So I took the 47 to Hamilton and back to Square One, with the new Erin Mills Transitway Station in use.
Apparently, accessing the transitway station is a total disaster.
Going westbound:
My bus caught the red light, so Erin Mills Parkway traffic kicks in. The changing of lights takes around 2 minutes, and then, when EMP lights stop, the green light goes to the Transitway Station first, not the WB 403 exit ramp, adding a 10 to 15 second delay. Exiting the platform, it uses the loop, wasting another 20 seconds. Then, exiting the ramp, there is a no right turn on red sign, so my bus caught a yellow light, so it slowed down, then ended up with red, adding another 2 minute delay before finally entering the 403 again. So combined with the best-scenario detouring time, the additional time accumulated after going through a tour of the carpool lot amounts to 10 minutes versus bypassing the station.
Going eastbound:
My bus caught the red light at the EB 403 to NB EMP. EMP lights go for 2 minutes, then it had to turn left again to access the transitway. Unfortunately, we caught another red light at the WB 403 off ramp. So it goes on for 90 seconds. Then, when it's our turn, the bus couldn't access the very short left-turn lane because of the huge lineup of cars at EMP. So after 20 seconds, we were able to finally get onto the left lane. And it actually became worse with the fact that the left-turn lane has its own signal. Since the cars had blocked the left lane, it missed its opportunity to make the left-turn. So the bus waited additional 90 seconds at the left-turn lane, then another 90 seconds for the WB 403 off-ramp. Then, since it uses the eastbound platform, it actually has to use the loop first before going to its side, and the platform for 46 and 47 are at the far end of the eastbound platform. The loop adds additional 20 seconds. Then, when we were about to exit the station, we were caught by another red light again, and just as the westbound trip was, no right turns are allowed at EMP. So we had to wait 2 minutes just for the traffic to clear. Then, finally, to access the eastbound 403, we had to use the left-most lane to make a left-hand turn, and that is when we were greeted by a torrent of northbound EMP traffic that went all the way to the red light, which makes it around 90 seconds. My bus ran the red light just to get access to EB 403. So, the total time accumulated combined with the best-case scenario detouring time (all-green), the total delay would amount to 15 minutes versus bypassing the station, which made me miss my connecting bus when we reached Square One.
10 to 15 minutes just to go through a carpool lot seems a little insane.
