GO Transit

[fromthe905]

1 hour ago, Ed T. said:

April 8.....

 

The QEW is guaranteed to be an utter disaster. Why not take GO? They must have plans, huh?

 

 

I heard something over the radio this afternoon talking about how GO Transit is enhancing trains to and from Niagara Falls. Not sure if that'll take effect before April 8th but it'll be smart if they do that if theyre able to

[Ed T.]

3 hours ago, fromthe905 said:

I heard something over the radio this afternoon talking about how GO Transit is enhancing trains to and from Niagara Falls. Not sure if that'll take effect before April 8th but it'll be smart if they do that if theyre able to

"Enhancing trains?"

If it happens that Niagara Fall's estimate of visitor count is correct, every single GO bus and bilevel coach pulled by every one of GO's locos probably wouldn't take care of the crowds trying to get back to the GTA. So really they need to enhance their trains to be magic flying ponies for all. Plus more crowd control at stations than you can shake a ten-thousand-anxious-riders stick at.

The problem is that Toronto, and Peel, and York, and Durham are all just out of the path of totality. But a short trip west to Hamilton, or better yet St Catharines or Niagara Falls, gets them nicely into totality. Or east, but you'd have to go east past Port Hope, ideally to Prince Edward County. The 401 east of Durham can be horrible on summer weekends, and the QEW is one long traffic jam heading to or from Niagara every nice weekend. Finally, while people might drift to viewing locations Sunday, or early Monday, when the eclipse is over, a whole lot will want to get back home to go back to work Tuesday morning.

It will be a fun time on Monday April 8.

[Highway of Heroes]

Just a question: Can GO Transit Superlo's Double Deacker buses go on route 37 Orangeville/Brampton & route 38 Bolton/Malton or is it a MCI only routes?

[81-717]

On 3/20/2024 at 4:16 PM, Ed T. said:

"Enhancing trains?"

If it happens that Niagara Fall's estimate of visitor count is correct, every single GO bus and bilevel coach pulled by every one of GO's locos probably wouldn't take care of the crowds trying to get back to the GTA. So really they need to enhance their trains to be magic flying ponies for all. Plus more crowd control at stations than you can shake a ten-thousand-anxious-riders stick at.

The problem is that Toronto, and Peel, and York, and Durham are all just out of the path of totality. But a short trip west to Hamilton, or better yet St Catharines or Niagara Falls, gets them nicely into totality. Or east, but you'd have to go east past Port Hope, ideally to Prince Edward County. The 401 east of Durham can be horrible on summer weekends, and the QEW is one long traffic jam heading to or from Niagara every nice weekend. Finally, while people might drift to viewing locations Sunday, or early Monday, when the eclipse is over, a whole lot will want to get back home to go back to work Tuesday morning.

It will be a fun time on Monday April 8.

I wonder what the estimated travel time between Toronto and Niagara Falls is for that day. While it's probably best to avoid the crowd in Niagara Falls, setting up a tripod in a quiet residential neighborhood / park with a clear unobstructed view somewhere nearby (i.e. Hamilton) should be just fine.

[GTAmissions1]

Go Transit is refurbishing 8 passenger train cars and converting them to bike cars to better accommodate an increased amount of bikes on the Kitchener Go line. While working to maintain fire resistance that minimizes the spread of flames should a fire occur on-board between train stations. 

Additional bike cars scheduled to come into service in mid-May being assigned where needed. 

Link: https://globalnews.ca/news/10376331/new-carriages-metrolinx-go-trains-bike-rules-review/

Additional service to Niagara Falls on April 8th

Three additional trips from Union Station to Niagara Falls: 9:02 AM, 10:02 AM and 11:02 AM

Four additional trips from Niagara Falls to Union Station: 4:24 PM, 4:54 PM, 7:21 PM and 10:51 PM

All trips will operate with 12 cars to ensure sufficient capacity to handle increased volumes. 

Link: https://www.metrolinx.com/en/news/metrolinx-running-extra-go-transit-service-on-april-8

[Gil]

On 3/20/2024 at 11:12 AM, Ed T. said:

April 8.....

 

The QEW is guaranteed to be an utter disaster. Why not take GO? They must have plans, huh?

 

 

 

On 3/20/2024 at 1:01 PM, fromthe905 said:

I heard something over the radio this afternoon talking about how GO Transit is enhancing trains to and from Niagara Falls. Not sure if that'll take effect before April 8th but it'll be smart if they do that if theyre able to

The CBC article cited above in the headline screenshot (this isn't Facebook, you can still post links to news articles here - here's the article in question) mentioned GO would hopefully be adding train service as any additional bus service would likely get caught in the traffic into the region.  The schedule wasn't ready at press time, but it was posted two days later.  There is no mention of additional bus service in the Metrolinx release below.  Perhaps the distance of the Niagara Falls station from the Falls itself will help spread some of the people around. 

