GO Transit

[G.A]

23 minutes ago, T3G said:

It's hard to be sure given how vague the tender description is, but I assume this is exactly the case. I suspect they may be making a push to recolour all of the remaining old livery BiLevels. I don't remember them tendering any painting services up to this point.

Sounds like they are fast-tracking it. Now I wonder if they're going to repaint the F59PH's as well.

[MCIBUS]

On 7/10/2022 at 8:29 PM, Shaun said:

The question is will they order D4500's with lifts or CRT version 

But will they be Diesel or Electric?

[smallspy]

11 hours ago, Shaun said:

Doesn't GO have their own paint shop at TMC and at their east maintenance facility?

No.

 

Dan

[Megabus Rider]

On 7/10/2022 at 6:19 PM, Doppelkupplung said:

I'm pretty sure the ISM powered 2400s are almost all gone. Never see them around anymore, save for the odd unit and the Vaxbuses. TOK has a few now, and I'm sure others have found second lives. That leaves about 167ish MCIs in the fleet. 

I'm curious to see if they'll order more MCIs. I know they will always need some, but I feel like the SuperLos will really cap the MCIs to limited quantities. 

Interesting, when were they auctioned?

[Doppelkupplung]

10 hours ago, Megabus Rider said:

Interesting, when were they auctioned?

Absolutely no idea, sorry. I don't follow that scene as closely as others. 

[FutureHeartsJunkie]

The planned GO Transit shuttle linking the Oshawa GO station (in Durham Region) and Northumberland County - has been postponed to September 2022.

Source:
https://northumberland897.ca/news/2022/7/6/go-shuttle-anticipated-to-begin-sept-5

[Shaun]

10 hours ago, FutureHeartsJunkie said:

The planned GO Transit shuttle linking the Oshawa GO station (in Durham Region) and Northumberland County - has been postponed to September 2022.

Source:
https://northumberland897.ca/news/2022/7/6/go-shuttle-anticipated-to-begin-sept-5

Hopefully this will result in a successful trial and bus service to Kingston from Oshawa serving local communities. Along highway 2 would make sense. 

[FutureHeartsJunkie]

On 7/14/2022 at 8:20 AM, Shaun said:

Hopefully this will result in a successful trial and bus service to Kingston from Oshawa serving local communities. Along highway 2 would make sense. 

While such a service from Kingston to Oshawa is feasible - do keep in mind that the GO buses do not have any washrooms onboard (not like Megabus/Coach Canada, Rider Express).

Having a shuttle running along Highway 2 from Oshawa to Kingston - would be too extreme and too far!

Switching gears (and while it's only a month or so away), I wonder what GO will offer - for the comeback of the CNE (Canadian National Exhibition) in Toronto next month in terms of the service (and/or if they will bring back staff at the ticket counters who wanted "full service ticketing" - or something like that)...

[Chris W]

3 hours ago, FutureHeartsJunkie said:

While such a service from Kingston to Oshawa is feasible - do keep in mind that the GO buses do not have any washrooms onboard (not like Megabus/Coach Canada, Rider Express).

Having a shuttle running along Highway 2 from Oshawa to Kingston - would be too extreme and too far!

It should also be noted that this shuttle is actually an OnDemand type service. Details of which are still to be determined.

[Shaun]

18 hours ago, FutureHeartsJunkie said:

While such a service from Kingston to Oshawa is feasible - do keep in mind that the GO buses do not have any washrooms onboard (not like Megabus/Coach Canada, Rider Express).

Having a shuttle running along Highway 2 from Oshawa to Kingston - would be too extreme and too far!

Switching gears (and while it's only a month or so away), I wonder what GO will offer - for the comeback of the CNE (Canadian National Exhibition) in Toronto next month in terms of the service (and/or if they will bring back staff at the ticket counters who wanted "full service ticketing" - or something like that)...

If you ran the bus from Oshawa to Kingston by feeding the VIA stations then that would make sense. The first bus would be timed to meet the first train and the last bus would leave after the last train. This would allow people to take the train and not drive to the station. 

