GO Transit

[Red Rocket 191]

When they get that third track in for mid-day service to Mount Pleasant I suspect...which is still a ways off.

At this point we'll be happy with more buses.

[D. DeLarge]

At this point we'll be happy with more buses.

Agreed.

[Red Rocket 191]

Agreed.

Glad we could reach consensus.

[jamesmoon]

Due to freight derailment east of Aldershot GO trains are going to Burlington, buses to Hamilton, 20 cars off the track according the Star.

[kitchenerlrt]

At this point we'll be happy with more buses.

Correct!

[MiExpress]

Found this on GO's site today.

Tender Call

Tender No. PT-2007-FM-081

Refurbishment of Forty-Nine (49) MCI D4500 Accessible Highway Buses

GO Transit is accepting Tenders for the Refurbishment of Forty-Nine (49) MCI D4500 Accessible Highway Buses.

A Mandatory Site Meeting will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, February 22, 2008 at GO Transit’s Steeprock Bus Garage, 200 Steeprock Drive, Downsview, Ontario, at the west end of the building. Failure of a Contractor to be present and registered from the time the meeting is called to order for the entire meeting until the meeting is adjourned will result in disqualification from bidding.

Contractors must wear safety shoes and have protective eyewear with them at the site meeting(s). Failure to satisfy these requirements will result in disqualification from bidding.

Tender documents are available weekdays from 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. from GO Transit’s Procurement and Contract Services Office at 20 Bay Street, Suite 600, Toronto, Ontario. Tender documents are provided only in hard copy format. No electronic versions are available. Call (416) 869-3600, ext. 5222 or email Monika.Thomason@gotransit.com for inquiries.

Each Tender must be accompanied by a bid deposit of $20,000 in the form of a bid bond or certified cheque payable to the “Greater Toronto Transit Authority”.

Sealed Tenders will be accepted until 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 28, 2008 at the same Procurement and Contract Services Office, and will be publicly opened immediately upon closing.

GO Transit reserves the right to reject any or all Tenders at its sole discretion.

[Enzo Aquarius]

Found this on GO's site today.

Tender Call

Tender No. PT-2007-FM-081

Refurbishment of Forty-Nine (49) MCI D4500 Accessible Highway Buses

GO Transit is accepting Tenders for the Refurbishment of Forty-Nine (49) MCI D4500 Accessible Highway Buses.

A Mandatory Site Meeting will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, February 22, 2008 at GO Transit’s Steeprock Bus Garage, 200 Steeprock Drive, Downsview, Ontario, at the west end of the building. Failure of a Contractor to be present and registered from the time the meeting is called to order for the entire meeting until the meeting is adjourned will result in disqualification from bidding.

Contractors must wear safety shoes and have protective eyewear with them at the site meeting(s). Failure to satisfy these requirements will result in disqualification from bidding.

Tender documents are available weekdays from 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. from GO Transit’s Procurement and Contract Services Office at 20 Bay Street, Suite 600, Toronto, Ontario. Tender documents are provided only in hard copy format. No electronic versions are available. Call (416) 869-3600, ext. 5222 or email Monika.Thomason@gotransit.com for inquiries.

Each Tender must be accompanied by a bid deposit of $20,000 in the form of a bid bond or certified cheque payable to the “Greater Toronto Transit Authority”.

Sealed Tenders will be accepted until 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 28, 2008 at the same Procurement and Contract Services Office, and will be publicly opened immediately upon closing.

GO Transit reserves the right to reject any or all Tenders at its sole discretion.

These are most likely the oldest of GO Transit's MCI fleet: 2100-2148, having started service in 2001/2002. This would be a 6/7 year refurbishment then for these buses.

[D. DeLarge]

GO will probably sell the Prevost's for lots of money.

on Ebay the silverside Prevost's are hot item and people are willing to pay good money for them..

there is a 1998 on for 105K

BTW it will be sad to see the silversides retired.

I thought they were just rebuilt a few years ago?

[general682002]

These are most likely the oldest of GO Transit's MCI fleet: 2100-2148, having started service in 2001/2002. This would be a 6/7 year refurbishment then for these buses.

I can think of is because they've used quite alot of milage on them.

I thought they were just rebuilt a few years ago?

Yeah, they did but again, it's due to oddball fleet they want to get rid of it.

[Shaun]

Any idea on how many miles on those MCI's.

What a waste to spend bucks on rebuilding prevosts. Could have done with them without rebuilding if they are going to be sold anyways.

[general682002]

What a waste to spend bucks on rebuilding prevosts. Could have done with them without rebuilding if they are going to be sold anyways.

They had several units on early rust issues. On top of that, the electronic sign had to be changed and installing upper 4" LED tailight.

[Enzo Aquarius]

Any idea on how many miles on those MCI's.

If I can find a driver running 2100-2148, I'll ask them for the milage. Each year should generally have the same milage as they switch buses around between garages to keep milage constant.

