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Grand River Transit
(01-17-2020, 08:50 PM)ijmorlan Wrote:
(01-17-2020, 02:28 PM)boatracer Wrote: The bid for the new GRT facility on Northfield closed this week. Bids were between $104M and $120M. I don't know what the budget was. It was a long process as the bid period started in October and there were 16 addenda making clarifications and changes.

https://regionofwaterloo.bidsandtenders....#Submitted

You can download the plans from the same page.

Too bad we wasted all that money on an LRT. Buses are cheap to own, operate, and maintain!

Note: I am actually in favour of more buses and bus maintenance facilities. But it’s interesting that the amount for a single new bus facility is a significant fraction of the cost of the supposedly ruinously expensive LRT system.
I am still amazed that this project is being built at the North end of Waterloo.  You would think the facility would be more centralized like around Maplegrove Road as an example.  I would love to see what a cost study would say about the extra labour and fuel lost on a bus serving Kitchener or Cambridge having to leave from North Waterloo.  Not to mention the extra distance employees have to drive to get to work there...
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(01-21-2020, 08:04 AM)Rainrider22 Wrote:
(01-17-2020, 08:50 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: Too bad we wasted all that money on an LRT. Buses are cheap to own, operate, and maintain!

Note: I am actually in favour of more buses and bus maintenance facilities. But it’s interesting that the amount for a single new bus facility is a significant fraction of the cost of the supposedly ruinously expensive LRT system.
I am still amazed that this project is being built at the North end of Waterloo.  You would think the facility would be more centralized like around Maplegrove Road as an example.  I would love to see what a cost study would say about the extra labour and fuel lost on a bus serving Kitchener or Cambridge having to leave from North Waterloo.  Not to mention the extra distance employees have to drive to get to work there...

There's already two GRT garages. One in Cambridge near Cambridge Centre mall, and one in Kitchener near the Laurentian power centre. They're not being replaced by this project, this is a 3rd bus garage to supplement them. Given the current areas north Waterloo is the logical spot to spread them out over the region, for exactly the reasons you mention.
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(01-20-2020, 09:14 PM)MidTowner Wrote: The 200 had sufficient ridership to justify an investment in higher-order transit. But buses are cheaper to purchase, and a capital investment of x spent on buses means greater coverage than the same capital outlay on rail transit.

Yes. But it would not have spurred anywhere near the same level of development as what we are seeing next to the LRT line. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why we got an LRT instead of a BRT.
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Does this thread cover the on-going GRT bus strike or is that being discussed more actively elsewhere? Anyone who relied on bus on here - how are you coping?
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A few employees have been working from home this week and for next week we're making arrangements to help them get to work (Carpooling/paying for uber/whatever else is needed)
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I've had to rely on my wife for transportation. Fortunately, we do have a vehicle, so I'm not stranded without transit. My commute is also only about 5 km, so I could walk it if necessary.
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(01-22-2020, 11:11 PM)tomh009 Wrote:
(01-20-2020, 09:14 PM)MidTowner Wrote: The 200 had sufficient ridership to justify an investment in higher-order transit. But buses are cheaper to purchase, and a capital investment of x spent on buses means greater coverage than the same capital outlay on rail transit.

Yes. But it would not have spurred anywhere near the same level of development as what we are seeing next to the LRT line. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why we got an LRT instead of a BRT.

Absolutely, bus routes come and go but tracks are forever. No one builds a 30+ story condo tower on the promise of a bus route...
...K
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I'm fortunate that it's only about a 15 minutes walk for me to Mill Street Station, and I work downtown. I regularly take the ION and walk home in the evenings, so doing it in the morning isn't a huge additional burden.

I have no idea how I'm supposed to advocate for people to use GRT in the future. This situation is fucking absurd and I'm livid with both sides.
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(01-24-2020, 12:08 PM)robdrimmie Wrote: I'm fortunate that it's only about a 15 minutes walk for me to Mill Street Station, and I work downtown. I regularly take the ION and walk home in the evenings, so doing it in the morning isn't a huge additional burden.

I have no idea how I'm supposed to advocate for people to use GRT in the future. This situation is fucking absurd and I'm livid with both sides.

If GRT was a business, shutting things down like this would lead to profit loss. Since it's a public service and the region clearly doesn't care how long the strike goes on, they have every incentive in the world to just sit back and watch people suffer. What are the workers supposed to do when the region won't bargain in good faith?

Why would you "both sides" something like this?

Edit: If people are livid, they need to contact their regional councilor and demand they make some concessions to get the system back on the road, not attack the workers or the union for god's sake. Let's have some degree of solidarity amongst people that promote progressive causes like better transit.
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(01-24-2020, 12:25 PM)PhilippAchtel Wrote:
(01-24-2020, 12:08 PM)robdrimmie Wrote: I'm fortunate that it's only about a 15 minutes walk for me to Mill Street Station, and I work downtown. I regularly take the ION and walk home in the evenings, so doing it in the morning isn't a huge additional burden.

