[reaperexpress]

GO really suffers from this problem of having unrealistic schedules where delays happen daily and they don't change the schedule for months. It's gotten better due to the service guarantee giving them an incentive, buy they still do it. For months after the UPX opened, some of the Barrie train arrivals and departures experienced several minutes of delays every single day at the same time because they didn't bother to consider the existence of both of them when scheduling either one. It's still a semi-regular occurrence.

My local southbound GO bus at Aurora is reliably late most of the time since the scheduled time to come down from Newmarket is really unrealistic, especially given recent construction.

Lots of people raise this issue on twitter, and it persists for months or years.

Eastbound buses at Laurier University almost always arrive 3 minutes late. Because they almost always leave UWaterloo on time, then it takes 6 minutes to get to Laurier but the schedule only allows for 3. By the time passengers have been loaded, the bus is 5-7 minutes late. It makes no difference to the overall schedule adherence, but it creates a bad impression for the people standing outside waiting for the bus at Laurier.

 

[smallspy]

GO really suffers from this problem of having unrealistic schedules where delays happen daily and they don't change the schedule for months. It's gotten better due to the service guarantee giving them an incentive, buy they still do it. For months after the UPX opened, some of the Barrie train arrivals and departures experienced several minutes of delays every single day at the same time because they didn't bother to consider the existence of both of them when scheduling either one. It's still a semi-regular occurrence.

In some cases, it's because they don't realize that there issues with the schedules until the trains start running. The changes to the Kitchener Line trains 268 and 269 after a couple of months of launching the mid-day service - where they ran into regular delays due to meeting with VIA trains 84 and 85 - are an example of this.

And there are others where issues are caused by other trains - usually freights, but not infrequently VIAs too - being out of place for where they are supposed to be. This is harder to correct, as the freight railroads don't have any incentive to correct the problems at their end. And changing the schedule just because it seems like a semi-regular occurrence could have cascading effects elsewhere when those other trains are back where they are supposed to be.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

 

[micheal_can]

If I remember right, 3 of the lines (both Lakeshores and Kitchener) have VIA on them. Could they be considered express service?

 

[crs1026]

If I remember right, 3 of the lines (both Lakeshores and Kitchener) have VIA on them. Could they be considered express service?

People certainly use them as such. The issue is capacity and utilisation. It's good for VIA to fill seats that would otherwise go empty with short-haul fares out of Toronto, but it doesn't make good economic sense for VIA to add coaches to build business between Toronto and Georgetown, for instance, only to have those coaches hauled empty for the rest of the way to Sarnia or Windsor.

I suspect VIA sets its fares to limit the demand to what seats they are likely to have available. That's good for VIA but not optimal for transportation for the GTA, as it tends to constrain the supply. We still need tailored regional services that get people to destinations in the 30- to 70- mile radius around Toronto, without long trip times caused by stopping schedules.

- Paul

 

[micheal_can]

People certainly use them as such. The issue is capacity and utilisation. It's good for VIA to fill seats that would otherwise go empty with short-haul fares out of Toronto, but it doesn't make good economic sense for VIA to add coaches to build business between Toronto and Georgetown, for instance, only to have those coaches hauled empty for the rest of the way to Sarnia or Windsor.

I suspect VIA sets its fares to limit the demand to what seats they are likely to have available. That's good for VIA but not optimal for transportation for the GTA, as it tends to constrain the supply. We still need tailored regional services that get people to destinations in the 30- to 70- mile radius around Toronto, without long trip times caused by stopping schedules.

- Paul

Maybe something could be set up where they are only pulling those extra coaches between Toronto and those far terminals. Beyond that, they carry less cars. Even charge aa higher fare between Toronto and those GO stations. I don't doubt that there would be more ridership.

