ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[danbrotherston]

So the changes to the route closest to my house changed enough that my kid can no longer use the bus for his summer job. It used to be a 700m walk to the bus stop, and the bus would stop about 10 meters from his work. Now the closest 'drop off' is about 2 km. He could choose to take the bus to an Ion station, then transfer to another bus after that, but the travel time went from 7 minutes to over an hour, and if he works too late, he'll miss the bus to the Ion.

Oh well. Disappointed but not surprised, they have to make the routes profitable and better access to the Ion stations. I'm pretty sure that it only affects a handful of users, not like my kid would be using it every day (he relies on Daddy Taxi Service).

On the other hand, since our route does go to an Ion stations, and my daughter has an appointment at GRH (KW) this week, we can avoid the $15 parking fee. My dentist is on King as well, so if I need to have any major work done, I can just use transit now.

I really must question this.  There are several conflicting statements.  What trip has gone from 7 minutes to over an hour.  And where does your son work that had a bus stop within 10 meters, and is now 2 km.

Given that its very hard to go 2 km on transit in 7 minutes.

Further, just an FYI, even on our brand new train, 7 minutes only goes about 1.8 km, which is about a 25 minute walk.

[rickhd]

Taking the train downtown for lunch and just heard the platform announcement "To enter or exit the train, please push the button on the door."  Awesome!

This is the kind of thing it would have been good to explain during the weekend, however, nobody said this once, all the many many times I was chatting with them.

Frustrating moment when the train doors did not open arriving in station, and it took 7-10 seconds for someone to push the button.

Also worth noting that many many people are leaving Frederick station by the missing entrance, because of course they are.

I'm very happy to see the LRT running, but the frustrating bits are still there.


Boarding the train

• Wait behind the yellow platform edge for the train to come to a complete stop. The train doors will line up with the black sections of the platform edge when the train stops.
  
  
• Wait for other riders to exit before boarding.
  
  
• To open the doors, press the red button on the door when the light turns green.
  
  
• Allow riders with mobility devices to board first. Riders with mobility devices, bikes, strollers, service animals or other large items should board through the two middle doors.
  
  
• Don’t hold the train doors open. Preventing the train from leaving by holding the doors open may result in a fine.
  
  
• Mind the gap between the station platform and the train.
  

[jeffster]

So the changes to the route closest to my house changed enough that my kid can no longer use the bus for his summer job. It used to be a 700m walk to the bus stop, and the bus would stop about 10 meters from his work. Now the closest 'drop off' is about 2 km. He could choose to take the bus to an Ion station, then transfer to another bus after that, but the travel time went from 7 minutes to over an hour, and if he works too late, he'll miss the bus to the Ion.

Oh well. Disappointed but not surprised, they have to make the routes profitable and better access to the Ion stations. I'm pretty sure that it only affects a handful of users, not like my kid would be using it every day (he relies on Daddy Taxi Service).

On the other hand, since our route does go to an Ion stations, and my daughter has an appointment at GRH (KW) this week, we can avoid the $15 parking fee. My dentist is on King as well, so if I need to have any major work done, I can just use transit now.

I really must question this.  There are several conflicting statements.  What trip has gone from 7 minutes to over an hour.  And where does your son work that had a bus stop within 10 meters, and is now 2 km.

Given that its very hard to go 2 km on transit in 7 minutes.

Further, just an FYI, even on our brand new train, 7 minutes only goes about 1.8 km, which is about a 25 minute walk.

The bus turns down a different road after his pickup, in a different direction but the closest drop off is much further, and in fact, only about 200 m from his original pick-up. The old route literally drop him off right in front of his work and only went on 2 streets, but with the way the new route would go, he's be dropped off on the other side of the street, rather than in front of his work on the same side (this is if he takes the bus, the Ion, then the Xpress).

BTW: You math is way off. The LRT can run its route in 43 minutes for those 19 km which is 27 km/h. Your math (1.8 km in 7 minutes) works out to 15 km/h, or about 12 km/h less than actual. Travel distance from the bus stop to his work was 2.2 km (2.9 km from our home), 7 minutes means the bus was traveling, on average, at 19 km/h, or about 2/3 the speed of the Ion. Even that seems low, but factoring in lights and bus stops, I guess that is accurate.

Also, perhaps you misread what I wrote -- if he were to take the bus only, he'd be saving 200 metres. If he took public transportation all the way to work, he'd hop on the bus, be dropped off at an Ion station, get off at the 3rd Ion station, then walk about 200m to the closest Xpress route, wait for that bus, and this would drop him off 400m from his job. Looking at the GRT trip planner, it was almost an hour.

Since his job is close to DTK, I really don't want him walking home from there, especially at night. And really, I would't want him walking around the Charles and Benton garage, and King and Frederick area at midnight to get onto the Ion (the ride home would take longer as the walk is further). Too many crazy people in that area. Either way, though, when I looked for the trip back home, his end time would take over 90 minutes to get home (up from 7 minutes) -- just a lot of walking, transfers and waiting.