On 3/22/2024 at 12:52 PM, GTAmissions1 said:

...

Additional service to Niagara Falls on April 8th

Three additional trips from Union Station to Niagara Falls: 9:02 AM, 10:02 AM and 11:02 AM

Four additional trips from Niagara Falls to Union Station: 4:24 PM, 4:54 PM, 7:21 PM and 10:51 PM

All trips will operate with 12 cars to ensure sufficient capacity to handle increased volumes. 

Link: https://www.metrolinx.com/en/news/metrolinx-running-extra-go-transit-service-on-april-8

The eclipse also coincides with the Jays home opener and a Leafs game.  I wonder how many people will be travelling from Niagara Falls to catch either of the matches?

[GTAmissions1]

6 hours ago, Gil said:

The eclipse also coincides with the Jays home opener and a Leafs game.  I wonder how many people will be travelling from Niagara Falls to catch either of the matches?

Go Transit did rejig some trips and adding service where needed to accommodate the Jays home opener game along Lakeshore West, Lakeshore East and Barrie lines.

Some train departure trips were rejigged to better accommodate with bus replacement trips running in-place. 

Forgot to note in my original post select special trips to Niagara Falls will bypass Mimico, Long Branch, Clarkson, Bronte, Appleby GO, Hamilton GO Centre, and West Harbour GO. Noted below are the impacted trips:

Union Station towards Niagara Falls

• 10:02 AM and 11:02 AM departures

Niagara Falls to Union

• 4:24 PM, 4:54 PM and 10:51 PM 

Final comments:

It is a good opportunity to practice additional service for special events depending on availability of resources and crews. 

To be honest, for those that will do the solar eclipse in Niagara Falls and do a sports game the same day, that would make for a pretty long day. Would need a lot of caffeine and strategic planning in case the crowds do get heavy at Niagara Falls. 

[TRENT_TRANSIT_SYSTEM]

Anybody remember exactly when bus 2428 left GO property? How bout all the 2400's in that batch? Was it around Sept. 2022 or later?

Does anyone know why GO buses arent sold at auction but are given to specific dealerships without a public bidding process?

[Orion V]

1) Can the Richmond Hill line theoretically run a SINGLE 7 days all day back and forth in service train between Union Stn and Langstaff GO Stn on a frequency of every 2h?
The only part that I see with a conflict with CN is at John St north to Langstaff GO Stn which is part of the CN owned line.

2) Judging from google satellite pics, two other lines with similar conflicts exists that are similar to the above situation but are already seeing 7 days services at 30min or 1h frequencies.
a) Lakeshore West line from Brant St west to Aldershot GO Stn where it conflicts with the CN owned line.
b) Kitchener line from Hwy 407 west to Bramalea GO Stn where it conflicts with the CN owned line.
How is GO able to run all day 7 days train in these two sections that conflict with CN?

[Ber]

12 hours ago, Orion V said:

1) Can the Richmond Hill line theoretically run a SINGLE 7 days all day back and forth in service train between Union Stn and Langstaff GO Stn on a frequency of every 2h?
The only part that I see with a conflict with CN is at John St north to Langstaff GO Stn which is part of the CN owned line.

2) Judging from google satellite pics, two other lines with similar conflicts exists that are similar to the above situation but are already seeing 7 days services at 30min or 1h frequencies.
a) Lakeshore West line from Brant St west to Aldershot GO Stn where it conflicts with the CN owned line.
b) Kitchener line from Hwy 407 west to Bramalea GO Stn where it conflicts with the CN owned line.
How is GO able to run all day 7 days train in these two sections that conflict with CN?

really hope this can happen especially since the subway is going up here eventually. this will provide a limited express service DT while the subway bridges the gaps in between.

the only limiting factors are that many stations are in the middle of BF nowhere (oriole, bloomington, old cummer)

perhaps, a RH, Langstaff, oriole and union off peak service?

[MCIBUS]

Question?

Not being from the GTA and don't know the transit system, Is GO Transit the only provider for transit/Inter-city service between Toronto & Niagra Falls?

[Cityflyer]

2 hours ago, MCIBUS said:

Question?

Not being from the GTA and don't know the transit system, Is GO Transit the only provider for transit/Inter-city service between Toronto & Niagra Falls?

Via Rail & Megabus off the top of my head also provides service between these two cities.

[fromthe905]

2 hours ago, Cityflyer said:

Via Rail & Megabus off the top of my head also provides service between these two cities.

I believe FlixBus has a route that goes to/from Niagata-Toronto as i saw them on the QEW a couple times but that was when they first started.

[MCIBUS]

Thanks for the info/replies

[Cityflyer]

Stouffville line is shutdown this weekend and Barrie line shutdown south of Rutherford Stn.

