[ShonTron]

It looks like there’s not much happening this January. As far as the bus service changes go, there’s only schedule adjustments, the usual seasonal reinstatement of Highway 407 and university (Mac, UW/WLU) runs, and a few cuts to buses, such as those that weren’t cut when the Kitchener Line trains were restored. There are a few minor cuts elsewhere, it’s very much a reallocation rather than an overall increase.

Bus Schedule Changes | Service Updates | GO Transit

Click here to see upcoming GO Bus schedule changes and stay in the know!

www.gotransit.com

 

[Northern Light]

It looks like there’s not much happening this January. As far as the bus service changes go, there’s only schedule adjustments, the usual seasonal reinstatement of Highway 407 and university (Mac, UW/WLU) runs, and a few cuts to buses, such as those that weren’t cut when the Kitchener Line trains were restored. There are a few minor cuts elsewhere, it’s very much a reallocation rather than an overall increase.

Bus Schedule Changes | Service Updates | GO Transit

Click here to see upcoming GO Bus schedule changes and stay in the know!

www.gotransit.com

Mx's Board and Executive, and the gov't ought to be embarrassed at not even having comprehensive restoration of hours in place at this point, let alone long overdue improvements!

 

[kalis0490]

Hello All:

This is my proposal for go buses classifications/ ideal routing:

Generally:
-Regional buses are meant to be used when it is infeasible to use trains
-Also supposed to supplement regional trains
-Buses meant to be time competitive with trains and car (1.5X time of car max)
-Generally most "city of Toronto" Stations not served except union station and subway stations


6 main types of GO buses:

1. GO "insert corridor name" Corridor bus
-Serves every regional rail station on the corridor (not serving City of Toronto stations).
- Any important destination that happens to be on the way to be served ( city centres or universities) but not going out of the way to serve them.
- Any higher order transit(metro, BRT, LRT) that happens to be on the way to be served
-Basically A rail replacement bus
- 0 transfers from any given stop stop to Toronto

2. GO "insert corridor name" Corridor Express bus
-Serves important regional rail stations (not serving City of Toronto stations).(or ones that are easiest to reach and require few detours)
- important destinations that happen to be on the way will not be served unless deemed highly important (city centres or universities) but not going out of the way to serve them.
- only most important higher order transit(metro, BRT, LRT) that happens to be on the way to be served
- 0 transfers from any given stop to Toronto


3. GO "insert corridor name" Corridor Long Distance bus
-Serves every regional rail station on the corridor up to a certain point then skips all stops until destination (not servicing City of Toronto stations).
- Any important destination that happens to be on the way (up until a certain point) to be served ( city centres or universities) going out of the way to serve them in the far away areas.
- Any higher order transit (metro, BRT, LRT) that happens to be on the way to be served (up until a certain point)
- 0 transfers from any given stop to Toronto


4. GO "insert corridor name" Corridor Long Distance express bus
- Serves important regional rail stations up to a certain point then skips all stops until destination. (not serving City of Toronto stations)
- important destinations that happen to be on the way will be served (city centres or universities) going out of the way to serve them in further away areas.
- important higher order transit (metro, BRT, LRT) that happens to be on the way to be served (up until a certain point)
- 0 transfers from any given stop to Toronto

5. GO "Future Corridor" Corridor bus
-Serves some future station candidate spots on the corridor (not serving City of Toronto stations).
- Any important destination that happens to be on the way to be served ( city centres or universities) but not going out of the way to serve them.
- Any higher order transit(metro, BRT, LRT) that happens to be on the way to be served
- used to gauge demand for future rail
- 0 transfers from any given stop to Toronto



6. GO "insert non - radial highway" Corridor bus
-Serves destinations on the corridor (not serving City of Toronto stations).
- Any important destination that happens to be on the way to be served ( city centres or universities, or Park and Rides) but not going out of the way to serve them.
- Any higher order transit(metro, BRT, LRT) that happens to be on the way to be served
- uses HOV lanes to boost speed
- gauges demand for future REM like service
- multiples transfers may be needed from stop to destination

7. GO "insert non radial road" Corridor bus
- travels on non-radial roads but not highways. travels between population centers and stations
-Serves destinations on the corridor (not serving City of Toronto stations).
- Any important destination that happens to be on the way to be served ( city centres or universities, or Park and Rides) but not going out of the way to serve them.
- Any higher order transit(metro, BRT, LRT) that happens to be on the way to be served
- multiples transfers may be needed from stop to destination

 

[KevinT]

None of this is necessary. There's a crossover at Lancaster street east of the station, which GO already uses in order to access Shirley Yard, which is on the north side of the tracks. From that switch eastward to the end of double track is 2.8 km, which is enough to schedule a meet with relatively little delay.

