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Thanks for the links, Drum.

That new Hamilton bus schedule adds 9 round-trips on Saturday and 14 round-trips on Sunday, establishing a 20-minute headway for most of the weekend. This would be a good candidate for double-decker buses, if they can find a way to get them to the Union terminal. I have to wonder what the response to weekend train service to Hamilton will be when there are buses doing the trip three times as often and much faster.
 
I had the day off yesterday and since my kids were in daycare I checked out the GO Whitby Station. I was very impressed, since moving here to Ontario a few years ago I have checked out the some of the westward GO stations such as the James St. one in downtown Hamilton (which needs all day two-way service!) and Aldershot in Burlington but I haven't gone east yet (or many of the other lines). In Whitby they have some serious infrastructure there that will definetly help increase ridership and they are constructing something. It looks like a pedestrian overhead bridge to compliment the pedestrian tunnel they already have there. They also have a large multi-level parking garage that is sheltered to help commuters choose the GO, and their is a Durham Regional bus stop right at this station. This station has a large sheltered waiting area for passengers waiting for trains. I wasn't at this station during rush hour and I had to get back to TO to pu my kids in time, but it looks like they are expanding the platform area as well near where this pedestrian bridge is being worked on. I was quite impressed with this station and I hope as GO expands and improves its existing infrastrucrture that more of its stations are built like this Whitby Station where they can. Like I said I was impressed. As I get to know Ontario a bit more I would like to read of other people's opinions of different GO Stations in this network so I can check them out when I have time off of my work and family priorities.
 
Does anyone know if GO has a plan for a fifth trip on the Barrie Line in the AM Peak and PM Peak?

AM would be an extra trip that arrives Union @ 9:20
PM would be an extra trip that departs Union @ 18:30

Both trips would follow the 30 minute gap.

I don't have ridership data with me but just by personally taking the current trips available, it would seem like an extra trip would have pretty good ridership (especially the PM trip)

I feel that GO schedules are based on old 70s/80s congestion levels when traffic would disappear after 9am or after 6pm. Today's toronto has much longer rush hours now, so I would think these extra trips would be better than running buses.

If anyone has any data about the Barrie Line, that would be great!
 
Presumably the issue there would be that it isn't possible to run one of the early trains back from Union to Barrie to form that fifth service because of the signalling and track layouts on that line?
 
New parking lot earmarked for Newkirk GO station

According to GO Transit and the Ministry of Transportation, an additional commuter parking lot will soon be built, adjacent to the existing lots and rail station on Newkirk Road.

According to GO Transit, this future Richmond Hill parking lot is earmarked for the location now addressed as 95 Newkirk Rd. S. or the Stelpro Design building.

The lot will likely be an expansion of the already existing lot on the east side of Newkirk Road, across from the train platform.

An e-mail communication from GO Transit representatives said the new lot is expected to have roughly 500 parking spaces and will be a surfaced lot, similar to the two already in use.

A letter from the ministry of transportation to a Richmond Hill resident last month noted the project was expected to be complete by the summer of 2011.

However, this week GO Transit and ministry representatives said a contract has not yet been awarded to demolish the current structure on the property and then build the lot, so a final completion date has yet to be determined.
 
Coruscanti Cognoscente said:
Well that's decidedly un-exciting and a misleading title.

That'd be like saying they're building a new parking structure at Rathburn GO.
Click to expand...

If you can't do actual transit expansion, just start naming the same stations different names in documents, that way it sounds like you're building new ones :p.

I for one am looking forward to the new GO hub at Front St Station.
 
I don't know the line (nor Richmond Hill really) all that well but is there any chance that they are planning a new station somewhere in town and are easing in the name Newkirk for the existing station....or it could be an overly aggressive/creative headline.
 
Metrolinx buys rail line from CN
By Robert Mackenzie on March 30, 2011 6:37 PM

Metrolinx has bought part of the Kingston Subdivision rail line from the Canadian National Railways for $299 million.

The line consists of a two- and three-track rail corridor, extending east of Union Station to a junction near Whites Road in Pickering, where the line connects with GO Transit’s separate rail right-of-way to Oshawa.

By buying the line, Metrolinx gains full ownership of major parts of GO’s 09 Lakeshore East and 71 **Stouffville lines in east-end Toronto. Metrolinx now owns 61 per cent of the rail corridors on which GO Transit operates commuter trains.

CN’s agreement with Metrolinx protects its rights to operate freight trains along the line, so it can continue to serve its freight customers.

You can see a map of the Kingston Subdivision and CN, Canadian Pacific Railway and Metrolinx / GO Transit rail corridors in the Greater Toronto Area here. (.pdf)

http://www.cn.ca/documents/Media-News-Release/CN-Metrolinx-rail-corridors-map.pdf
 
On the GO website, numerous scheduling changes have been posted, with the usual reduction of university orientated service but a few bus routes are seeing significant improvement including 27 new trips per week for the Hamilton Express.
 
Sorry, I do not believe that you will see an extra train trip any time soon.

accura407 said:
Does anyone know if GO has a plan for a fifth trip on the Barrie Line in the AM Peak and PM Peak?

AM would be an extra trip that arrives Union @ 9:20
PM would be an extra trip that departs Union @ 18:30

Both trips would follow the 30 minute gap.

I don't have ridership data with me but just by personally taking the current trips available, it would seem like an extra trip would have pretty good ridership (especially the PM trip)

I feel that GO schedules are based on old 70s/80s congestion levels when traffic would disappear after 9am or after 6pm. Today's toronto has much longer rush hours now, so I would think these extra trips would be better than running buses.

If anyone has any data about the Barrie Line, that would be great!
Click to expand...
 
TOareaFan said:
I don't know the line (nor Richmond Hill really) all that well but is there any chance that they are planning a new station somewhere in town and are easing in the name Newkirk for the existing station....or it could be an overly aggressive/creative headline.
Click to expand...

Well, the following renaming would make things less confusing, since the current Richmond Hill Centre Viva terminal is next to a mismatched GO station:

Richmond Hill GO -> Newkirk GO
Langstaff GO -> Richmond Hill Centre GO

But this is just speculation.
 
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