Canadian Transit Thread II

[DirectionNorth]

Originally Posted by theman23

That map was for trains, not trams.

The schedule posted earlier was cherry picked. Train service is 10-20minutes or so during daytime hours on weekdays and evenings on weekends and can be as short as 6 minutes during peak times for service to inner city stations.

It was not cherry picked - this is the typical Sunday schedule, and I looked through them to find the most frequent line. And you'll notice that the subway runs at single digit headways at all times (20 minute headways isn't that bad in the midday, LOL), including the Sheppard Line. When GO RER is complete, it will have higher frequencies than Melbourne's Metro Trains. Or Sydney Trains, which (based on a first glance) runs every 15 minutes on weekends.

The point is that Melbourne doesn't run off-peak service at a high frequency, not that it doesn't run peak service, which even American cities do.

[Truenorth00]

GO Lakeshore is already every 15 mins on weekends:

https://www.metrolinx.com/en/news/ma...oming-april-28

Post-RER, parts of the GO network, where lines overlap could see trains every 5 mins, with a lot of the network getting 15 min service. I am curious to see how cities like Melbourne compare to the GTA in a decade (post-RER).

[Nouvellecosse]

Interesting to hear about some of Melbourne's bus weaknesses after the topic came up recently here. Some of the areas discussed in this news clip are on the edge of the metro area akin to the outer 905 so not really comparable to the TTC service area. But it none-the-less does suggest lots of room for improvement including areas with very poor frequency and some with no service at all.

• Video Link

[Doady]

Updated scatterplot for US and Canadian. Kinda depressing to see places like San Fracisco and Ottawa fall into single digit transit mode share, but oh well. Hopefully numbers return to normal by 2026.

[Doady]

Some maybe interesting info about ridership recovery in Mississauga:











Even though weekday ridership up 5% in Q4 2023 compared to Q4 2019, morning and afternoon peak ridership (7AM and 4PM) still lower in 2023 compared to 2019.

Evening rush hour now starts at 1:30PM instead of 3PM.

Most of the weekday ridership increase is at 1PM and at 7PM to 5AM.

Even though weekday ridership increased only 5%, Saturday ridership increased 33%, Sunday 43% compared to 2019.

123% ridership increase at 9PM to 7AM on Sundays.

[cranes]

ION 5th birthday
https://www.grt.ca/en/about-grt/ion-5th-birthday.aspx

ION light rail launched June 21, 2019. In the five years since, it has transformed our region. ION trains have carried more than 19 million passengers, and more than $5 billion has been invested in development along the ION line. We're celebrating this milestone with free service, a birthday party, and the Great ION Puzzle Quest!

Free service
All transit service will be free on Saturday, June 22 and Sunday, June 23. That includes ION light rail, conventional buses and MobilityPLUS services.

ION 5th birthday party
Join us at Fairway Station on Saturday, June 22 from 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. for the ION 5th birthday party! Plus additional community events at Waterloo Public Square, Queen/Frederick Station (Speaker's Corner) and Ainslie Terminal.
Fairway Station: Live mural painting, live music, fire arts animation, aerial silks performances, face painting and balloon creations, outdoor games, giveaway and food trucks.
Waterloo Public Square: Roaming stilt walking performances, face painting, balloon creations, outdoor games, giveaways and food trucks.
Queen/Frederick Station (Speaker's Corner): Magicians, face painting, outdoor game, live music by the KW Symphony performers, sponsored by the Kitchener BIA.
Ainslie Terminal: Live music, face painting, balloon creations, outdoor games, giveaways and food trucks.

Great ION Puzzle Quest
https://www.grt.ca/en/about-grt/grea...zle-quest.aspx

Celebrate five years of ION light rail with the Great ION Puzzle Quest! You'll travel along the ION line finding clues and solving puzzles along the way, with the goal of revealing the secret code word. It's part scavenger hunt, part escape room, all centred on ION light rail. Registration is FREE!

Tackle the puzzle quest solo, with a partner or in a team. Everyone who completes the puzzle quest within the time limit receives an ION-themed prize pack. You'll also be entered in a draw for one of 10 custom wooden ION trains!

Plus enjoy the ION celebrations and entertainment along the way.

Date: Saturday, June 22
Time: Approximately 1.5-2 hours to complete (bring water and snacks!)
Starting location: Waterloo Public Square
Kids under 16 should complete the Puzzle Quest with adult help. You'll need a smart phone for some of the puzzles.

Registration - Register for your preferred start time below. If you're completing the Puzzle Quest with a team, reserve a ticket for each member of your team...

[hipster duck]

So a bit Toronto-centric, but the TTC will replace the 510 Spadina streetcar with buses starting June 23 while it does repairs.

The 510 streetcar was slow, but it was reliable. You could expect it to arrive every couple of minutes and it had the ridership to show for it. I'd actually argue that, unless they had special constables positioned at key intersections to keep the King (504) streetcar moving, that the Spadina streetcar was the only reliable streetcar route in the entire city. Now that it's out of service, the TTC streetcar system is a dog's breakfast of short turned routes, bus-substitutions, detours and unacceptable wait times. It's very difficult for anybody to keep track of what's in service and what's not. Reece Martin was right in this video when he said that the streetcar system is the worst thing the TTC does.

[SteelTown]

Update on the huge Hamilton Transit Bus Maintenance & Storage Facility







Source: Branden Simon @ https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/thread...arcadis.35591/

HSR turns 150 years old this year, so to celebrate, most of the bendy buses have retro-wrapped buses, and on special days, the adult bus fare will be $1.50.



Source: HSR @ https://twitter.com/hsr

[Nite]

Here is where federal transit funding or lack of will likely go under the next government

Poilievre says he supports 3rd link for cars
On Thursday, federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that as prime minister he wouldn't invest a cent in the tramway project, saying Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government and the Bloc Québécois are "obsessed with a war on cars and are ignoring people in the suburbs and the regions."
He says he will continue to respect Quebec motorists by supporting a third link for cars.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montr...0suburbs%20and