When the TTC announced that fares might be going up, management limited token sales in an attempt to stem hoarders. By purchasing tokens now, 25-cents is saved each ride if the token is used in the new year. Because so many people were taking advantage of this, the taps were turned off. Laurence begs to differ on this logic, but the truth is that if you want to purchase fares in advance you have to purchase temporary adult tickets. When 2010 rolls around and fares go up, these tickets will only be accepted with a 25-cent top-up.

About the same time this was happening, the Presto smart fare card was being field tested ahead of a full roll-out over the next year. Presto could have made this fare increase more manageable, but mass media details on how it will work for the rider have been slim. Many of the questions being raised have already been answered, but the information isn’t really getting out to the public. So, here’s some reflections on what Presto can do for the riders in the GTHA. (more…)

It’s been about 12 months since I purchased my Avenir folding bicycle, and while the head-turning novelty has worn off, the flexibility that a bicycle adds to my commute has not. Originally, the decision to buy a bicycle came out of a parking problem. My house is a 15 minute drive from Brampton GO station, but the parking lot tends to fill up by 7:15 am. If there were no spots remaining then the only other solution was to drive another 20 minutes across Brampton to Bramalea GO station. In order to avoid the parking lot altogether I would have to walk 20 minutes from my front door to the Orangeville GO bus stop for a 15 minute trip to Brampton GO. A bike would have cut the walk to 4 minutes, but there was no place I felt comfortable locking up the bike for the day and I had a desire to take the bike downtown to save on TTC fares. The solution was a folding bike, which are allowed on rush hour GO trains and could be folded, bagged, and placed in the luggage compartment of almost all GO buses. (more…)

When the budget dropped last week I began to wonder why the province hadn’t been very specific on which transit projects were going to be funded. Usually they are very specific and it made me wonder if something big was coming down the pipe…

Today the Province introduced The Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area Transit Implementation Act, which makes very important changes to Metrolinx, GO Transit, and potentially transit across the region. This proposed law, which has passed first reading in the legislature, has (according to the press release), a few key elements: (more…)

Barrie and Richmond Hill GO Lines

This is the final entry in the “Where do we GO?” series, as all directions from Union Station will now be covered (West and East sides were covered previously).  This post focuses on the remaining corridors of Richmond Hill and Barrie.  As promised, there’s a lot of comment on these two corridors.

BARRIE LINE

Recently extended from Bradford to restore service to Barrie (and the corridor renamed as a result), this corridor has a lot of unserviced pockets compared to other corridors, despite having more stations already added to it than other corridors in the network except Stouffville (with which it is a tie).  Long a poor performer in the network, GO Transit has been very keen on making this corridor prove its worth.  (more…)

East of Scarborough GO Station

In a previous post, the topic was about where GO Transit could add stations to its westbound train lines to increase the value and performance of the existing service area, something that should probably be done before extensions of lines takes place.  Now in this post, the same question is posed towards its eastbound lines; the Stouffville and Lakeshore East corridors. (more…)

With the Metrolinx draft RTP out, lots of improvements to GO Train services are all over the map, including extensions, new lines, and express service improvements.  Such improvements are welcome, but as important are improvements to service along existing lines.  With the exceptions of Barrie and Lincolnville, GO Transit has been focused on adding stations to their existing lines instead of expanding to new lines or extending existing lines; Rutherford, East Gwillimbury, York University, Centennial, Mount Joy, Mount Pleasant, Lisgar, and Kennedy are all recent additions to the existing GO network, without extending the lines.  This focus that GO Transit has diligently been exercising over the last decade is a practice that should not be abandoned.  Creating a denser built-up region through adding stations to existing lines to provide greater service coverage within the current network is a strong tool against sprawl and its impacts, as GO service is attractive when it’s running.  Imagine if it ran frequently throughout the day.

In the case of the TTC with the Portlands, there is an expensive investment being made for brand new TOD neighbourhoods, as new infrastructure and entire communities are built from scratch.  This is necessary in an age where we are trying to create environments that are not dependent on the automobile.

GO Transit has the advantage of holding the opportunity of accomplishing similar for a comparatively low investment, as its lines are existing.  It’s not pennies, but it’s not a fortune either, and this is the psychology behind GO Transit’s original service concept in the first place… it’s also why they don’t own the tracks on most lines, but nevermind that (with any luck, that will partially change).

Transit has a lot of catching up to do in restoring mode competitiveness, which has been monopolized by the auto through the expressway network and the decommissioning of several rail lines around the region, of which Barrie was almost a victim.  This greatly hampers the ability to compete with the door-to-door advantage held by the auto.

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First of all, I urge you to check out a Metrolinx Regional Transportation Plan public meeting and open house if you haven’t already had the chance to. It’s your chance to see details of The Big Move up close, give your feedback directly to the agency, and even chat personally with high-ranking Metrolinx staff members. Information about upcoming meetings are available on the Metrolinx web site.

