GO/VIA Transit

[thistleclub]

Originally Posted by KDP

Does anyone know what the station will loook like? Has there been any preliminary drawings made?

Some renders appear a few pages back.

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[KDP]

I had seen those, I meant the actual structure that would house the GO employees and you can go inside and buy your tickets. If that is it then it doesn't seem they put much emphasis on it.

[Beedok]

I guess they're figuring most people will be using Presto or other passes and won't be buying many tickets? That and/or it could have automated ticket machines.

[SteelTown]

I'm sure they'll be a person inside, there's one at Aldershot.

I rarely use GO Train, expect for Blue Jays or the Ex. So I always park at Aldershot, see the GO employee and they print me a ticket.

[thistleclub]

Via City of Hamilton:

Public Meeting: Enhancements & Improvements for James, Barton, Kenilworth Areas

Hamilton, ON – November 25, 2013 – The City of Hamilton is inviting the public to a special launch meeting about enhancements and improvements to the areas of James Street North, Barton Street, and Kenilworth Avenue North on December 4 from 6:30pm – 9pm at LIUNA Station (King George Ballroom, 360 James St. N).

Although these projects take place in specific areas of the City they positively impact all Hamilton residents and businesses because these studies help determine how everyone can connect to the downtown, waterfront and beyond as well as create a City with even more great places to live, do business, and visit.

The meeting will provide an overview of the: Barton-Tiffany Urban Design Study, the New James Street North GO Station Study, and Barton Street-Kenilworth Avenue Commercial Corridor Study. Following the main presentation there will be an opportunity for separate group discussions for each of the three projects. The December 4, 2013 meeting is the first meeting for each of these projects and subsequent meetings will be held in 2014, which will provide additional updates and opportunities for input.

The public can RSVP for the event by emailing [email protected] or calling 905-546-2424 Ext. 4498.

PROJECT DETAILS:

The New James St. N. GO Station Study
A new GO Station is planned at James Street North (across from LIUNA Station) for the summer of 2015. The area around the station is called a Mobility Hub. We need to develop and plan for opportunities to live, work, shop, and play around this Hub. The City of Hamilton is studying this area to determine the types of uses that are needed around the new GO Station and will prepare a plan that will support these activities.

[thistleclub]

MTO PR:

More GO Train and Bus Service for GTHA Commuters

Ontario is adding more GO Train and bus trips to make it easier for commuters in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area to take public transit. Starting Jan. 4, GO Transit will:

• Add three new morning trips on the Lakeshore West line
• Add a new return trip on the Kitchener line to and from Mount Pleasant and extend two existing trips west to serve Georgetown GO Station
• Convert the morning express trip from Unionville on the Stouffville line to a regular trip with all stops to Union Station, increasing service at Milliken, Agincourt and Kennedy GO Stations
• Add a new morning trip from Whitby GO Station, which will stop at Ajax and Pickering before running express to Union.


Naturally, Hamilton rail service will be unaffected.

Changes coming to the Lakeshore West corridor:

01 – Lakeshore West GO Train
• A new weekday eastbound train trip from Oakville GO at 8:24 a.m. will make all stops to Union Station, arriving at 9:07
• A new weekday westbound train trip from Union at 7:13 a.m. will make all stops to Aldershot GO, arriving at 8:16. A new bus connection to McMaster University will be available
• A new weekday westbound train trip from Union at 7:33 a.m. will make all stops to Oakville GO, arriving at 8:12

12 – Niagara Falls/Toronto GO Bus
• Some bus trips will be adjusted, including earlier departures

15 – McMaster GO Bus
• A new weekday bus trip from Aldershot GO at 8:24 a.m. will arrive at McMaster University at 8:39
• The weekday westbound bus trip from Aldershot GO at 9:08 a.m. will no longer operate. Passengers can instead take the new trip at 8:24 or the existing trip at 9:28
• Several bus trips will be adjusted, including earlier departures

16 – Hamilton/Toronto Express GO Bus
• Some stop times on the schedule have been adjusted to reflect actual travel times

18 – Lakeshore West GO Bus
• A new weekday bus trip from Aldershot GO at 8:24 a.m. will arrive at Hamilton GO Centre at 8:44
• Several bus trips will be adjusted, including earlier departures

[thistleclub]

Metrolinx's Big Move is the wrong move, think tank says
(Toronto Star, Royson James, Dec 11 2013)

Transit plans for Scarborough — be they LRT or subway — are fatally flawed because they cost too much and will deliver too few riders, says a comprehensive new study obtained by the Star.