I have no idea how I'm supposed to advocate for people to use GRT in the future. This situation is fucking absurd and I'm livid with both sides.

If GRT was a business, shutting things down like this would lead to profit loss. Since it's a public service and the region clearly doesn't care how long the strike goes on, they have every incentive in the world to just sit back and watch people suffer. What are the workers supposed to do when the region won't bargain in good faith?

Why would you "both sides" something like this?

Because both sides are being assholes. Job action can take several forms and increase in severity. The union chose to impact the health, education and livelihoods of over 70,000 people who relied on them by fully shutting down the system in January, the minute they were in a legal strike position.

They are not acting in the rider's best interest, nor is that an obligation of theirs. But to suggest that they have not decided to "sit back and watch people suffer" to forward their interests is not even a little bit compelling.

Understand that being upset with the union does not mean I'm on the Region's side.
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(01-24-2020, 12:25 PM)PhilippAchtel Wrote:
(01-24-2020, 12:08 PM)robdrimmie Wrote: I'm fortunate that it's only about a 15 minutes walk for me to Mill Street Station, and I work downtown. I regularly take the ION and walk home in the evenings, so doing it in the morning isn't a huge additional burden.

I have no idea how I'm supposed to advocate for people to use GRT in the future. This situation is fucking absurd and I'm livid with both sides.

If GRT was a business, shutting things down like this would lead to profit loss. Since it's a public service and the region clearly doesn't care how long the strike goes on, they have every incentive in the world to just sit back and watch people suffer. What are the workers supposed to do when the region won't bargain in good faith?

Why would you "both sides" something like this?

Edit: If people are livid, they need to contact their regional councilor and demand they make some concessions to get the system back on the road, not attack the workers or the union for god's sake. Let's have some degree of solidarity amongst people that promote progressive causes like better transit.

The union doesn't promote better transit. The GRT union was actually one of the groups actively fighting against the construction of ION. They weren't even promoting buses in their members interest, but crazy gadgetbahn schemes with new vehicle technology. I don't feel any obligation to them as "promoters of progressive causes like better transit".

I also don't think the region doesn't care about how long the strike goes on. They've got ridership growth targets and GHG reduction targets, both of which are impacted by this strike. The current strike is about discipline, specifically the region using the cameras to discipline drivers that do things like swear at passengers, or take unscheduled breaks when the bus was supposed to depart. Given how often I've been late for classes, appointments, etc due to drivers taking a smoke break and ignoring the schedule I can't say I have a lot of sympathy for the union. I don't see how the region saying they can't just stop disciplining employees that don't do their job is not "bargaining in good faith".
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(01-24-2020, 12:25 PM)PhilippAchtel Wrote: What are the workers supposed to do when the region won't bargain in good faith?

Is this happening, in this case?

I have to admit I don’t have any idea at all what the issues are, just that there is a strike happening. But if you are suggesting that the Region is not bargaining in good faith, you owe it to everybody here on this board to explain your specific concerns with their behaviour.
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I dont know about both sides. The real issue is employee safety says the union head. They want to have barriers installed (which the region is working on) Then the next breath say they don't like being watched all the time on surveillance video. The same video that is there to both keep them safe and assist with capturing someone who cause harm or damage....which would hopefully lead to charges, which would hopefully lead to deterrence of an future safety concerns. To me the message is, we dont want to be watched by management.. The region came up with decent money and the union says it is not about money so I dont see why they are striking.
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(01-24-2020, 01:36 PM)Rainrider22 Wrote: I dont know about both sides.  The real issue is employee safety says the union head.  They want to have barriers installed (which the region is working on)  Then the next breath say they don't like being watched all the time on surveillance video. The same video that is there to both keep them safe and assist with capturing someone who cause harm or damage....which would hopefully lead to charges, which would hopefully lead to deterrence of an future safety concerns.    To me the message is, we dont want to be watched by management..  The region came up with decent money and the union says it is not about money so I dont see why they are striking.

I don't know what the issue with the camera's are. It sounds like they object to the discpline program, which in my opinion, should be unrelated to the cameras, the cameras are unbiased witnesses, if the process is unfair to drivers, then the removal of witnesses won't solve that.

As for the barriers, I'm not in favour because I feel they make transit unfriendly to the users, but if the reality is we have violence on our buses, that's a shame, and maybe they're necessary, but I remember this came up years ago, why are we talking about it again? I've heard the region offered to install them over 3 years, that's absurd, they've already been piloted and tested, or at least they planned too...so why can't they be installed over the regular maintenance program...I assume our buses are maintained more frequently than every 3 years.
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I believe everything you just said is accurate including the point that the barriers are being installed over time. It is a multi million dollar project. The issue with the cameras is that they feel management is watching the employees every move... Get over it... we have video everywhere now...
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