[Ed Drass]

Sean Marshall of Spacing would like to know when/if the Georgetown Train/Bus line will see midday & weekend service improvements. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I spoke to the mayor of Brampton about this a few months back after a GO board meeting, and for the life of me I can't recall what she said beside touting the development of downtown Brampton. Since the conversation left that much of an impression ... my guess is she was not too concerned. I'll have to get an official quote sometime.

Does anyone have a clue how GO estimates potential ridership? In the case of adding to current routes, the obvious indication is passenger loads. Service has been steadily added to the 407 route, and Milton has progressed to very frequent bus service. I wonder how crowded existing Brampton buses are -- compared to other routes.

[Gil]

Found this over in the DRT budget section:

And here's the rest:

BRT Details

The 2008 Transit Servicing and Financing Study provides some details on progress towards the Bus Rapid Transit implementation. In addition, I have a copy of DRT’s submission to Metrolinx for “quick win” status on the initial phase of implementation. The following material is combined from both sources:

The proposal describes a transit network consisting of the following:

* BRT service on Highway 2 from Pickering to Courtice, with a peak service frequency of every 7.5 minutes, off-peak frequency of 15 minutes, and Sunday/late evening frequencies of 30 minutes.. This service would replace the current GO Transit “94 Highway 2″ service, although GO would continue to operate express and semi-express services in the highway 2 corridor.

* Taunton Road / Rossland Road “Rapid Bus” service - a high frequency bus service implemented using transit priority, and running the full length of the corridor.

* Bayly-Victoria-Bloor service - continuous along these streets

* Simcoe Street service - a high frequency service between Oshawa and UOIT

* Port Perry service - a limited stop semi-express bus connecting the northern communities to the rest of the higher-order network

This is obviously a bit vague, but it implies that the other corridors would have better service than they do today, including transit priority, but would not be up to the level of the BRT corridor on highway 2.

The BRT implementation itself specifically consists of the following:

* Transit connections to the City of Toronto (Scarborough Town Centre or U of T Scarborough mentioned as possibilities) and to Bowmanville

* Use of accessible hybrid buses

* Widening of highway 2 to provide two additional curb lanes, except through narrow areas in downtown Ajax (Pickering Village), Whitby, and Oshawa. These would be transit/HOV lanes initially, but would become exclusive transit lanes when ridership levels justify it.

* Implementation of transit signal priority (so that buses get green lights when they need them, instead of waiting for the signals to change)

* Development of multi-modal transit hubs to facilitate transfers to feeder services

* Facility upgrades to support maintenance of the buses

The five year cost (to 2012) of this implementation is estimated at $175 million, in 2007 dollars, broken down as follows:

* $17 million for land acquisition for road widening

* $26 million for planning, EA, and design

* $2 million for a public outreach program to promote the initiate

* $6 million for passenger amenities, including bus stops, stations, and hubs

* $71 million for road infrastructure (widening)

* $17 million for $26 accessible hybrid buses (with additional bus purchases planned for later periods)

* $7 million Intelligent Transportation System infrastructure (e.g. bus positioning, passenger counting, etc)

* $29 million for facilities upgrades

Metrolinx has approved $82.3 million of this cost for “quick win” approval, which will hopefully come in this year’s provincial budget. The amounts for road widening were notably omitted, given that Metrolinx has deemed those sorts of elements to be ineligible for “quick win” status. This would, if implemented, give us new buses, transit priority, and improved infrastructure on highway 2, without the dedicated lanes. In other words, the initial implementation would look a lot like the current Viva service in York Region.

Future Service Improvements

. . .

2010

* Salem Road - 3120 revenue hours

* Ajax, Improved runtimes/frequencies - 5200 revenue hours

* Brock Rd North to Taunton - 2600 revenue hours

* Pickering, Improved runtimes/frequencies - 3120 revenue hours

* Garrard Road service, 3120 revenue hours

* 950 UOIT/Port Perry/Uxbridge - 3120 revenue hours

* Oshawa/Bowmanville/Newcastle Hwy 2 link - 3120 revenue hours

* Newcastle - 3120 revenue hours

* Scugog Community bus - 2080 revenue hours

* Uxbridge GO Station Shuttle - 2080 revenue hours. . .

So GO is planning on extending the Stouffville Line up to Uxbridge by 2010? Is there a possibility of putting in a stop at Goodwood as well, or will the Linconlville stop at Bethesda Sideroad be the only intermediate stop between Stouffville and Uxbridge?

[Red Rocket 191]

I spoke to the mayor of Brampton about this a few months back after a GO board meeting, and for the life of me I can't recall what she said beside touting the development of downtown Brampton. Since the conversation left that much of an impression ... my guess is she was not too concerned. I'll have to get an official quote sometime.

Does anyone have a clue how GO estimates potential ridership? In the case of adding to current routes, the obvious indication is passenger loads. Service has been steadily added to the 407 route, and Milton has progressed to very frequent bus service. I wonder how crowded existing Brampton buses are -- compared to other routes.

