[OT] Public Transit

[Lennart Sorensen]

On Thu, Oct 28, 2010 at 05:00:34PM -0400, Evan Leibovitch wrote:
> They work with what they have. Unlike in Europe and Japan, commuter rail
> here has always had to deal with limtations of working with and alongside
> freight-train lines. GO is trying to increase capacity to the Georgetown
> line to give that northwest service similar capacity and times to the
> lakeshore line. But neighborhood opposition in Weston has impeded progress.

One would think the people in Weston would appreciate getting some
decent service.

> In any case, there are not trainfuls of commuters going from downtown to
> Markham in the morning, so there is bus service from Union station, but now
> that area is best served by GO bus service to Finch station, York University
> and Scarborough Centre (and will soon be complemented by a VIVA LRT on
> highway 7). It's nice to see GO taking advantage of highway 407 from Oshawa
> to Hamilton, as an alternative to going through downtown. In some cases,
> fares for service on that line are less than the 407 tolls alone (or so it
> seems).

And which decade can we expect VIVA to have an LRT?  For years they have
talked about dedicated bus lanes on highway 7, when did they suddenly
start talking about LRTs?

> Its also in other areas -- payment methods, station upgrades, other
> intangibles and even car design -- where I think GO does very well.
> 
> If it's the worst train system you've seen, you need to get out more ;-)

At least montreal seems to run commuter trains without the issue
of freight trains, and they run service both ways.  GO is already running
the trains back out for the next run in, why NOT carry passengers
both ways?

-- 
Len Sorensen
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