Switch at Lancaster Street
View attachment 446581

Green segment is double-tracked, dots indicate switches.
View attachment 446580

But this discussion is moot anyway because they are building passing tracks in Guelph and Breslau as we speak, which are both better located than this one.

I ignored that section because more often than not CN leaves a line of cars parked in it just east of the expressway. I suspect the GO trains in the 4 eastern storage tracks have to depart eastbound and then reverse back to the station. Stupidly there's no facing point switch for trains departing that yard westbound until the one you highlighted west of Lancaster, blocked off from the storage yard by that line of parked freight cars.

 

[kalis0490]

I think there are benefits from a GO train stop at the Kitchener boardwalk. @KevinT I know you are from Kitchener do you have any thoughts

Justification:
1. Municipality owned land at the boardwalk
2. Major bus terminal in the vicinity
3. significant density coming in in that area
ex

4. Was in the consideration be the terminal of Kitchener go in 2009
5. Scheduled to be Terminus of ION stage 3 BRT( in 20 year Ontario transit plan)
6. 5 kms from Kitchener go - > enough tine to accelerate

 

[Bordercollie]

I think there are benefits from a GO train stop at the Kitchener boardwalk. @KevinT I know you are from Kitchener do you have any thoughts

Justification:
1. Municipality owned land at the boardwalk
2. Major bus terminal in the vicinity
3. significant density coming in in that area
ex View attachment 446800
4. Was in the consideration be the terminal of Kitchener go in 2009
5. Scheduled to be Terminus of ION stage 3 BRT( in 20 year Ontario transit plan)
6. 5 kms from Kitchener go - > enough tine to accelerate

Right now there is a homeless encampment full of homeless people doing crack. It's not a good image for the downtown of any major city.

 

[reaperexpress]

It looks like there’s not much happening this January. As far as the bus service changes go, there’s only schedule adjustments, the usual seasonal reinstatement of Highway 407 and university (Mac, UW/WLU) runs, and a few cuts to buses, such as those that weren’t cut when the Kitchener Line trains were restored. There are a few minor cuts elsewhere, it’s very much a reallocation rather than an overall increase.

Bus Schedule Changes | Service Updates | GO Transit

Click here to see upcoming GO Bus schedule changes and stay in the know!

www.gotransit.com

The adjustments are small but very much needed. The last timetable change was only for trains, which broke many of the timed transfers between trains and buses. This reconciles them again.

 

[anb]

There's way more service on the entire 407 corridor in general. Extra weekday trips for the 41 between UTSC-Sq One, 56 getting 30 min day service back, and a couple additional trips on the 52. Combined service between Trafalgar/407-RHC and Oshawa-407 Station will be even more frequent than ever. Then there's the 30 min day weekend service on the 47 which is a much needed benefit as it gets really packed when it leaves McMaster at times, and combined service between Hamilton-407 station will be more frequent as well. This is probably the only corridor that has seen a huge improvement out of the changes.

 

[Bureaucromancer]

I think there are benefits from a GO train stop at the Kitchener boardwalk. @KevinT I know you are from Kitchener do you have any thoughts

Justification:
1. Municipality owned land at the boardwalk
2. Major bus terminal in the vicinity
3. significant density coming in in that area
ex View attachment 446800
4. Was in the consideration be the terminal of Kitchener go in 2009
5. Scheduled to be Terminus of ION stage 3 BRT( in 20 year Ontario transit plan)
6. 5 kms from Kitchener go - > enough tine to accelerate

Agreed.

In the long run Breslau probably has more strategic potential if we consider greenfield development but Boardwalk would do a lot more in the next 10-15 years.

Honestly the projects should probably be paired.

 

[reaperexpress]

Based on @anb 's comment about 407 bus services, I made a consolidated timetable for the 407 West corridor (Hamilton - Square One - RHC). These routes are spread across 3 timetables in on GO's website (tables 40, 41 and 54).

The frequencies seem pretty similar to pre-pandemic.

During the AM Peak, service between Square One and Hwy 407 is generally every 10 minutes or better.

During the midday, service is also typically every 10 minutes or better, thanks to some extra services out of McMaster

During the PM Peak, service remains frequent.