And the downtown relief subway line — the TTC’s number one transit priority — is a multi-billion-dollar waste of money that could be avoided by creating a $100-million GO Transit shuttle service, says the report done for the Neptis Foundation, a think-tank on Canadian urban issues operating in Toronto.

Metrolinx, the provincial agency charged with delivering transit improvements over 25 years, should do a “course correction” or it will flush billions down the drain and fail to reach its goal of doubling transit ridership by 2033.

The 144-page report comes a day before an advisory panel is to tell the provincial government how to fund Metrolinx’s $50-billion transit makeover in the Greater Toronto Area and Hamilton.

It’s the first real independent review of Metrolinx’s big plans. If only half the report’s findings are correct, it serves as a wakeup call for the agency to assert itself instead of being overly influenced by transit politics, which have ramped up since Rob Ford became mayor.....

To proceed with Metrolinx’s Big Move plans as proposed is to “set transit back 25 years,” says report author Michael Schabas, an international transit planner with experience in Vancouver, Toronto, London and Germany.

The report recommends that Metrolinx:

• Link the Scarborough RT and the existing underused Sheppard subway into a single automated system, using a modern automatic light rail transit (ALRT) technology similar to Vancouver’s Skytrain.

• Scrap the Downtown Relief Line, as “there’s little chance the benefits of this scheme will offset even half its cost,” pegged at $3.2 billion for phase one.

• Axe the planned Finch West LRT, replacing it with a bus rapid transit line.

• Be more aggressive with plans to electrify GO service and implement 15-minute, all-day service on all GO lines. This is the “backbone” of regional travel and the only way to take significant number of cars off the road.

• Modify plans for the Eglinton Crosstown line, switching technology to ALRT and elevating the line above ground once it emerges from the tunnel east of Laird Dr. Also, save bundles of cash by reducing the number of stations along Eglinton.

• Increase speed and cut costs of the planned Yonge subway extension to Richmond Hill by reducing the number of stations to two from six. Developers should build the intervening stops, if they redevelop sites along the route.

Of the numerous projects under study or approval from Metrolinx, only a few should proceed as proposed, the report says.

These are the Pearson Airport express to Union Station, the subway extension to Vaughan, the Hurontario LRT in Mississauga and the Mississauga-Dundas BRT.

[coalminecanary]

This all makes sense - especially electrifying and speeding up GO. That should absolutely be the #1 priority. Too bad Hamilton LRT didn't make the list ;-)

[Jon Dalton]

I agree with most of that but scrapping the downtown relief line. The TTC subway is over capacity already so where will any new riders go? Also question the support for subways to Vaughan and Richmond Hill, given they acknowledge the importance of using the GO network to its fullest.

I wonder if they took into account such factors as ownership of the rail lines and right of way constraints cooperating with freight movement? These are the realities we work within that are not always present in other countries.

[HillStreetBlues]

Originally Posted by thistleclub

• Scrap the Downtown Relief Line, as “there’s little chance the benefits of this scheme will offset even half its cost,” pegged at $3.2 billion for phase one.

• Axe the planned Finch West LRT, replacing it with a bus rapid transit line.

• Be more aggressive with plans to electrify GO service and implement 15-minute, all-day service on all GO lines. This is the “backbone” of regional travel and the only way to take significant number of cars off the road.

[/COLOR]

According to the article, both phases of the downtown relief line will cost $7.4 billion ($7,400,000,000.00). You can do a lot with that. This idea of better connecting TTC Main Street station and the Go Danforth station, and offering Go trains between Danforth and Union, that’s interesting, though I personally don’t have enough imagination to see how that would offer significant relief. From the article: “Schabas estimates as many as 10 to 15 trains could do that trip to Union every morning. A train would stop at Danforth every five to 10 minutes, with a journey time of 10 minutes to Union, he says.” I think this is the kind of “quick-and-dirty” solution that can, taken with others, provide real benefit.

I also agree with the report’s assessment of the Finch LRT and Scarborough subway.

