ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[CuilTard]

They were setting up fencing this morning to prepare to construct the UW transit plaza. I thought they canceled the RFP a while back, so this is a nice surprise

Check this out for details https://www.reddit.com/r/waterloo/commen...egin_july/

[KevinL]

They were setting up fencing this morning to prepare to construct the UW transit plaza. I thought they canceled the RFP a while back, so this is a nice surprise

They sent out a simpler RFP just to build the roadways and curbs. They'll put up temporary shelter structures (they're moving over the old ones from Highland Hills and Forest Glen) until a new bid can be fulfilled for the nice permanent ones they planned, which should go up next year.

[ac3r]

How's the crowds today? Thinned out any now that people have to pay?

Not really. I suspect that what we saw during the opening week will be pretty normal, although with perhaps a very slight drop-off now that pleasure riders and rail fan tourists are over it. Anyone who had no plans to switch to public transit would have maybe taken one novelty trip, so the people you saw riding all week have probably always used it or were new riders who were just waiting for this to launch. It will only keep getting busier (in a positive way).

[timc]

They sent out a simpler RFP just to build the roadways and curbs. They'll put up temporary shelter structures (they're moving over the old ones from Highland Hills and Forest Glen) until a new bid can be fulfilled for the nice permanent ones they planned, which should go up next year.

Why though? I’m curious as to why this went the way it did.

Money. The bids for the original RFP came in over budget, so compromises were made.

[bgb_ca]

How's the crowds today? Thinned out any now that people have to pay?

Not really. I suspect that what we saw during the opening week will be pretty normal, although with perhaps a very slight drop-off now that pleasure riders and rail fan tourists are over it. Anyone who had no plans to switch to public transit would have maybe taken one novelty trip, so the people you saw riding all week have probably always used it or were new riders who were just waiting for this to launch. It will only keep getting busier (in a positive way).

Since I asked this, I used it to get to work around 11 this morning, and it was a night vs day difference. Everyone on the train had a seat and no one was standing. Not sure what it was like during rush hour.

[ac3r]

Yeah midday it slows down and you can get a seat for most of the length of the route. Outside of working hours it picks up, then drops again as you near the end of the night.

[KevinL]

Good to know; my commute is usually not aligned with the usual rush, so hopefully I will get a seat more regularly.

[bgb_ca]

Same with mine. I usually head home after 8 so hopefully that trip is calm as well.

[KevinT]

Today I took a ride from R&T to Willis Way for lunch and had to dash for my train, so I pulled out my EasyGO card and blind tapped it on the podium as I went by. There was no sound but I didn't have time to look at the screen and just kept going, missing my train anyway. After lunch when I pulled the card out again to tap it for the return transfer, I had time to read the screen and saw that it was denied. I flipped the card over and discovered that it was my Presto card, which was at the end of the stack in my wallet instead of the EasyGO card because I had just used it in Toronto on the weekend.

No fare lost for GRT as the whole trip took less than 90 minutes and I tapped the correct card on the way back, but it made me wonder why on earth the podiums don't make a sound? A simple mid-pitch Bing for a valid tap and low pitched Brrrrrrt! for an invalid one would be extremely helpful for both the visually impaired and the traveller on the go. It seems weird for the podiums to be completely silent. I also found the screens hard to see without shading them with my hand, adding even more value proposition to combining the display with sound.

Does anyone recall if this was discussed during any of the community events? I haven't had much occasion to use my card on the bus, but my fuzzy recollection is that the fare box display there is combined with sounds.

[timc]

The fare boxes on the bus do make different sounds. I'm surprised that the ION podiums don't.

[Tony_Plow]

I finally got onto the Ion around 9 PM tonight. I headed to Fairview from Queen Station (parked at Charles and Benton for free), turned back around towards Waterloo, but had to get off at Central Station as I got a call from my son that someone was trying to break into his place of work (he was the only one there).

Still got a few photo's though. And I must say, very nice ride, if not a little crowded. The only negative I have is the seats facing one another -- very awkward. I was across from this younger, pretty all tattooed and pierced up female. Hard not to make eye contact, but luckily we were successful.

Some attached photos...

Great nighttime shots!

[Acitta]

Today I took a ride from R&T to Willis Way for lunch and had to dash for my train, so I pulled out my EasyGO card and blind tapped it on the podium as I went by. There was no sound but I didn't have time to look at the screen and just kept going, missing my train anyway. After lunch when I pulled the card out again to tap it for the return transfer, I had time to read the screen and saw that it was denied. I flipped the card over and discovered that it was my Presto card, which was at the end of the stack in my wallet instead of the EasyGO card because I had just used it in Toronto on the weekend.

I have done the same thing. I have tried to use Presto on GRT, EasyGo on the GO bus and even tried to use my laundry card once or twice.

[trainspotter139]

Today I took a ride from R&T to Willis Way for lunch and had to dash for my train, so I pulled out my EasyGO card and blind tapped it on the podium as I went by. There was no sound but I didn't have time to look at the screen and just kept going, missing my train anyway. After lunch when I pulled the card out again to tap it for the return transfer, I had time to read the screen and saw that it was denied. I flipped the card over and discovered that it was my Presto card, which was at the end of the stack in my wallet instead of the EasyGO card because I had just used it in Toronto on the weekend.

No fare lost for GRT as the whole trip took less than 90 minutes and I tapped the correct card on the way back, but it made me wonder why on earth the podiums don't make a sound? A simple mid-pitch Bing for a valid tap and low pitched Brrrrrrt! for an invalid one would be extremely helpful for both the visually impaired and the traveller on the go. It seems weird for the podiums to be completely silent. I also found the screens hard to see without shading them with my hand, adding even more value proposition to combining the display with sound.

Does anyone recall if this was discussed during any of the community events? I haven't had much occasion to use my card on the bus, but my fuzzy recollection is that the fare box display there is combined with sounds.

Some of them do make a sound and some of them for some reason or another are muted. There are techs going around to all the stations to tweak and fix issues that popped up today.

[MidTowner]

I also suspect that rush hour won't be the limiting factor. Rather, early evening and Saturdays, where they currently have 15 minute headways, is IMO where we'll see the first overcrowding. Because we don't have a big CBD I think the system will get lots of recreational, rather than commuter, use in the first several years.

This is an interesting prediction. I've thought that not having a single large CBD is a drawback for transit because driving and parking is so easy- downtown Kitchener is still small and sparse enough that finding parking is trivial, and inexpensive. Likewise for Uptown, and even the University Zone.

I took the 200 a lot, at all times and days, and it seemed like a commuter and student service. On Saturdays, it was usually not crowded, even though headways weren't great. Maybe the 301 will attract different types of riders, though.

I could definitely see 15-minutes being inadequate on Saturdays when there are events going on downtown or uptown or both. If 15 minute service is inadequate after 8:00pm on weeknights, that would be pretty impressive.

[danbrotherston]

I too found the 200 busiest during rush hour. However, I did also find it busy during the 30 minute headway Sundays, that really was too infrequent for that bus.

In other news, WRPS has completely blocked the Queen St. Station south entrance. Entirely needlessly, they say the station is open, but nobody with the slightest mobility difficulty (or frankly, being unwilling to walk through the garden) could access it. They're on a call of course, despite having nobody around, and of course having plenty of other places they could have stopped (they're literally beside a parking lot). I guess being on a call means taking zero consideration into where you stop...or...maybe they are taking it into consideration and blocking a rapid transit station is preferable to blocking 1-2 cars into in their mind.

*sigh*...