At the public meeting at the International Centre on Tuesday, I found myself in a small, diverse discussion group giving and listening to feedback on the RTP. One of the members of the group was a representative from the Weston Community Coalition, a group primarily opposed to the Airport Rail Link proposal known as Blue 22. Since the improvements necessary to implement a Union-Pearson train will also allow for GO service expansions to Brampton (the closest station to my family home), Georgetown and beyond, I thought I might weigh in to look at the issues and see how we can collectively move forward to improve transportation in this corridor for all.

If you can recall the proposal, Blue 22 would have run trains every 20 minutes or so from Union Station to Pearson Airport, making only one stop at Bloor GO (to connect to the subway). The trains would have been refurbished Budd Rail Diesel Cars, be operated by SNC Lavalin, and would have charged a $20 fare. The community group representing local residents raised several concerns about this proposal, and while they may have been painted as irrational vanguards of the status quo by some, the group’s points are reasonable and deserved to be addressed. (more…)

Rutherford GO Station

During the evening rush, a race plays out at every GO Transit train stop. Commuters preparing to exit the train line up at their cabin door, elbows out, sometimes a few stops before their own to get the front position. Then, the doors open and the race is on: ladies in heals and men in suits break into a full sprint for their car! They jump in, almost Dukes of Hazzard style, and peal the tires in an effort to beat the rush and save a few precious minutes exiting the parking lot. But can you blame them? Most GO stations are massive parking lots that contain too many cars to manage the traffic effectively.

GO Transit ridership is up, there’s no doubt about it.  I first took the GO train from Maple Station to Union Station about four years ago.  Back then there were three trains in the morning, and three returning in the evening, and I had no trouble finding a seat.  Now there are four trains each way, the line has been extended to Barrie, and extra cabins have been added, and it’s increasingly more difficult to get a seat in the morning.  Parking is at capacity.  In fact, cars park illegally at the nearby cemetery and line the road all the way to Major Mackenzie.

I think there exists a great opportunity at the local level to increase cycling, walking, and transit use to connect with a GO Transit trip.  Most people using the train probably live within 5 km of the station, but the overwhelming majority decide to get there by car.  By building stations that cater to cars, is GO Transit achieving it’s ultimate objective of getting people out of cars?

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Maybe you’ve seen them around the city before. Bikes with small wheels, tall handle bars and a tall seat post. Some have even called them clown bikes. But, there are more to these strange creatures than meets the eye…

Last spring my car died and though a complicated series of transactions my family replaced it with a mini-van. I was concerned about the ecological footprint left by a single occupant driving a van to the GO station every morning – and I was sick and tired of the soccer-mom jokes. Also, since my school schedule isn’t the same every day, I was concerned about the diminishing amount of available parking spaces at the train station after the peak hours. The solution was to try to get to the nearest bus stop for a one-seat ride to the train station – but in Caledon this isn’t easy.

It’s a 20 minute walk through the Highway 410 extension construction site to get to the GO bus stop, where I could take the Orangeville bus without having to pay an additional fare. This was perfect for the peak hours, off peak service was terrible. If I walked 10 more minutes along the rural highway I could reach a Brampton Transit stop with decent service for 50 cents on top of my GO pass – but service ended at 7pm made a drink after a tough midterm impossible. I would have to walk 40 minutes from my front door to a Brampton Transit stop where buses ran from the start to end of service all days of the week. Walking for 40 minutes to the bus stop, while great for the body, is unfeasible for commuting and all too common in the suburbs. A bicycle was the answer, but there were problems. (more…)

“Maybe now I can put real meat in the meatloaf…”

Those commercials are lame at best, but the underlying message is true. A post-secondary education in Ontario is very expensive, and many struggle to pay for tuition and textbooks in addition to the cost of living in the city. With this in mind, it comes as no surprise that there have been loud calls to make public transit more affordable for students attending post-secondary education across the GTHA, throughout Ontario and across Canada.

In general, only grade-school and secondary school students are entitled to use student tickets and passes. In response, several universities and colleges have negotiated discounted transit passes with the TTC and with GO Transit. At eligible schools, students can receive a discount on GO monthly and ten-ride passes, and many institutions in Toronto sell discounted Metropasses though the TTC’s Volume Incentive Program (VIP). But, while all offer a tangible benefit to users, there are some drawbacks to both programs. (more…)

Above are aerial photos of six GO train stations on the Lakeshore Line. Can you identify which station is which? Even for someone like me, who is fairly familiar with the system, I had a difficult time putting a name to each one. There are no obvious distinguishing features to make identification easy — instead, there is a typical GO Station recipe: platform, station building, parking lot, and arterial roadway access. For a transit system to be truly visible and integrated into our urban fabric, these stations should not be placeless, featureless landscapes. The above photos show just how far we still have to go. The identity of each of these stations and more discussion, after the jump.

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You know Labour Day is just around the corner when the Canadian National Exhibition opens it’s gates for business during the last two weeks in August. With gas prices rising and parking being a premium in the area, transit tends to be one of the better ways of getting down there. Routes are posted after the jump.

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