GO Transit

[Gil]

On 7/7/2021 at 7:34 PM, GTAmissions1 said:

Go Transit is offering a weekend pass for one day, two day and the long weekends and holiday (one day). Link here: https://blog.metrolinx.com/2021/07/06/metrolinx-announces-weekend-pass-to-get-riders-moving-and-exploring-again-as-ontario-begins-to-leave-pandemic-behind/

 

A way to help regain ridership especially with a reduction of around 90 percent during the peak of COVID-19 along with stay at home orders. Especially how expensive Go Transit can be getting around. $7.50/day for the weekend pass covering two days. Only available by e-ticket right now.

I remember when I used to take Go Transit on the Sunday Funday pass first introduced being only $10, it was pretty handy not having to calculate the fare between two different destinations. Just have to show to the transit operator on the bus or show on the phone if asked for proof of payment. 

I looked into this with the long weekend coming up.  If it's a flat rate, why do you need to select an origin and destination? Can I travel outside of that pair? Say if I wanted to go to Niagara on Saturday, Kitchener on Sunday and the Zoo on Monday which pair would I select?

[GTAmissions1]

After over a decade of cost overruns and missed deadlines, the Bay concourse at Union Station has finally reopened as of July 27th. 

https://www.gotransit.com/en/stations-stops-parking/bay-concourse?fbclid=IwAR0Z3akyz4kRs_QYPgy0iZ8CTPutUuA1izMrEQ693kurOgxtvNfITV43UWY

Toronto Star article

Especially the years that people who were transferring from the subway to Go Train during peak periods and vice versa has been difficult having to enter through a certain pathway. Since the work was done in phases and to better accommodate passenger volumes. I remember the second platform project at the Union subway station to better accommodate and expand beyond the centre platform. 

58 minutes ago, Gil said:

I looked into this with the long weekend coming up.  If it's a flat rate, why do you need to select an origin and destination? Can I travel outside of that pair? Say if I wanted to go to Niagara on Saturday, Kitchener on Sunday and the Zoo on Monday which pair would I select?

Go Transit is bases their fares on distance. Using different fare zones to calculate the amount to charge based on how many fare zones between the start and end. 

You can put down whatever start and end point you have. It is valid system wide anywhere on the bus or train network and yes, you can travel outside the itinerary you put down. Just make sure your phone is fully charged and have access to celluar data to use the day/weekend pass and activate it 5 minutes before you board. I have seen people who activate when the bus comes and the operator lets them on since it will show day pass.

Weekend day pass expires at 3 AM the next day or for the weekend, it is 3 AM Monday or 3 AM Tuesday if it falls on a long weekend. Since Go Transit has their final departures from Union Station just before 3 AM the next day along with Route 34 and 40 operating 24 hours every day. 

I have had the day pass glitch where the time remaining went to zero when it was still within the current service day. If that happens, just explain to the operator and show them the date it was activated and they should let you on. 

[wowzhao]

16 hours ago, Gil said:

I looked into this with the long weekend coming up.  If it's a flat rate, why do you need to select an origin and destination?

Just spitballing here, but I wonder if this is so they can track how many people purchase tickets and for what routes for the sake of understanding where demand is, since unlike Presto you won't be tapping on a scanner connected to the central system.

[GTAmissions1]

1 hour ago, wowzhao said:

Just spitballing here, but I wonder if this is so they can track how many people purchase tickets and for what routes for the sake of understanding where demand is, since unlike Presto you won't be tapping on a scanner connected to the central system.

Correct. Since the original version was called Sunday Funday which the pass could only be used on Sunday which the cost is $10. This is on top of as mentioned that Go Transit bases their fares on distance which it needs to know the two fare zones in order to activate the pass. If it was simply a flat fare no matter where you went without fare zones, it would simply be activating the pass without needing to input any special instructions. 

Back during Sunday Funday pass, there was a survey asking what the passed was used for with three options:

• One way trip
• Return trip (trip to destination and back home on the same day)
• Multiple trips

Right now, the weekend pass is to increase ridership on weekends after losing over 90 percent due to COVID-19. Not sure how long the weekend pass will go for since it is most likely costing money for the agency based on uptake. Seeing a few people use the pass. At the same time, I think there is a lot more to gain than lose especially with the longer distance trips. 

[Shaun]

I have a question about the trains parked at Hunter Street station in Hamilton. 

I guess they are not needed during the pandemic, so they are stored there during the day, does GO cycle those trains around? Or has the same trainset been parked at the station for over a year?

I guess they are parked there because there is no space for them at Willowbrook? 

 

[Articulated]

1 hour ago, Shaun said:

I have a question about the trains parked at Hunter Street station in Hamilton. 