 

[crs1026]

I used to know that some coworkers of mine had had a particularly bad day when they proposed taking VIA home to Georgetown instead of the usual GO train. The issue being, VIA serves alcohol. The fare (and the cost of the beer) discourages doing that every day, but if it has been a bonebreaker of an afternoon....

- Paul

 

[reaperexpress]

If I remember right, 3 of the lines (both Lakeshores and Kitchener) have VIA on them. Could they be considered express service?

Yes, we were just talking about this in the Commuting to Toronto on VIA thread recently.

I used to know that some coworkers of mine had had a particularly bad day when they proposed taking VIA home to Georgetown instead of the usual GO train. The issue being, VIA serves alcohol. The fare (and the cost of the beer) discourages doing that every day, but if it has been a bonebreaker of an afternoon....

It's not as crazy as you might think. A 20-pack of VIA tickets from Toronto to Georgetown costs $11.44 per trip (tax incl), which is only $1.58 more than the $9.86 (tax-exempt) Presto rate for GO. Although it would also preclude daily commuters from GO's volume discount after 35 trips per month, so the net effect might be about $2.50 per trip, considering. If VIA were exempt from sales tax like GO is, the two would actually be the same price.

 

[micheal_can]

Yes, we were just talking about this in the Commuting to Toronto on VIA thread recently.
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It's not as crazy as you might think. A 20-pack of VIA tickets from Toronto to Georgetown costs $11.44 per trip (tax incl), which is only $1.58 more than the $9.86 (tax-exempt) Presto rate for GO. Although it would also preclude daily commuters from GO's volume discount after 35 trips per month, so the net effect might be about $2.50 per trip, considering. If VIA were exempt from sales tax like GO is, the two would actually be the same price.

You know, if you are someone that is a high income earner and you like the fancier things, VIA is the way to go. They really should market it more.

 

[reaperexpress]

You know, if you are someone that is a high income earner and you like the fancier things, VIA is the way to go. They really should market it more.

And it would be pretty easy too given how targeted the audience is. Put up a poster in each of the stations served saying something like:
"Buy in Bulk for big savings!
[This station] to Toronto: [Ticket Price] per trip.
VIA commuter pass - see viarail.ca"
And your job is done.

 

[steveintoronto]

And it would be pretty easy too given how targeted the audience is. Put up a poster in each of the stations served saying something like:
"Buy in Bulk for big savings!
[This station] to Toronto: [Ticket Price] per trip.
VIA commuter pass - see viarail.ca"
And your job is done.

"GO....First Class. (Express yourself today!)"

 

[LNahid2000]

It's not as crazy as you might think. A 20-pack of VIA tickets from Toronto to Georgetown costs $11.44 per trip (tax incl), which is only $1.58 more than the $9.86 (tax-exempt) Presto rate for GO. Although it would also preclude daily commuters from GO's volume discount after 35 trips per month, so the net effect might be about $2.50 per trip, considering. If VIA were exempt from sales tax like GO is, the two would actually be the same price.

Most people can't roll into work at 11am though, so taking VIA from Georgetown isn't very practical.

 

[TOareaFan]

When it was available, I used to buy that GO-Via pack thing. The attraction, to me, was that late evening train home. Now that that does not exist, there would be no value in the pack even if it was still available.

 

[reaperexpress]

Most people can't roll into work at 11am though, so taking VIA from Georgetown isn't very practical.

No, that's why VIA wants to introduce a train that arrives Union around 8:30 and leaves around 16:30 (in addition to the existing 17:40). Currently you'd need to take GO in the morning and VIA only in the afternoon.

 

[TOareaFan]

Someone tweeting about the new off peak service on Stouffville line.

https://twitter.com/htamTO/status/884488810557583360

 

[amnesiajune]

Someone tweeting about the new off peak service on Stouffville line.

Alright... boo hoo. If your complaint is the cut in service from every 30 minutes to every 60 minutes, that's fair. But that tweet is some mix of "the government shouldn't be spending so much money on this" and "the government should be spending more money on this".