[T3G]

The cars only get repainted when they go in for refurbishing, which is usually every 20 years or so. A portion of the Series V cars were refurbished in the early 2010s before the new livery was introduced, and cars were getting delivered brand new in the old colours until 2014, so optimistically it will be another decade and change before the rest of the fleet is repainted.

As it should be, because repainting before it's time to renew the livery delivers naught.

 

[cplchanb]

The cars only get repainted when they go in for refurbishing, which is usually every 20 years or so. A portion of the Series V cars were refurbished in the early 2010s before the new livery was introduced, and cars were getting delivered brand new in the old colours until 2014, so optimistically it will be another decade and change before the rest of the fleet is repainted.

As it should be, because repainting before it's time to renew the livery delivers naught.

Ok so by the time they need to be repainted id bet shortly afterwards ML will have a new livery so all the work they did to repaint would be a waste
they have enough cars to switch out, they need to sort out their branding by having a unified livery instead of an ancient obsolete one from 10 years ago.
makes them look disjointed and disorganized.

 

[WB62]

The cars only get repainted when they go in for refurbishing, which is usually every 20 years or so. A portion of the Series V cars were refurbished in the early 2010s before the new livery was introduced, and cars were getting delivered brand new in the old colours until 2014, so optimistically it will be another decade and change before the rest of the fleet is repainted.

As it should be, because repainting before it's time to renew the livery delivers naught.

All of the series 5 cars were repainted fairly recently, as well as a lot of series 7 coaches before they get sent away for refurbishment. Metrolinx isn’t following the repaint-only-when-refurbished thing anymore

 

[T3G]

Ok so by the time they need to be repainted id bet shortly afterwards ML will have a new livery so all the work they did to repaint would be a waste
they have enough cars to switch out, they need to sort out their branding by having a unified livery instead of an ancient obsolete one from 10 years ago.
makes them look disjointed and disorganized.

I don't think anyone except for railfans actually cares.

 

[cplchanb]

I don't think anyone except for railfans actually cares.

thats what we assume but with people becoming more and more attune with image they will start to notice and wonder why go trains always look so tired and worn out.
we pay so much tax to upkeep that that old looking car??

 

[T3G]

thats what we assume but with people becoming more and more attune with image they will start to notice and wonder why go trains always look so tired and worn out.
we pay so much tax to upkeep that that old looking car??

Maybe we shouldn't listen to them? People who know nothing about the life cycle of a rail car have no business commenting about rail cars. I truly loathe this direction our society is going in where any random fool with an internet connection can make an inflammatory comment and cause a controversy. This is not democracy, this is proxy rule of the stupid.

The amount or people that will notice something like this anyway is low. Most people will note if their car is disgusting on the inside, or uncomfortable, or with defunct climate control. A faded rail car is not on the radar of most people. And it's not a problem that will be solved by fully switching over to the new livery, because then what? In 10 years the earliest repainted cars will also start looking as faded and the problem restarts itself. The only way to avoid this problem is to have repaints more often, whatever the choice of livery is. And I don't get the feeling our transit system is anywhere near well developed enough that we can afford to throw out money on frivolous nonsense like this. Spend the money on infrastructure to actually make the system usable, and leave the marketing wank to the losers studying PR and marketing.

 

[lenaitch]

thats what we assume but with people becoming more and more attune with image they will start to notice and wonder why go trains always look so tired and worn out.
we pay so much tax to upkeep that that old looking car??

Do you honestly think people make their commuting decisions based on what the the condition of the livery is in?

 

[cplchanb]

Do you honestly think people make their commuting decisions based on what the the condition of the livery is in?

actually to a degre yes... theres a reason why most of the people arent taking transit over cars. although not a major reason this is also one minor reason.
the fact that theres still decrepit and old looking cars fuelled by the negative perception in the news of ML will turn people away from supporting transit.
so this is what our tax dollars have gone to. you underestimate how brand power drives emotion and public perception. you dont see the leafs reusing previous generations jerseys to save a nickel on the dollar just because the player
was part of the team in their previous generation of logo.

 

[turbanplanner]

Do you honestly think people make their commuting decisions based on what the the condition of the livery is in?

No but OTOH I think the whole transport of last resort argument is easier to make in that case, alsooooo have you seen Via?

I think they had a wrap for spiderman 2 still up when 3 came out!