I guess they are not needed during the pandemic, so they are stored there during the day, does GO cycle those trains around? Or has the same trainset been parked at the station for over a year?

I guess they are parked there because there is no space for them at Willowbrook? 

 

The current schedules still have two departures per day from Hamilton GO Centre.

To the other portion of the question, yes GO has been storing excess equipment in various locations around the system. For example, extra cars have been stored in Henry Street Yard, which had otherwise been unused since the East Rail Maintenance Facility opened up just east of there. The excess equipment has generally been rotated every so often to ensure even wear and maintenance.

[John Oke]

 GO Trains being tested as far west as London

[MCIBUS]

Question?

Does GO Transit have any buses/coaches/trains stored or saved any for Historical purposes? A Historical Fleet?

[GTAmissions1]

37 minutes ago, John Oke said:

 GO Trains being tested as far west as London

It will be interesting if Go Transit expands their services to London, Ontario considering it is pretty far. A train trip by Via-Rail between London Station and Union Station in Toronto is 2 hours and 15 minutes assuming no delays or issues. 

The longest Go Train route is a tie between two sections. Kitchener Go to Union Station at almost two hours one way and Union Station to Niagara Falls on the Lakeshore West line which is almost two hours too. Based on scheduled times. 

Especially how the Toronto to London bus route is covered by Megabus subcontracted to Badder Bus and Onex Corporation planning a similar bus route to cover the same stretch. Trying to compete for the demand of transportation. 

[Articulated]

3 hours ago, MCIBUS said:

Question?

Does GO Transit have any buses/coaches/trains stored or saved any for Historical purposes? A Historical Fleet?

No.

The closest they got was purchasing single-level cab car 104 back from AMT, which was refurbished and donated to the Toronto Railway Museum for GO's 50th anniversary in 2017. While GO/Metrolinx was responsible for its preservation, I wouldn't count it as being part of GO's fleet.

[Doppelkupplung]

delete

[Enzo Aquarius]

17 hours ago, MCIBUS said:

Question?

Does GO Transit have any buses/coaches/trains stored or saved any for Historical purposes? A Historical Fleet?

GO Transit doesn't keep a historical bus fleet but many remain in service with other bus service providers. 

If you check the wiki for GO Transit's retired fleets, we've tracked many which have been sent to other agencies.

[Orion 1200]

On 7/28/2021 at 8:13 AM, wowzhao said:

Just spitballing here, but I wonder if this is so they can track how many people purchase tickets and for what routes for the sake of understanding where demand is, since unlike Presto you won't be tapping on a scanner connected to the central system.

That's exactly what it is.

On 7/29/2021 at 9:35 PM, Shaun said:

I guess they are parked there because there is no space for them at Willowbrook? 

Correct. Same goes for GO equipment parked elsewhere that hasn't moved in a while also.

On 7/12/2021 at 11:29 AM, Gil said:

As I've mentioned there's already existing signage indicating the position of each car at most if not all stations.  Why not just point them out and indicate on the departure board the length of the train?  Especially at Union with the new screens instead of having someone directing people down the platform toward the shortened train.  There's enough room on the departure board to add a column indicating the train length.

A trial is underway (I don't remember where) of car length signage on the platform. Since the spotting markers are already there, they're being merged with those where possible. Trains will likely be back to 10 and 12 cars before this gets rolled out system wide. As for adding car lengths to the departure boards, that's not as easy as you make it sound. If it was, it would have been done by now.

 

[Gil]

On 8/1/2021 at 5:55 PM, Orion 1200 said:

A trial is underway (I don't remember where) of car length signage on the platform. Since the spotting markers are already there, they're being merged with those where possible. Trains will likely be back to 10 and 12 cars before this gets rolled out system wide. As for adding car lengths to the departure boards, that's not as easy as you make it sound. If it was, it would have been done by now.

 

The pilot signage is at Mimico and Danforth.  Again, why reinvent the wheel when they already have existing signage.

How often (at least these days) will the train length vary day-to-day that a specific run will see a change in the number of cars?  If they can't put the specific number of cars on the departure screen, could they simply indicate whether a train will be "short"?  I've seen plenty of people with head/earphones on completely oblivious to the recorded announcements to move down the platform for a short train.  Whether or not they'd pay attention to the departure board is another question but it would provide some additional crucial information to passengers.

I used GO's Weekend Pass this past long weekend and had selected a station pair that gave me the most flexibility between local and express trips with the reduced weekend schedule. 

I did ask at Union about whether the pass was valid across the entire network or just between the pair of stations I had selected especially since it's being advertised as the latter.  I used the example of using the Lakeshore West line instead of a bus to Meadowvale.  Since the passes were so new they weren't sure, but a ticket inspector (or RPO, Revenue Protection Officer) came by and they checked with them.  For the time being, while they are still a novelty, they will only be enforced for stations within the same fare zone or price.