Are they upgrading to dual tracks to have 30min frequencies? What sections are still missing from both lines in order to enable 30min off peak frequencies in both directions?

[MorningsideExpress]

11 minutes ago, Cityflyer said:

Stouffville line is shutdown this weekend and Barrie line shutdown south of Rutherford Stn.

Are they upgrading to dual tracks to have 30min frequencies? What sections are still missing from both lines in order to enable 30min off peak frequencies in both directions?

Just from my visual observations, there is a section south of Kennedy Station that is not complete...

[GTAmissions1]

Looking at the schedules during the Barrie Line closure between Rutherford and Union Station. Here are some interesting branches to note:

• 68F: Barrie Bus Terminal/Highway 407 Station via Highway 400 (1 hour and 5 minutes)
• 68G: Barrie Bus Terminal/Highway 407 Station servicing all stations on the corridor (2 hours and 25 minutes)

68F operates at 6:55 AM and 68G operates at 7 AM from the Barrie Bus Terminal heading south towards Highway 407 Station.

Northbound, the departures for 68F and 68G towards the Barrie Bus Terminal are 9 PM and 9:05 PM from Highway 407 Station.

Route 65, here are the special branches for the closure:

• 65D: Rutherford Go/Highway 407 Station
• 65G: Highway 407/Aurora Go servicing local stops along with King City
• 65H: Highway 407/Aurora Go direct via Highway 407/404

2 hours ago, Cityflyer said:

Stouffville line is shutdown this weekend and Barrie line shutdown south of Rutherford Stn.

Are they upgrading to dual tracks to have 30min frequencies? What sections are still missing from both lines in order to enable 30min off peak frequencies in both directions?

This weekend's Barrie Line closure south of Rutherford Station is tied to signal upgrade construction. Going by Rutherford over on March 30th, the second platform has already been finished, but not in use currently. Working on Maple next for the double platform. 

[MCIBUS]

GO In The Capital Region?

 

With GO being a provincially own asset, I've always wondered why they don't have any service in the Capital region?

GOA tax pay for GO through provincal taxes.

I understand 20+ years ago  we didn't need it, but with the Capital region with over a million residents why not have it now. I'm not saying rail service(don't really know the rail system in this area) but what about bus service. Yes you have 417, LeDuc and a few others, not sure how much they charge for a monthly pass, but if GO where to st up shp here they could easily use Presto. True Ottawa & area is not as compact like it is in the GTA & surround services, but still it might be possible.

It might have bus service from

Pembrooke

Castleman

Cornwall

Hawksbury

Alexandria

Winchester

Vars Kars

Kempville

and other small towns near Ottawa.

Any thoughts? Like I said npt sure why they don't have here?

[FutureHeartsJunkie]

4 hours ago, GTAmissions1 said:

Looking at the schedules during the Barrie Line closure between Rutherford and Union Station. Here are some interesting branches to note:

• 68F: Barrie Bus Terminal/Highway 407 Station via Highway 400 (1 hour and 5 minutes)
• 68G: Barrie Bus Terminal/Highway 407 Station servicing all stations on the corridor (2 hours and 25 minutes)

68F operates at 6:55 AM and 68G operates at 7 AM from the Barrie Bus Terminal heading south towards Highway 407 Station.

Northbound, the departures for 68F and 68G towards the Barrie Bus Terminal are 9 PM and 9:05 PM from Highway 407 Station.

Route 65, here are the special branches for the closure:

• 65D: Rutherford Go/Highway 407 Station
• 65G: Highway 407/Aurora Go servicing local stops along with King City
• 65H: Highway 407/Aurora Go direct via Highway 407/404

This weekend's Barrie Line closure south of Rutherford Station is tied to signal upgrade construction. Going by Rutherford over on March 30th, the second platform has already been finished, but not in use currently. Working on Maple next for the double platform. 

Similar closures will be announced for the Lakeshore East line on May 4th and 5th, 2024.

Shuttle buses will be provided between DCOG (Durham College Oshawa GO) and Pickering GO, running express to the USBT (Union Station Bus Terminal).

Those who live/commute between Union Station and Rouge Hill GO station - must use the TTC.

(Okay, I'll stop using abbreviations/acronyms from now on)

[Orion V]

33 minutes ago, FutureHeartsJunkie said:

Similar closures will be announced for the Lakeshore East line on May 4th and 5th, 2024.

Shuttle buses will be provided between DCOG (Durham College Oshawa GO) and Pickering GO, running express to the USBT (Union Station Bus Terminal).

Those who live/commute between Union Station and Rouge Hill GO station - must use the TTC.

(Okay, I'll stop using abbreviations/acronyms from now on)

That's the first weekend of 15min service for that long. Are you sure?

[FutureHeartsJunkie]

18 minutes ago, Orion V said:

That's the first weekend of 15min service for that long. Are you sure?