[FutureHeartsJunkie]

On 7/16/2022 at 4:42 PM, Shaun said:

If you ran the bus from Oshawa to Kingston by feeding the VIA stations then that would make sense. The first bus would be timed to meet the first train and the last bus would leave after the last train. This would allow people to take the train and not drive to the station. 

Excuse for my delay in response, but thanks for your clarification. 

The other weekend, I took full advantage of the $10CDN one-day pass (valid either on Saturday or Sunday) to go to Downtown Toronto. I didn't experience any issues when activating the pass and it is worked as advertised. 

ICAMI (In Case Anyone Missed It), lately you may have realized that there are not many people who work at the Ticket Offices at the stations (for GO Train and GO Bus). That's why you may see a roaming customer service agent who can assist you with your travels and/or assist you with ticket purchasing.

If you folks attempt to buy a train ticket or load your PRESTO Card at a station next time, that agent will advise you to either use the on-site TVM (Ticket Vending Machine) or load funds on your PRESTO Card at that same machine respectively. 

Not sure if it's a permanent thing or not, but with the CNE (Canadian National Exhibition) in Toronto just around the corner - many people will wonder if the in-person ticket sales will be back either for that event or beyond that. 

At the same time, they advise their customers to use contactless means (either using their PRESTO to pay their fare, use a TVM to buy ticket or go online to buy the E-tickets)....

[Gil]

19 hours ago, FutureHeartsJunkie said:

Excuse for my delay in response, but thanks for your clarification. 

The other weekend, I took full advantage of the $10CDN one-day pass (valid either on Saturday or Sunday) to go to Downtown Toronto. I didn't experience any issues when activating the pass and it is worked as advertised. 

ICAMI (In Case Anyone Missed It), lately you may have realized that there are not many people who work at the Ticket Offices at the stations (for GO Train and GO Bus). That's why you may see a roaming customer service agent who can assist you with your travels and/or assist you with ticket purchasing.

If you folks attempt to buy a train ticket or load your PRESTO Card at a station next time, that agent will advise you to either use the on-site TVM (Ticket Vending Machine) or load funds on your PRESTO Card at that same machine respectively. 

Not sure if it's a permanent thing or not, but with the CNE (Canadian National Exhibition) in Toronto just around the corner - many people will wonder if the in-person ticket sales will be back either for that event or beyond that. 

At the same time, they advise their customers to use contactless means (either using their PRESTO to pay their fare, use a TVM to buy ticket or go online to buy the E-tickets)....

On the Milton Line where trains only run in the peak direction and the station is only staffed in the morning until the last train leaves they need to do a better job with signage that it's bus service when trains aren't running.  The message on the train departure screen says to consult the schedule.  Meanwhile the bus departures are on a separate screen altogether.  A case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.  Integrating the bus and train departures on the same screen would probably be more useful as everything is in one place rather than having to hunt for the screens.

I've seen people waiting on the train platform long after the last inbound train has passed.  The screens on the platform just run PR messages instead of advising people to take the bus.  The GO schedules at least distinguished between the train (in colour) vs bus (black & white), while the Triplinx planner uses symbols to differentiate, which might not be as clear to some people. 

Cooksville GO has a problem of the TVM being in the waiting area which is not by either of the stop the GO Buses use which is next to the station building.  The foyer which is open at all times has the PRESTO readers to tap on/off and a reload machine but no TVM.  There should be signage indicating that e-tickets can also be purchased on your phone.

If GO was really trying to push people to pre-purchase their tickets they should place the TVMs in easier-to-access locations or have signage pointing to where they are.  Square One could use a pair of TVMs at the other end of the terminal near the Union-bound stops.  There are ads for the weekend passes, but nothing about the regular e-tickets.

[FutureHeartsJunkie]

The newly anticipated GO Transit-On Demand service linking the Oshawa GO station (in the Durham Region) and Northumberland County - is set to launch this fall. 

The new name for that on-demand will be called "Commuter Connect":

https://www.quintenews.com/2022/07/22/289755/

[Cityflyer]

Anyone know why the Davenport Diamond construction (Barrie line) is building an elevated separation from CPR instead of trenching under the CPR for the grade separation of the Kitchener / UPX lines done a decade ago?