This leads me to believe that if I entered a pair of stations at either end of the network (say Peterborough and Niagara Falls or Barrie and Brantford) that should cover the itineraries I had laid out earlier.  But I could run into the problem of how judiciously a driver will interpret the pair, especially if it's not on the corridor listed (say the Barrie-Branford pair and I try going to the Zoo).

If they're still trying to encourage PRESTO card uptake capping fares on weekends would be the easiest from a passenger's perspective.  Enabling it on the back end to give the cards that functionality is another question.  I haven't bought a single trip or day pass online, but is it tied to your PRESTO account?  Seeing as you can now load funds instantly with the app, I somehow doubt it meaning the online ticket wouldn't get the PRESTO discount.

[TTC7447]

GO Transit has converted two of its coaches into mobile COVID-19 Vaccine units/clinics (called GO-VAXX).  No idea which buses were converted: https://blog.metrolinx.com/2021/08/06/metrolinx-is-going-mobile-to-help-make-vaccines-more-accessible-across-the-region/

[Doppelkupplung]

7 minutes ago, TTC7447 said:

GO Transit has converted two of its coaches into mobile COVID-19 Vaccine units/clinics (called GO-VAXX).  No idea which buses were converted: https://blog.metrolinx.com/2021/08/06/metrolinx-is-going-mobile-to-help-make-vaccines-more-accessible-across-the-region/

Given that TTC used O7 Hybrids for their COVID units, and that the bus in the photo is 2439, I wouldn't be surprised if it was another sub-2450, since both those series are retiring. Normally their presser bus is 2607. 

[MCIBUS]

2 hours ago, TTC7447 said:

GO Transit has converted two of its coaches into mobile COVID-19 Vaccine units/clinics (called GO-VAXX).  No idea which buses were converted: https://blog.metrolinx.com/2021/08/06/metrolinx-is-going-mobile-to-help-make-vaccines-more-accessible-across-the-region/

OC Transpo used two Invero's as Covide-19 mobile units? Not sure if the stil are using them or not?

[curlingteam333]

One of GO Bus Enviro 500 have permanent driver barrier. Took this bus today from Square One to Union Station. 
Will the rest of the buses will get permanent barrier or just testing.
edit: made mistake on 8477 as saw one that has no permanent barrier

Edited August 12, 2021 by curlingteam333
Made mistake that 8477 does not have permanent barrier as I saw this yesterday.

[sdgta2008]

Are those 2012 to 2014 Enviros still sitting collecting rust....?  At this rate they might as well start selling some of them.  MTB could make a pretty penny selling some refurbished 2012s.

[Downsview34.]

On 8/11/2021 at 5:03 PM, curlingteam333 said:

One of GO Bus Enviro 500 have permanent driver barrier. Took this bus today from Square One to Union Station. 
Will the rest of the buses will get permanent barrier or just testing.
edit: made mistake on 8477 as saw one that has no permanent barrier

Is this the ones with the sliding barrier windows? If so 8467 has that as well. 

[curlingteam333]

53 minutes ago, Downsview34. said:

Is this the ones with the sliding barrier windows? If so 8467 has that as well. 

Yeah that’s the one.

[FutureHeartsJunkie]

ICAMI (In Case Anyone Missed It), this weekend's (from August 14th to 15th, 2021) GO Train Service along the Lakeshore East line - will be temporarly curtailed at Danforth GO station due to track work between Danforth and Union GO.

If anyone is planning to travel between these two stations, they must take the TTC to get to downtown. Also, there will be an express GO bus from Pickering GO to the new Union Station Bus Terminal.

The same case is true for the Stouffville Line - GO Buses will be provided from Lincolnville or Mount Joy GO and making all stops up to Unionville GO. Those who live near the Milliken, Agincourt or Kennedy GO stations must take the TTC.

[John Oke]

https://blog.metrolinx.com/2021/08/13/last-of-new-go-train-cars-arrives-in-toronto-from-thunder-bay-plant/amp/
 

Last car (4533) of the current bi-level order for 36 cars delivered by Alstom to Willowbrook a few days ago 

[Ultimate]

GO Transit has updated all Wayfinding signage at Exhibition GO Station today. Looks like a few hints of the Ontario Line have arised with the new signage unless thats the imagery they use for streetcars. 

[Gil]

On 8/6/2021 at 4:23 PM, Doppelkupplung said:

Given that TTC used O7 Hybrids for their COVID units, and that the bus in the photo is 2439, I wouldn't be surprised if it was another sub-2450, since both those series are retiring. Normally their presser bus is 2607. 

The other is 2442.  I spotted it on my trip into Union at Cooksville GO on Tuesday.