Thanks Ed

We have service to Yorkdale/York Mills every 30 minutes all day, every day, but it takes just over an hour (1.5 hours if via Pearson). It's not very helpful for heading downtown.

In other news, potential service to Waterloo is in the news again. Waterloo council has refused to choose favorites, and is recommending that expansion to Kitchener and Cambridge be called for.

[smallspy]

So GO is planning on extending the Stouffville Line up to Uxbridge by 2010? Is there a possibility of putting in a stop at Goodwood as well, or will the Linconlville stop at Bethesda Sideroad be the only intermediate stop between Stouffville and Uxbridge?

The long-term plans had some service running to Uxbridge, with a storage yard located in or south of Goodwood. I can't recall seeing any sort of timeline associated with them though, and the 10-year Capital Plan that I have from 2000 doesn't list an extension of service to Uxbridge as one of the items to be funded.

I would assume that other than the location of the yard, these plans are still in force.

Dan

[Orion9131]

GO will probably sell the Prevost's for lots of money.

on Ebay the silverside Prevost's are hot item and people are willing to pay good money for them..

there is a 1998 on for 105K

BTW it will be sad to see the silversides retired.

Those buses are really nice. It's like a treat, when you get one.

[DavidH]

Those buses are really nice. It's like a treat, when you get one.

Eh... I used to think that as well, but I now get one almost every day on the 3:45 route 96 trip from Finch.

Frankly, I prefer to get a D4500 because the extra capacity means that I have a better chance of ending up with a pair of seats for myself. :-)

[Enzo Aquarius]

Eh... I used to think that as well, but I now get one almost every day on the 3:45 route 96 trip from Finch.

Frankly, I prefer to get a D4500 because the extra capacity means that I have a better chance of ending up with a pair of seats for myself. :-)

I usually only get the Prevosts once a week, and I'm at initial pick-up for it, so I always enjoy getting one.

[YRT-Guy]

Well... it's official.. (sourced from the yrt.ca website)

Beginning April 27, 2008, a NEW GO Transit route will provide service between Richmond Hill Centre Terminal, Pearson International Airport and Square One Shopping Centre.

This new route will provide hourly non-stop service, seven days a week as follows:

* Westbound from Richmond Hill Centre Terminal to Pearson International Airport to Square One Shopping Centre

* First trip departs at 4:20 a.m. with trips departing hourly until the last trip departs at 1:20 a.m. (next day).

* Eastbound from Pearson International Airport to Richmond Hill Centre Terminal

* First trip departs at 4:25 a.m. with trips departing hourly until the last trip departs at 1:25 a.m. (next day).

GO Transit fares apply for this service. Please visit http://www.gotransit.com for more details.

[BusMaxx]

Well... it's official.. (sourced from the yrt.ca website)

Beginning April 27, 2008, a NEW GO Transit route will provide service between Richmond Hill Centre Terminal, Pearson International Airport and Square One Shopping Centre.

This new route will provide hourly non-stop service, seven days a week as follows:

* Westbound from Richmond Hill Centre Terminal to Pearson International Airport to Square One Shopping Centre

* First trip departs at 4:20 a.m. with trips departing hourly until the last trip departs at 1:20 a.m. (next day).

* Eastbound from Pearson International Airport to Richmond Hill Centre Terminal

* First trip departs at 4:25 a.m. with trips departing hourly until the last trip departs at 1:25 a.m. (next day).

GO Transit fares apply for this service. Please visit http://www.gotransit.com for more details.

i seen this update on the YRT site, but nothing on the GO site...... anyone have any further details???

[Gil]

i seen this update on the YRT site, but nothing on the GO site...... anyone have any further details???

I think someone here posted more details in one of the Mississauga threads. The departures from Square One will be every 30 minutes I think. So every other bus will be going on to Richmond Hill, which has hourly service. I'll see if I can dig that info up unless someone else can confirm the details.

[Orion VIII]

I think someone here posted more details in one of the Mississauga threads. The departures from Square One will be every 30 minutes I think. So every other bus will be going on to Richmond Hill, which has hourly service. I'll see if I can dig that info up unless someone else can confirm the details.

Here. It's just as you summarized.

[BusMaxx]

I think someone here posted more details in one of the Mississauga threads. The departures from Square One will be every 30 minutes I think. So every other bus will be going on to Richmond Hill, which has hourly service. I'll see if I can dig that info up unless someone else can confirm the details.

this wont be a replacement for MT route 7 though......... i hope

[Enzo Aquarius]

Alrighty, so I have asked numerous GO Transit drivers if they knew of the upcoming RHC/Pearson/Square One route, ALL of them said they did not. They did say that the start of it corresponds with a board meeting around that time.

Also, relating to 2020's past post regarding GO changes, I'm sure a number of GO drivers will be happy with the abolishment of Route 94. One driver told me that it's a VERY busy route , and many people use it for a short distance, resulting in a long 'stop-and-go' ride.