[smallspy]

3 hours ago, FutureHeartsJunkie said:

The newly anticipated GO Transit-On Demand service linking the Oshawa GO station (in the Durham Region) and Northumberland County - is set to launch this fall. 

The new name for that on-demand will be called "Commuter Connect":

https://www.quintenews.com/2022/07/22/289755/

Just to make it clear to everyone, this is not to be a GO-run service.

 

34 minutes ago, Cityflyer said:

Anyone know why the Davenport Diamond construction (Barrie line) is building an elevated separation from CPR instead of trenching under the CPR for the grade separation of the Kitchener / UPX lines done a decade ago?

Cheaper. Trenching the Davenport Diamond would have been far more complex as there are other grade separations nearby that would have also needed to be modified - which would have added a lot of time (and therefore cost) to the project. The grades in the area (and particularly to the north) would have also greatly increased the length required to fit the project in.

 

West Toronto on the other hand didn't require any modifications to the surrounding road or railway networks, and so could be trenched with minimal headache (save for the noise and vibration of the pile drivers).

 

Dan

[Gil]

I haven't seen any notices, but with Caribana back this year will there be the additional rail service on all lines to Exhibition Station again?

Also, spotted this at the Union Station Bus Terminal (uploaded sideways again for some reason), but would be useful if they rolled it out to all of the train stations.  The PR messages playing on the PA ask to pre-purchase tickets/passes but don't mention the ability to do it online which would dovetail with the signage.

[Wayside Observer]

Caught wind of this one from someone in the white collar King & Bay crowd.   How many downtown employers are partnering with Metrolinx for three months of steeply discounted Go service to lure people back on to the train?

[LTCBusRider15]

Was browsing reddit and found this cool story about where do older GO buses "go" after they are retired from Metrolinx. https://www.reddit.com/r/toronto/comments/wbwdne/in_case_youve_ever_wondered_where_old_go_buses_go/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

This former GO bus still has the green livery it is in Miami at the Miami cruise terminal.

 

 

 

[Shaun]

I have a question about the New Toronto bus terminal. The reason for the spotters is to ensure that it is safe for buses to enter the terminal? 

Is this a permanent solution?

[Doppelkupplung]

17 hours ago, LTCBusRider15 said:

Was browsing reddit and found this cool story about where do older GO buses "go" after they are retired from Metrolinx. https://www.reddit.com/r/toronto/comments/wbwdne/in_case_youve_ever_wondered_where_old_go_buses_go/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

This former GO bus still has the green livery it is in Miami at the Miami cruise terminal.

 

 

 

Yeah, a lot of the old CATs went down to Miami. 

[MCIBUS]

EX-GO DD 8147 seen on the Gray Line-Lady Duck Tours(see GOA Special sightings for pic in National Capital section).

It should also be noted they have a former Megabus Van Hool DD bus as well with the top section roof removed. There was a pic but not sure where it's located?

[Gil]

Bit of a rant with the bus service detoured to Port Credit due to the Caribbean Carnival parade (will it always be Caribana, like the Skydive?), the trip planner warns that since it's a diversion the schedule can't be posted, but there was someone there with a clipboard with the schedule so GO simply isn't disclosing it.

My rant stems from the scheduling.  Instead of planning for outbound trains from Union and having the buses all leave at about the same time, they've instead adjusted the schedule to maintain the existing one but with time to leave from Port Credit.  Granted it would mess somewhat with the return trips (could they not have an extra bus waiting to start the return trip while the regular bus becomes the extra in case of crowds?), they are already warnings about changes due to the detour.

While the wait to transfer onto the GO Train is at most 30 minutes, you would hope the drivers know the train leaves at the top and bottom of the hour and try and make the connection.  I've had some drivers oblivious to the train schedule, take their time and then miss the connection by a few minutes. 

If this happens enough, a modified detour schedule should kick in that people can actually see and follow so they can plan their trip.  With the detour and scheduling my connecting bus trip was 50 minutes AFTER the arrival of the train.  Had I known, I would have made alternative arrangements.  There were plenty of other people in the same situation, to add to the chaos at Port Credit there were people getting picked up (privately or with rideshare) blocking the buses.  The ongoing construction didn't help either.

