[drum118]

ahrvojic

Good comparison.

Couple things that needed to be pointed out:

You are in walking distance and that only helps a small number of riders using GO in the first place that and it does not have an extra cost other using GO and TTC. If you use MT outside of your Toronto run, then that cost comes into play.

GO trains only run one way at peak with off peak time service by bus.

GO does not offer opposite direction service at peak time for not only for the Milton Line, but most of their routes while local transit does.

Extra traveling time is added for GO, since they are using local roads as well the hwy during off peak time.

GO only offer 30 minutes service for off peak time with some express buses to/from Toronto from Cooksville.

I am assuming you are either using MT #3 route, #1, #19 or possibly #28 into/from Toronto.

Route #3 sees 20 minutes for off peak time while #1 sees 10 minutes. #19 increases by 2 minutes while #28 runs every 22 minutes

You get better service on route #1 for all day as well catching an express bus a peak time.

Using a GTA pass for local service is the way to go if you are traveling 5 days a week into/from Toronto since TTC weekly pass is to expensive in the first place. It reduces your travel cost also. It allows you to do other trips in Toronto, Mississauga or the other systems areas at no additional cost and I like that. This will be one of the first things to go bye bye under the one fare structure.

You are $40 ahead per month by using the GTA pass based on your figures.

Using GO monthly pass is $145.
TTC fare for 20 weeks per month is $80 or $96 for 5 week month.
MT addition cost using GO pass is $21.
Total cost is $246 -$262.

Using GTA pass per month based on a 4 week month is $165 or $206.25 for 5 weeks.

Total saving is $81 - $97/month for you by using local transit or $972 - $1164 a year and that is no pocket change.

You got to look at peak time and off peak time for service as well traveling time for both systems for comparison as it does play a big part how one travels.

 

[ahrvojic]

^ 30 minutes from Islington to Davisville including waiting for both trains seems unfair when you're including the 5 minute wait for the GO train and a seemingly long 8 minute walk + wait at Union. Which route is more reliable? Does one vary wildly more than the other?

You're right; that the total times work out to be the same is more coincidental in my case. I didn't want to ignore getting to a GO station since for most people that can be inconvenient (even costly) and my case is unusually good as drum118 points out. As for Union, 8 min does seem long, but the more I think about it, that seems to be the actual time! The concourse is pretty crowded and has flow problems into the subway/PATH.

As for Islington-Davisville, it could be closer to 35 min on the subway, but the last time I tried it, MT was about 5 min faster than the schedule anyway.

I haven't taken the MT/Islington route often enough to get a feel for the variance in travel time yet, but having been on the GO for the last 5 years or so (on the Milton line, but not from Cooksville the whole time), I know that the train is very reliable on the whole and I have to admit (cdl42 rightly got me on this one) the freezing switches problem hasn't been as bad on the Milton line in the last couple winters and hopefully that's not just because this past winter was milder. When the GO is delayed, it's usually a huge delay, but that happens rarely.

 

[AlchemisTO]

Cdl,

Very good analogy.

I always thought Toronto deserved some sort of S-bahn/Suburban rail system. Outside of NYC and Philly, North America seems to be alone in the world in not having embraced this sort of transit mode. Even cities far poorer than us like Mumbai, Rio de Janeiro and Johannesburg have extensive electric suburban systems that are faster, cheaper and more effective at traveling long distances than subways.

 

[samsonyuen]

^I agree. It seems that this type of S-bahn isn't in the minds of those in charge though.