Sorry for my misunderstanding and failing to fact check - but the information listed on the below is very vague (at this time):

Lakeshore East and Stouffville: Saturday and Sunday, May 3-5

Lakeshore East:

There will be no GO Transit service between Union Station and Pickering GO. Local transit options will be available.

Replacement GO buses will be available at select GO stations.

Info: https://www.gotransit.com/en/the-future-and-go/construction-notices

[fromthe905]

I heard a rumour around the Aberfoyle garage saying that GO is now looking at regular 40 foot transit buses instead of getting the low-floor MCI due to complaints from other companies who have that model of MCI. GO is looking to add new buses this year and if it is regular 40 foot buses it would be whoever has won the Metrolinx contract for this year, and it is New Flyer. Will be interesting to see what GO does later on this year. Correct me if im wrong but GO hasnt had 40 foot transit buses since the Orion V's.

[Young]

2 hours ago, fromthe905 said:

I heard a rumour around the Aberfoyle garage saying that GO is now looking at regular 40 foot transit buses instead of getting the low-floor MCI due to complaints from other companies who have that model of MCI. GO is looking to add new buses this year and if it is regular 40 foot buses it would be whoever has won the Metrolinx contract for this year, and it is New Flyer. Will be interesting to see what GO does later on this year. Correct me if im wrong but GO hasnt had 40 foot transit buses since the Orion V's.

Or maybe they’ll take a page out of Vancouvers book and order suburban Nova buses with 1 door at the front

[FlyerD901]

6 hours ago, fromthe905 said:

I heard a rumour around the Aberfoyle garage saying that GO is now looking at regular 40 foot transit buses instead of getting the low-floor MCI due to complaints from other companies who have that model of MCI. GO is looking to add new buses this year and if it is regular 40 foot buses it would be whoever has won the Metrolinx contract for this year, and it is New Flyer. Will be interesting to see what GO does later on this year. Correct me if im wrong but GO hasnt had 40 foot transit buses since the Orion V's.

Maybe MCI will correct those issues by the time GO transit is ready.

I'd love to see GO transit with 40ft transit buses again. I think the Grimsby area would be a fit for them. 

It would be interesting if GO transit asked for suburban transit High Floor 40ft buses. I doubt they'll have enough of an order for anyone to entertain it, but it would be interesting to see if anyone were respond. 

Suburban Novas and NFI are available, I would assume GO would get a demo to test around first. Last low floor bus they had I believe was the D40LF they had back in 1991. 

It makes the most sense to add to an existing order. And with NFI having the new metrolinx contract, they can simply add their spec, obviously minus a rear door.

3 hours ago, Young said:

Or maybe they’ll take a page out of Vancouvers book and order suburban Nova buses with 1 door at the front

This and an XD40 suburban would probably be their only choice , considering what's the market has to offer.

10 hours ago, MCIBUS said:

GO In The Capital Region?

 

With GO being a provincially own asset, I've always wondered why they don't have any service in the Capital region?

GOA tax pay for GO through provincal taxes.

I understand 20+ years ago  we didn't need it, but with the Capital region with over a million residents why not have it now. I'm not saying rail service(don't really know the rail system in this area) but what about bus service. Yes you have 417, LeDuc and a few others, not sure how much they charge for a monthly pass, but if GO where to st up shp here they could easily use Presto. True Ottawa & area is not as compact like it is in the GTA & surround services, but still it might be possible.

It might have bus service from

Pembrooke

Castleman

Cornwall

Hawksbury

Alexandria

Winchester

Vars Kars

Kempville

and other small towns near Ottawa.

Any thoughts? Like I said npt sure why they don't have here?

I agree with having a regional transit agencies to serve those communities. I just don't think GO should be stretched out that far and thin to Ottawa.

If anything you can have several seperate regional transit systems that does exactly what GO transit does in the GTA, but for those communities you listed instead.

[fromthe905]

14 hours ago, FlyerD901 said:

Maybe MCI will correct those issues by the time GO transit is ready.

I'd love to see GO transit with 40ft transit buses again. I think the Grimsby area would be a fit for them. 

It would be interesting if GO transit asked for suburban transit High Floor 40ft buses. I doubt they'll have enough of an order for anyone to entertain it, but it would be interesting to see if anyone were respond. 

Suburban Novas and NFI are available, I would assume GO would get a demo to test around first. Last low floor bus they had I believe was the D40LF they had back in 1991. 

It makes the most sense to add to an existing order. And with NFI having the new metrolinx contract, they can simply add their spec, obviously minus a rear door.

This and an XD40 suburban would probably be their only choice , considering what's the market has to offer.

I agree with having a regional transit agencies to serve those communities. I just don't think GO should be stretched out that far and thin to Ottawa.

If anything you can have several seperate regional transit systems that does exactly what GO transit does in the GTA, but for those communities you listed instead.

GO will never get high floor buses again