronation BLVD in Galt and have small stations in Preston and Hespeler.

[cherrypark]

The Milton line issue is, I understand, mostly intransigence from CP. Which is capable of being overcome, but I can see how this is considered an easier approach.

That and this line from Guelph just needs to be updated vs. doubling track on the rest of the stretch from Milton. Overcoming CP intransigence also likely means more cost, even if one would see it as a logical link passing Galt.

I also don't know enough about the other business case components, but you could imagine that all the work done to open up the Kitchener line would be seen as the better option to pile more trains through for this extra service than sending more trains on the Milton line. Already a lot of trips that terminate in Mount Pleasant / Georgetown.

[danbrotherston]

The Milton line issue is, I understand, mostly intransigence from CP. Which is capable of being overcome, but I can see how this is considered an easier approach.

That and this line from Guelph just needs to be updated vs. doubling track on the rest of the stretch from Milton. Overcoming CP intransigence also likely means more cost, even if one would see it as a logical link passing Galt.

I also don't know enough about the other business case components, but you could imagine that all the work done to open up the Kitchener line would be seen as the better option to pile more trains through for this extra service than sending more trains on the Milton line. Already a lot of trips that terminate in Mount Pleasant / Georgetown.

You know, I go back and forth on this one, but really (and the data is somewhere) we should build for the trips that are most common. Probably that is Cambridge <-> Guelph.

That being said, I really wish we would just do a damn bus like...yesterday. Compared with building a train, it would be trivially easy and then we could start building ridership to justify the investment of a train.

[cherrypark]

Yes, and more lines linking across the web coming from Union can't hurt either. It still leaves me confused how there are so few North-South busses across train lines out this way. It shouldn't be that hard to get the Burlington or Hamilton!

[jeremyroman]

That being said, I really wish we would just do a damn bus like...yesterday. Compared with building a train, it would be trivially easy and then we could start building ridership to justify the investment of a train.

The recent addition of the GO route 17 (Waterloo-Kitchener-Guelph-Aldershot-Hamilton) last year was great, and I hope it's doing well. If so, maybe Metrolinx will consider more of that kind of non-Toronto route, like Guelph-Cambridge or even Guelph-Cambridge-Brantford (both more service to Brantford, but also connects to the VIA line there). Small up-front investment and doesn't prevent us from putting rail service on the Fergus sub at the same time or afterward.

[danbrotherston]

Yes, and more lines linking across the web coming from Union can't hurt either. It still leaves me confused how there are so few North-South busses across train lines out this way. It shouldn't be that hard to get the Burlington or Hamilton!

There is the 407 buses.

But part of the problem is that we're just bad at buses...it is amazing how inefficient the bus routes are into and out of literal 100 million dollar transit stations next to a highway...

Like...we spent 100 million dollars on waiting rooms so that people can wait comfortably for their buses instead of spending on ramps to get buses in and out of the station faster so that people don't have to wait!

But I digress...

[SF22]

That being said, I really wish we would just do a damn bus like...yesterday. Compared with building a train, it would be trivially easy and then we could start building ridership to justify the investment of a train.

The recent addition of the GO route 17 (Waterloo-Kitchener-Guelph-Aldershot-Hamilton) last year was great, and I hope it's doing well. If so, maybe Metrolinx will consider more of that kind of non-Toronto route, like Guelph-Cambridge or even Guelph-Cambridge-Brantford (both more service to Brantford, but also connects to the VIA line there). Small up-front investment and doesn't prevent us from putting rail service on the Fergus sub at the same time or afterward.

I'm kind of hoping that the Cambridge-Guelph spur might eventually bloom into its own line. Extend it one way out to Ayr, Paris, and/or Brantford (or Hamilton, it's baffling that we don't have a KWC/Hamilton route yet), and then north out to Elora/Fergus.

[ac3r]

Bro...what? None of those towns have the population or economy to justify even a single bus, nevermind a train haha. I mean it would be cool to take the train there but until those towns grow to be cities of at least 150'000+ people, they aren't going to even consider putting a single GO bus stop in them. That goes for Hamilton and Brantford as well. Neither of those places matter that much. A town or city has to have a certain population and a great degree of economic, educational, cultural etc importance to warrant investment like that.

IMO the best solution to this is to just find a way to entice private operators to come here. Having a government run Crown corporation manage train or bus routes to Paris or Brantford would be an absurd waste of money and time. Nothing costs as much or moves as slowly than a North American government project. If private operators had incentive to move in and set up routes, then it would make sense. It would cost a lot less, they could move a lot faster as well as be more flexible and they wouldn't be burning tax dollars. Think back to when Greyhound still in Canada. They would go all over the country/provinces, stopping in the smallest towns. They offered cheap tickets and fairly reliable service. If we could get that sort of thing back, it would solve a lot of the intercity transit. Flixbus has been trying, at least. I hope they are successful. They have a lot of experience back home in Europe. Let them get a foothold here, more operators will come to compete, prices will drop, new routes will open up...and so on. This is a much better option than expecting politicians and government morons who don't give a shit to do it right.

I'm sure everyone here will disagree with me, but even a train to Cambridge is pretty god damn stupid to consider now or even in a decade. That place is Backwardsville. It's disconnected from the region. Nearly every citizen is a regressive, closed minded drooling fool that couldn't put a square peg into a square hole, the political class is made up of bottom feeding pond scum and the people working in the various departments aren't much smarter either. Maybe if we force them to accept the LRT and somehow find a legal way to overrule their stupid as stupid gets council and mayor so we can develop the city, we could think about a GO train connection in 30+ years time. But now? Why? I'm surprised the region is even bothering to do a business case on this.