 

[Amare]

actually to a degre yes... theres a reason why most of the people arent taking transit over cars. although not a major reason this is also one minor reason.
the fact that theres still decrepit and old looking cars fuelled by the negative perception in the news of ML will turn people away from supporting transit.
so this is what our tax dollars have gone to. you underestimate how brand power drives emotion and public perception. you dont see the leafs reusing previous generations jerseys to save a nickel on the dollar just because the player
was part of the team in their previous generation of logo.

Huh?

First let's start off with your point about the Leafs. Their jerseys and logos could literally depict a pile of garbage and people would still go and support them en masse, that's just how it is with their fans.

Now to the actual point of discussion, a big reason why people are taking their cars over transit is simply because it's more convenient to and for decades, our politicians and transit agencies have failed to make it enticing for people to make the switch. Why would someone for instance, wait 15-20 minutes for a bus and then commute another 30 minutes once said bus arrives, when they can take their car and be at their destination in 1/5th of the time?

Let's get more specific, Metrolinx and the TTC both changed their liveries within the past 10-15 years. Do you think the demand on either agency has spiked up dramatically because of it? I'll give you a hint, the answer starts with a No. In the TTC's case, they've done an excellent job recently of driving away ridership thanks to their service cuts and maintenance practices. Or in other words, the TTC had a higher ridership when they had their "decrepit and old looking cars" compared to their brand new shiny vehicles.

People would use transit if it was more convenient to do so, but in many cases it isnt so they dont. Quite simple really.

 

[lenaitch]

No but OTOH I think the whole transport of last resort argument is easier to make in that case, alsooooo have you seen Via?

I think they had a wrap for spiderman 2 still up when 3 came out!

And is there a record of people saying, 'you know, I was going to take the train to Montreal, but then I saw that locomotive, so I drove'. Or, 'I really wanted to take the train, but I don't like Home Hardware'.

 

[Amare]

And for the record, I’ve honestly heard of more people avoiding MX scheme cars because of them having the newer seats that people find uncomfortable.

Count me as one of them, the new/refurbished cars dont offer great a level of comfort.

 

[crs1026]

Interior amenity is a whole different marketing proposition than exterior paint.

But to be fair, ML has one of the cleanest and best maintained interior fleet conditions of transit systems anywhere.

And some of the fleets we point to as models are awash in grafitti (inside and out) and worn-out seat coverings, walls, and flooring.

Look at photos from even a few years ago and you will see the steady transition of GO coaches from old to new paint schemes. Even two years ago, a typical consist was only 40-50% repaints where today it's closer to 80%. Commendably, the fleet is not being repainted faster than the old paint is fading, so there is little or no incremental cost.

ML standards may be slipping a little (yesterday's ride was in a coach that was a tad hot) but overall this is not one ofvthe many things I would criticise them for.

- Paul

 

[dowlingm]

I don't think anyone except for railfans actually cares.

Count me among those who don’t understand the fascination with different liveries or with feeling the need to change them (as if my post re that yellow horror of VIA’s didn’t say it all)

That said, faded paint does look shabby particularly given that trainsets are not fixed and thus faded units are often cheek by jowl with newly painted ones.

Coming from Ireland and being of an age when railways still had a headcount sufficient to address paint upkeep, at least to a level where fade was relatively evenly distributed, it is still jarring to watch a GO consist go by and a faded coach or coaches among them. This is also true in particular of VIA’s LRC fleet which is now in a variety of faded schemes beside their more recent (and quite attractive) business class repaint.

For less engaged riders it might raise a question of what else has been left go on that coach. We live in a climate which is aggressive in both winter and summer to exterior finishes and upkeep should be part of the cost of doing business, and I daresay while not cheap is probably cheaper than some Metrolinx ideas for keeping customers happy but which because they come from a marketing budget and not a maintenance one (like that Leafs wrap) are nodded through.

 

[PL1]

While I get that it's wasteful to paint cars before it's necessary, it seems they could try to put together consists with cars with the same liveries – or at least blocks of adjacent cars with the same livery. Honestly, it doesn't really matter.

I do find having different era cars in a consist a bit awkward when travelling from car to car. The other night, I took the 23:36 LSW GO from Exhibition to Danforth and I got on a car with old livery. The car had a manual mechanism to open the door, and the next car (new livery) had an electric/automatic mechanism. The next was manual, and then electric. As an infrequent rider of GO, I found that somewhat awkward, and I could imagine it to be problematic for new riders. Having consistent door mechanisms between cars would be better; grouping cars (by era/type) might make this less of an issue.

Probably not an issue to most riders, though