But, yes, electrifying Go and making as many lines all-day at reasonable frequency is key. If Lakeshore West in particular ran every fifteen minutes all day, and quicker, many thousands of people would be enticed out of gridlock and on to the train. It’s the best opportunity to eliminate a lot of cars and a lot of kilometers driven. There’s a lot of psychology to making the rather illogical decision to sit in traffic rather than to take Go, and a lot of the rationalizing of that which people do would not be possible if trains were faster and more frequent.

[thistleclub]

Metrolinx defends its Big Move projects against critical Neptis Foundation report
(Toronto Star, Tess Kalinowski, Dec 11 2013)

There’s no public appetite for stopping Toronto’s transit expansion in its tracks to second-guess projects already underway, says Metrolinx CEO Bruce McCuaig.

“Sometimes we spend too much energy reviewing decisions time and time again,” he said.

McCuaig was responding to a report published Wednesday by the urban think-tank Neptis Foundation. It is deeply critical of some of the cornerstone projects in Metrolinx’s Big Move transportation plan.

The report suggests that the Eglinton-Scarborough Crosstown LRT, the Scarborough subway and LRTs on Finch and Sheppard could potentially blow billions without attracting enough ridership to ease the region’s congestion crisis.

The author contends the business case for each simply doesn’t justify building those projects, including the highly anticipated relief line.

But McCuaig defended his organization’s planning diligence, saying Metrolinx was the first transit authority in North America to analyze projects through a business case lens. The business case, however, is only one aspect of decision-making, he said.

“We have to listen carefully to the community and what their interests and concerns are and be responsive to them,” he said, adding that there are no plans to remove stops from the Eglinton Crosstown, as the Neptis report suggests.

“When the Eglinton Crosstown goes into service in 2020 and a lot of those customers’ trips are going to be reduced by 20 minutes in each direction, I think those people living along those corridors are going to be saying, ‘Boy we could have done this faster,’” said McCuaig.

The Big Move itself is also about to get a “refresh” starting next year, linking it more closely to the provincial growth plan.

The Neptis report looks at only 16 of the 60 projects described in the Big Move, which was released in 2008, McCuaig said.

“It doesn’t evaluate the implications of implementing the entire plan, which is really what our objective is,” he said.

[ScreamingViking]

Track capacity will pretty much be finite at Union once all the upgrades are complete. There is no room to add extra tracks.

So how much would the GO "replacement" for the DRL impact the plans/need to ramp up GO service on its other lines (which is clearly a necessity too)?

[thistleclub]

Completion date set for June for updated Burlington GO Station
(Burlington Post, Dec 31 2013)

Construction is ongoing at the Burlington GO station, with a completion date set for June 2014.

The cost of the improvements, which include a new bus loop, covered walkways around the bus loop and a new station building, is $15 million.

The new station building will have larger washrooms, accessible ticket windows, large waiting areas and two new elevators.

Approximately 3,500 customers use the Burlington GO station each weekday.

[lucasmascotto]

Ontario orders new GO Transit rail cars
The Hamilton Spectator

MONTREAL - The Ontario government says it's placing an order for new GO Transit suburban rail cars to be built at Bombardier Transportation's plant in Thunder Bay, Ont.

The order could be worth up to $481 million if the government buys all 140 cars. So far, it has placed firm orders for 65 of the two-level passenger cars and taken out options for another 75.

Montreal-based Bombardier says the firm order is worth $190 million.

Deliveries are expected to begin in June 2016.

The provincial government says the order will support 250 jobs at Bombardier's plant in northwestern Ontario.

The new cars will be added to the GO Transit fleet, which serves commuters in Toronto, Hamilton and surrounding communities.

[Innsertnamehere]

I wonder what they will be used for.. delivery is still 2-3 years away, but still. 5 12 car trains or 6 10 car trains. I predict a train or two one essentially every line. Barrie is apparently getting upgraded to 20 minute service very soon. I can imagine them trying to ramp up peak service on Lakeshore as well, and some reverse service trains on some lines as well.

[thistleclub]

Six months after the Metrolinx sponsorship saga first broke, the optics have not improved.

[SteelTown]

https://twitter.com/HSRTransit/status/436518275871019009/photo/1

[Katrillion]

Wish we could just take Liuna Station over and convert it back to a REAL station but I guess we have to settle for this! This new station looks pretty good though.

[Berklon]

Looks decent.

Someone refresh my memory, what GO trains will be running out of this location? Last I heard there was still no plan for all day service to/from Hamilton - so will this station just get a few later trains in the morning and in the evening?