When train service on the northern lines (Barrie, Stouffville) are detoured to Hwy. 407, is the TTC fare discounted?  Route 31 services could be routed to Kipling, especially on weekends when the GO bus platforms see less service.  Plus it would be a closer starting point to get back onto their routing from Union (by getting on the 427 at Dundas).  Having a listed departure time for the GO Bus would definitely help in this situation so people can actually plan their trips properly.

Once the Hurontario/Hazel McCallion Line is done, will the GO Buses still detour to Port Credit or will the Route 21 passengers be funneled up to Cooksville?  Hopefully there will be more frequent service on the Milton rail corridor that we won't need to find out, but barring a seismic shift in negotiations, I won't hold my breath!

[John Oke]

8 minutes ago, Gil said:

Bit of a rant with the bus service detoured to Port Credit due to the Caribbean Carnival parade (will it always be Caribana, like the Skydive?), the trip planner warns that since it's a diversion the schedule can't be posted, but there was someone there with a clipboard with the schedule so GO simply isn't disclosing it.

My rant stems from the scheduling.  Instead of planning for outbound trains from Union and having the buses all leave at about the same time, they've instead adjusted the schedule to maintain the existing one but with time to leave from Port Credit.  Granted it would mess somewhat with the return trips (could they not have an extra bus waiting to start the return trip while the regular bus becomes the extra in case of crowds?), they are already warnings about changes due to the detour.

While the wait to transfer onto the GO Train is at most 30 minutes, you would hope the drivers know the train leaves at the top and bottom of the hour and try and make the connection.  I've had some drivers oblivious to the train schedule, take their time and then miss the connection by a few minutes. 

If this happens enough, a modified detour schedule should kick in that people can actually see and follow so they can plan their trip.  With the detour and scheduling my connecting bus trip was 50 minutes AFTER the arrival of the train.  Had I known, I would have made alternative arrangements.  There were plenty of other people in the same situation, to add to the chaos at Port Credit there were people getting picked up (privately or with rideshare) blocking the buses.  The ongoing construction didn't help either.

When train service on the northern lines (Barrie, Stouffville) are detoured to Hwy. 407, is the TTC fare discounted?  Route 31 services could be routed to Kipling, especially on weekends when the GO bus platforms see less service.  Plus it would be a closer starting point to get back onto their routing from Union (by getting on the 427 at Dundas).  Having a listed departure time for the GO Bus would definitely help in this situation so people can actually plan their trips properly.

Once the Hurontario/Hazel McCallion Line is done, will the GO Buses still detour to Port Credit or will the Route 21 passengers be funneled up to Cooksville?  Hopefully there will be more frequent service on the Milton rail corridor that we won't need to find out, but barring a seismic shift in negotiations, I won't hold my breath!

It’s called GO Logic, they have the knowledge to run a good transit system, they just don’t know how to use it 

[Wayside Observer]

11 hours ago, John Oke said:

It’s called GO Logic, they have the knowledge to run a good transit system, they just don’t know how to use it 

I was talking with one of my relatives about that yesterday evening, about how much service misses connections all the time and the one afternoon after some sheer frustration getting to work a few years ago I put up a bunch of timetables on a pair of big widescreen monitors and traced out how things didn't meet, sometimes by minutes.  Nothing's ever changed for the better.

Transit's an industry where things happen with a frequency in multiple times per hour with timing down to the minute.  I honestly don't want to see what would happen if you took a transit professional and tried to have them time off anything that moves quickly up in radio frequencies like a fast digital system.  We'd all be using glacially slow computers that spend most of their time in the wait state, at best.

[MCIBUS]

Route 16 TOR-HAM QEW Express?

 

I get GO Alerts to my computer, just curious why is Route 16 has so many delays? From leaving the terminal, runs being canceled, to delays on trip?

 

I can understand the trip delay due to traffic or weather conditions, but why the delay in leaving the terminal? As for canceled trip that could be because of unseen circumstances?

 

Not sure if other routes or train trips have the same as many issues as Route 16, that I don't know.

 

Any thoughts?