It's only after midnight that headways start to exceed 25 minutes. There is 24/7 service along the corridor, with route 40 running hourly overnight.

Many buses continue beyond RHC to the 407 East or 401 East corridors.

In addition to the routes shown in the timetable, the following services also provide overlapping service:
- Route 25 between Erin Mills and Square One
- Route 29 between Erin Mills and Renforth
- Route 48 between Bramalea and 407
- Route 54 between 407 and RHC

The full spreadsheet is available here.

 

[Undead]

Yeah, pre-pandemic the GO's 407 corridor was probably the system's backbone. Glad to see it's still doing well. Eventually this will build the case for the 407 metro line.

 

[sche]

Based on @anb 's comment about 407 bus services, I made a consolidated timetable for the 407 West corridor (Hamilton - Square One - RHC). These routes are spread across 3 timetables in on GO's website (tables 40, 41 and 54).

The frequencies seem pretty similar to pre-pandemic.

During the AM Peak, service between Square One and Hwy 407 is generally every 10 minutes or better.
View attachment 447104

During the midday, service is also typically every 10 minutes or better, thanks to some extra services out of McMaster
View attachment 447103

During the PM Peak, service remains frequent.
View attachment 447102

It's only after midnight that headways start to exceed 25 minutes. There is 24/7 service along the corridor, with route 40 running hourly overnight.
View attachment 447101

Many buses continue beyond RHC to the 407 East or 401 East corridors.

In addition to the routes shown in the timetable, the following services also provide overlapping service:
- Route 25 between Erin Mills and Square One
- Route 29 between Erin Mills and Renforth
- Route 48 between Bramalea and 407
- Route 54 between 407 and RHC

The full spreadsheet is available here.

This is amazing - GO's bus services are usually a massive pain to understand because of all the separate timetable documents for each route.

What's worse, it's not even easy to know which timetables to check because the official system map is completely useless for looking for GO bus routes, so you basically just have to open lots of timetables and look at the route maps to even check if the route is useful to you. I think most GO bus riders probably just blindly follow Google maps or whatever and have a next to no understanding of where any routes actually go apart from the routes they regularly use. Most riders of other systems probably at least have a vague idea of where service goes.

Does anyone know of any unofficial maps that exist that actually depict all GO bus routes? Such a map really needs to exist.

 

[C_Johnson_1995]

Railpictures.ca - Jacob Patterson Photo: Power for L542 idles the night away just outside of Gillies Lumber in Cambridge. For the last few years, power has typically been tied down just outside Hunt’s Logistics on the Fergus Spur until the last fe

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CN has lost a major customer on the Fergus Spur. As a result, the job which services the line is no longer based in Cambridge. Abandonment is likely around the corner which means that GO service to Cambridge by this route is likely off the menu.

IMO, extending the Milton line has always been the better option as busses would likely be better suited to Cambridge - Guelph journies and connections with the Kitchener Line.

 

[rbt]

Railpictures.ca - Jacob Patterson Photo: Power for L542 idles the night away just outside of Gillies Lumber in Cambridge. For the last few years, power has typically been tied down just outside Hunt’s Logistics on the Fergus Spur until the last fe

Tens of thousands of great Canadian railway photographs, discussions, and much more. Click to view the image or register for your free account. Please share this if you like it.

www.railpictures.ca

CN has lost a major customer on the Fergus Spur. As a result, the job which services the line is no longer based in Cambridge. Abandonment is likely around the corner which means that GO service to Cambridge by this route is likely off the menu.

IMO, extending the Milton line has always been the better option as busses would likely be better suited to Cambridge - Guelph journies and connections with the Kitchener Line.

Interesting news, but I don't understand your conclusion.

Surely CN abandoning the Fergus spur makes the Guelph to Cambridge routing more attractive to Metrolinx, not less. Metrolinx would have fewer conflicts (CN operations) to GO service on that corridor, and potentially lower capital costs too.

 

[C_Johnson_1995]

Interesting news, but I don't understand your conclusion.

Surely CN abandoning the Fergus spur makes the Guelph to Cambridge routing more attractive to Metrolinx, not less. Metrolinx would have fewer conflicts (CN operations) to GO service on that corridor, and potentially lower capital costs too.

Operational conflicts with freight are not really a concern with this project. The problem comes from the fact that since Cambridge GO service is not an immediate priority, neither Metrolinx or the region of Waterloo are likely to purchase the RoW leading to it being redeveloped in pieces.