reaperexpress
Senior Member
As noted earlier, Union Station bus routes are being detoured to various suburban terminals to avoid downtown congestion.
Lakeshore West Corridor
Route 16 Hamilton-Toronto Express is cut back to Aldershot (so now it just duplicates Route 18 Hamilton-Aldershot). If GO actually wanted to minimize delays to their customers, they would have cut route 16 back to somewhere like Clarkson, Port Credit or Long Branch, allowing the buses to travel non-stop from Hamilton down the HOV lanes of the QEW rather than making passengers sit through every single stop on the local train.
Richmond Hill Corridor
Route 61 Richmond Hill (Bloomington-Union) is detouring to Hwy 407 Station. The previous stop is Richmond Hill Centre, so this is probably the best option if the bus can't serve Union. Going to Finch or Don Mills would take about the same time in total, but be less reliable than going across the 407.
Barrie Corridor
Route 65 Newmarket (East Gwillimbury-Toronto) is detouring to Hwy 407 Station. So currently to get from Barrie Bus Terminal to Union Station departing at 09:57, you'd need:
- Shuttle bus from Barrie Term to Allandale (10 minutes incl transfer)
- Route 68 to Aurora (1h35)
- Route 65C to Hwy 407 Stn (10 min transfer + 23 min drive)
- Line 1 to Union (6 min transfer + 42 min ride)
Total: 186 minutes (3h06) Barrie - Union.
In the previous schedule (which had off-peak trains and bus service to Barrie term), this trip would have been:
- Route 68 from Barrie Term to Aurora (1h40)
- Barrie Train to Union (15 min transfer + 51 min train)
Total: 166 minutes (2h46) Barrie - Union
They could easily mitigate this difference by splicing together routes 68 (Barrie - Newmarket) and 66 (Newmarket - Hwy 407 Stn):
- Route 68B from Barrie Term to East Gwillimbury (69 min)
- Route 66 (actually the same bus) to Hwy 407 (50 min)
- Line 1 to Union (6 min transfer + 42 min ride)
Total: 167 minutes (2h46) Barrie - Union
To serve the East Gwillimbury-Aurora segment the current 65C Aurora-407 buses would be converted to 65 East Gwillimbury-407 buses which also provides the benefit of eliminating the transfer in Aurora for Newmarket passengers.
Stouffville Corridor
In the last schedule (when there were still off-peak trains), a trip from Mount Joy to Union was:
- Stouffville train to Union (53 minutes)
Total: 53 minutes Mount Joy - Union
Now that there are no longer off-peak trains, and the replacement buses are also being detoured to Hwy 407 (duplicating route 54 Mount Joy - Hwy 407), that trip is:
- Route 71E Mount Joy - Hwy407 (40 min)
- Line 1 to Union (6 min transfer + 42 min ride)
Total: 88 minutes (1h28) Mount Joy - Union
Interestingly, GO seems to have arranged temporary Presto fare integration for passengers transfering from GO to the TTC at Hwy 407 stn:
No mention of fare integration for passengers transfering from the TTC to GO though.
Conclusion:
Even if we accept that GO buses can't go downtown, these detours are far more disruptive than they would have been if GO had actually designed bus schedules around the simultaneous closures of the Union Station bus terminal, the Barrie line off-peak trains and the Stouffville line off-peak trains.
The website's rationale for these diversions is that the traffic was bad last year, which means that they have had an entire year to come up with such a schedule.
Now we are stuck with these buses running at unpredictable times, since the travel times included in their schedule have nothing to do with the actual travel times along a completely different route.
Lakeshore West Corridor
Route 16 Hamilton-Toronto Express is cut back to Aldershot (so now it just duplicates Route 18 Hamilton-Aldershot). If GO actually wanted to minimize delays to their customers, they would have cut route 16 back to somewhere like Clarkson, Port Credit or Long Branch, allowing the buses to travel non-stop from Hamilton down the HOV lanes of the QEW rather than making passengers sit through every single stop on the local train.
Richmond Hill Corridor
Route 61 Richmond Hill (Bloomington-Union) is detouring to Hwy 407 Station. The previous stop is Richmond Hill Centre, so this is probably the best option if the bus can't serve Union. Going to Finch or Don Mills would take about the same time in total, but be less reliable than going across the 407.
Barrie Corridor
Route 65 Newmarket (East Gwillimbury-Toronto) is detouring to Hwy 407 Station. So currently to get from Barrie Bus Terminal to Union Station departing at 09:57, you'd need:
- Shuttle bus from Barrie Term to Allandale (10 minutes incl transfer)
- Route 68 to Aurora (1h35)
- Route 65C to Hwy 407 Stn (10 min transfer + 23 min drive)
- Line 1 to Union (6 min transfer + 42 min ride)
Total: 186 minutes (3h06) Barrie - Union.
In the previous schedule (which had off-peak trains and bus service to Barrie term), this trip would have been:
- Route 68 from Barrie Term to Aurora (1h40)
- Barrie Train to Union (15 min transfer + 51 min train)
Total: 166 minutes (2h46) Barrie - Union
They could easily mitigate this difference by splicing together routes 68 (Barrie - Newmarket) and 66 (Newmarket - Hwy 407 Stn):
- Route 68B from Barrie Term to East Gwillimbury (69 min)
- Route 66 (actually the same bus) to Hwy 407 (50 min)
- Line 1 to Union (6 min transfer + 42 min ride)
Total: 167 minutes (2h46) Barrie - Union
To serve the East Gwillimbury-Aurora segment the current 65C Aurora-407 buses would be converted to 65 East Gwillimbury-407 buses which also provides the benefit of eliminating the transfer in Aurora for Newmarket passengers.
Stouffville Corridor
In the last schedule (when there were still off-peak trains), a trip from Mount Joy to Union was:
- Stouffville train to Union (53 minutes)
Total: 53 minutes Mount Joy - Union
Now that there are no longer off-peak trains, and the replacement buses are also being detoured to Hwy 407 (duplicating route 54 Mount Joy - Hwy 407), that trip is:
- Route 71E Mount Joy - Hwy407 (40 min)
- Line 1 to Union (6 min transfer + 42 min ride)
Total: 88 minutes (1h28) Mount Joy - Union
Interestingly, GO seems to have arranged temporary Presto fare integration for passengers transfering from GO to the TTC at Hwy 407 stn:
No mention of fare integration for passengers transfering from the TTC to GO though.
Conclusion:
Even if we accept that GO buses can't go downtown, these detours are far more disruptive than they would have been if GO had actually designed bus schedules around the simultaneous closures of the Union Station bus terminal, the Barrie line off-peak trains and the Stouffville line off-peak trains.
The website's rationale for these diversions is that the traffic was bad last year, which means that they have had an entire year to come up with such a schedule.
Now we are stuck with these buses running at unpredictable times, since the travel times included in their schedule have nothing to do with the actual travel times along a completely different route.
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