[KevinL]

The 'second entrance' at Frederick (see also Kitchener Market and Borden) is, I believe, signposted as emergency only for legal reasons. It saves them from making it accessible or formalizing a crosswalk, but any able-bodied person who feels safe using it is free to do so.

[tomh009]

Also, perhaps you misread what I wrote -- if he were to take the bus only, he'd be saving 200 metres. If he took public transportation all the way to work, he'd hop on the bus, be dropped off at an Ion station, get off at the 3rd Ion station, then walk about 200m to the closest Xpress route, wait for that bus, and this would drop him off 400m from his job. Looking at the GRT trip planner, it was almost an hour.

How far from your house is the nearest LRT stop? If he can walk there (a strapping young lad!) that would reduce the commute to a single change, and likely cut out a big chunk of time. Or the nearest iXpress stop?

Minimizing the walking often ends up increasing the travel time.

[JoeKW]

Do you get a transfer when taking the LRT? Could I take the LRT from downtown to say, Vincenzos, have some lunch and then return on one fare?

[taylortbb]

Do you get a transfer when taking the LRT?  Could I take the LRT from downtown to say, Vincenzos, have some lunch and then return on one fare?

Yes. From when you first tap your EasyGo card, all additional taps within 90 minutes are free. For the return trip, you just have to tap on at the LRT station before the 90 minutes is up. Even if your return trip takes you over the 90 minute mark, all that matters is when you tapped to board the return trip (I confirmed this with a fare inspector).

[Bob_McBob]

Is Fairview the only location with park and ride? Apparently Conestoga Mall is giving people parking tickets if they park there to try ION.

[danbrotherston]

The 'second entrance' at Frederick (see also Kitchener Market and Borden) is, I believe, signposted as emergency only for legal reasons. It saves them from making it accessible or formalizing a crosswalk, but any able-bodied person who feels safe using it is free to do so.

Well at least as free as anyone is to cross the road at any point, which is to say there is no law, and no fence but it isn't intended, which is the problem.

[MidTowner]

Taking it this morning, it seems the departure time information is still not up and running. There was an announcement about "delays in the system" on the platform: my train was on time, but after I got off there was a train arriving in the same direction only about three minutes later.

The walkability to the stations is quite bad, the more I think about it. The GRH example seems egregious. So are several others, to varying actual impacts.

At Northfield, the only official exit (I guess) is at the north end of the platform, only walking east. Officially, you are supposed to snake around. In practice, when a train arrives and passengers disembark, they walk up the middle of the platform, around a guard wire (either on the tracks or not) and, if walking west, either stand awkwardly behind (I mean on the train side of) the crossing arms or duck under them. The whole exercise looks and feels pretty ridiculous.

[ert86]

Maybe it's because I took it at 6:30 but the park n' ride lot was completely empty, It was also the worst ride of the 5 I've taken so far. Not because of ION, but because I was sitting behind a bunch of elderly armchair critics. I didn't want to get into it with them, but if I bit my tongue any harder I would have bitten through it.

[MidTowner]

Fairway Station is indeed the only station with a park and ride lot. The region really dropped the ball on this one.

I’ve been using the lot next to the Rumpel Felt. Officially, it’s only free for GO train commuters who arrive before 7:10 AM but the machine on site hasn’t worked for years so they have no way of verifying.

As for Conestoga Mall, it sounds like they won’t get my business moving forward. ?

I agree with this, but it was Northfield that they identified as a potential park-and-ride site, though that doesn't make much sense to me. Where were the spots ever going to go?

I can see why Conestoga Mall wouldn't want to maintain parking spots for people who are going to take transit to spend their money elsewhere. I don't have a good sense of how much parking charge infrastructure costs, but maybe they could levy a small charge and offer validation in the mall. I can see how that might not be worth their while, either.

My prediction would be that, once the initial surge in demand abates, they stop issuing fines as long as the number of vehicles are not out of hand. Which I would expect they wouldn't be.

[jamincan]

Travel in KW by car is generally not problematic except possibly at the busiest times (and even then it's not terrible and is usually localized to very specific spots). Park and Ride lots therefore have a lot less appeal. If someone is already driving a car to the park and ride, the economics of paying for transit for the final leg of the trip are pretty weak.

[MidTowner]

The cost of parking at the universities is the only thing that would drive demand for a park and ride, I think. You're right that, traffic being so light in the region, driving is easy. So I wouldn't imagine that people leaving their cars at LRT stations will be much of an issue anywhere, after this week.

[ijmorlan]

How does Conestoga Mall identify illegally parked vehicles? It seems to me that, since the parking is free, the only difference between illegal and legal parking is whether the occupants went into the mall. It’s not a validation system or something like that.