[dunkalunk]

I have a friend who lives in Etobicoke between Islington and Kipling near Lakeshore Blvd, and am planning to visit sometime in the this month. I have not yet found a way of getting there in under 3 hours from Kitchener. With the introduction of GO bus service between Kitchener and Square One, I was wondering which would make more sense:

A) Transferring from the GO bus at square one to another GO bus to Pearson, and then paying the flat fare on the Airport Express 192 and Kipling 44

B)GO bus to square one, get on a MT bus and find my way to Kipling, Islington or Long Branch, and pay additional cash fare for TTC streetcar or bus

C) Coach Canada to McMaster, transfer to GO bus/train, transfer to streetcar at Long Branch.

D) Continue to take the VIA train/Greyhound to Union and backtrack on the 501 Streetcar from downtown as I have in the past.

If anyone would introduce an intercity bus route that services Kitchener or Guelph from aldershot, this would make my life infinitely easier.
Also, I am a WLU student, am I allowed to use the Fed Bus (University of Waterloo)?

 

[nfitz]

I'd think that C) would work best if D) doesn't work ...

... but on the cheap side, check out the GO fares from Kitchener to Long Branch ... only $13.35 (compared to $14.35 to Union ... though what is bizarre, is if you change from the Kitchener bus to the Milton train in Milton you'd most likely do this by changing again at Union ... not sure how fare enforcement works for things like this ...).

 

[Jonny5]

There is one option you omitted, but it is a one shot deal and only for EARLY risers!

1) GO Bus from WLU to Milton GO Station DP5:58 / AR 7:10
2) GO Bus from Milton GO Station to Oakville GO station DP 7:40 / AR 8:20 (this is the bus that went to Bronte Stn until very recently)
3) GO Train from Oakville GO to Long Branch GO DP 8:30 / AR 8:49
4) TTC 501 from Long Branch to Kipling and Lakeshore DP ?? / AR about 10 minutes later.

That's almost exactly 3 hours.

It's too bad the bus doesn't always stop at the Milton GO as this would be the most logical route, but it's only this run and one earlier one. You also lose 30 minutes sitting around at Milton GO due to the bad connection with the bus to Oakville.

EDIT:... how long would the walk be from the Milton Carpool to the Milton GO? I suppose if you are willing to walk this and it takes less than 30 minutes, you could use this route anytime. Or take a Milton taxi?

 

[lead82]

Is driving an option? I would simply rent a car (if I did not have one) and drive down from Kitchener to meet a friend. Driving would take 1hr in best case, and 90mins in rush hour traffic or if there is an accident. Save yourself 3 hrs of headaches of transferring 3 times each way and drive it.

It is said that such basic trips cannot be done efficiently by transit.

 

[TOareaFan]

Is driving an option? I would simply rent a car (if I did not have one) and drive down from Kitchener to meet a friend. Driving would take 1hr in best case, and 90mins in rush hour traffic or if there is an accident. Save yourself 3 hrs of headaches of transferring 3 times each way and drive it.

It is said that such basic trips cannot be done efficiently by transit.

I agree on two things:

1. it is sad that car is, often, the best option
2. it is sad that this trip is so complicated

I disagree, though, that a journey from Kitchener to Lakeshore Blvd between Islington and Kipling is "a basic trip" (the implication that i read into that is that it is the sort of trip we should be doing our transit planning around)......I would imagine that the number of people who would want/need to do that trip in any given day is fairly small.......times/schedules/costs will intevitably get better/easier as we build the overall network but it certainly is not a trip that we should be planning around (IMO)

 

[Komiksulo]

There is a Coach Canada bus from the Kitchener bus station to the Hamilton GO Centre on Hunter Street E. From there you can take the GO train or bus to Long Branch, then the streetcar.

It seems to me that this is the most logical route from people coming from Kitchener to anywhere west of Port Credit. Perhaps GO will add a route here and combine it with the Hamilton-Niagara Falls route.

Edit: okay, I see that you mentioned this in the OP. I was thinking "Hamilton", not "McMaster".

 

[dunkalunk]

Is there even a GO transit option to get from Square One to Long Branch? I was under the impression that there was no such route.

 

[CDL.TO]

There's only two round trips a day where you can do this, but I would say that taking the GO bus to Milton GO station, the GO train to Kipling, and the TTC 44 from there would be the best way.

At all other times, you're probably best either sticking with Greyhound or taking GO to Square One, MT to Kipling, and TTC from there.

 

[Platform 27]

Here's my crack at a variant on option (B):

1) Hop any Square One GO Bus at WLU, and ask the driver to pay full GO fare from Waterloo to Long Branch. ($13.35) Ride GO to Square One

2) At Square One Terminal, transfer to Mississauga Transit (+50 cents with your GO Ticket) and ride Route 19 down Hurontario to Port Credit GO Station

3) At Port Credit, catch a Lakeshore train (free with previous GO ticket) eastbound one stop to Long Branch

4) At Long Branch take TTC 501 (+$2.75) along Lakeshore Blvd to Kipling

Depending on the time of day and MT's moodiness, you can theoretically thread the needle between an x:10 arrival on GO to Square One and an x:44 departure from Port Credit. But it's tight.

 

[dunkalunk]

Can is the +50 cent transfer to MT doable for any GO ticket? Lets say my GO trip were to end at Square One? Or is that only for shuttle routes?

And to clarify, I'd be leaving from Charles Street Terminal. That's about 15 minutes closer to toronto from Laurier.

 

[DavidJamesTO]

Is there even a GO transit option to get from Square One to Long Branch? I was under the impression that there was no such route.

Partially; you could take a GO bus from SQ1 to Yorkdale and get on the subway/streetcar from there. It's a rather roundabout way to get there, though.

 

[drum118]

You cannot use the $.50 fare for MT from a GO bus at Sq One, let alone in the system. Only can do that with with rail.

This type of trip shows why we need a simple fare structure at a low cost.

Transferring from GO bus or any system to GO rail is a time looser since Rail service is every 60 minutes. 2010 will see 30 and not be a looser.

Option C is the best way or getting to a rail station by GO Bus.

Considering you are paying over $30 for a round trip, Renting a car for a day will cost you around $50 plus gas, but saves you 4+ hours in travel time.

 

[Platform 27]

You cannot use the $.50 fare for MT from a GO bus at Sq One, let alone in the system. Only can do that with with rail.

Gah. Just looked it up, and he's right. MT only discounts trips to/from rail stations. Because, you know, if they discounted connections to GO buses, people might use it or something...

 

[ShonTron]

I am sure all the local 905 transit systems (excluding HSR, St. Catharines, Niagara) only offer the discount to and from rail stations. Perhaps as a small consolation for overpriced fares to York U from Bramalea, Bramalea-York riders can use the 65 cent transfer to BT at any time. The discount also applies to the Brampton Bus Terminal.

It's a shame that Square One has no fare coordination. There has to be better fare coordination all around that doesn't punish bus-to-bus transfers so much just due to the colour of the buses (Green, red particuarly. At least orange has free transfers to blue/red, which has a free transfer to blue, etc).

 

[rbt]

Gah. Just looked it up, and he's right. MT only discounts trips to/from rail stations. Because, you know, if they discounted connections to GO buses, people might use it or something...

The discount targets parking costs and is said to be roughly equal to parking spot maintenance/capital. Very few people park in the GO lots to take the bus but a majority taking the train do.

What should interest you is that it costs GO ~$4 per day to maintain a parking spot at their train stations.