(01-31-2020, 01:33 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: [ -> ]The free weekends in February is a bit of a weird offering. First, they say "10 days" which means they're also including the first of March.
Weekends free is nice and all, but they benefit people not strongly impacted (like myself), but also don't benefit people substantially impacted (those who have transit passes or who commute work days only), I'm sure (or I really hope they are watching) they see it as an experiment into ridership. I already pay the least for transit on the weekends because of the family pass, although it will be nice not to have to use our garbage unreliable fare machines to struggle to buy a pass. But none the less, I already hear people complaining about the free weekends, it just seems bizarre.
I would have suggested making one week free in Feb, and pro-rating Feb passes by a quarter, as fairer for people.
They are including Family Day in the weekends
(01-31-2020, 02:31 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: [ -> ]Yes, and the payments come off your paycheque. In the past this also meant that the pass was perpetual, instead of being a new piece of paper every month.
I think I understand why they do it — they just get a big monthly amount from UW, for example, rather than a bunch of individual payments. However, from the rider point of view, it would be better to just have a discount for signing up for a monthly pass paid by PAD like ones utilities etc., without tying it to the employer.
My corporate pass doesn't come off my paycheque. I have an EasyGO card, and the only difference are that there is a discounted price when I load the monthly pass on the EasyGO site, and that my fare card has my photo on it. I'm not sure why there is a photo--maybe to prevent sharing--but drivers never look at it anyway.
Before the fare cards, there was a different pass, but even then there were 3-, 6-, or 12-month options.
(01-31-2020, 02:31 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: [ -> ] (01-31-2020, 11:56 AM)Momo26 Wrote: [ -> ]How does one get a corporate membership? Your employer has to enroll with GRT or something? I would like to pay less if I can.
Yes, and the payments come off your paycheque. In the past this also meant that the pass was perpetual, instead of being a new piece of paper every month.
I think I understand why they do it — they just get a big monthly amount from UW, for example, rather than a bunch of individual payments. However, from the rider point of view, it would be better to just have a discount for signing up for a monthly pass paid by PAD like ones utilities etc., without tying it to the employer.
That's up to the corporation. I pay for my pass directly and expense it, in large part because I'm only a seasonal transit user (slash fair weather cyclist) so this option saves both me and my employer money.
(01-31-2020, 02:32 PM)KevinL Wrote: [ -> ]There's a form for getting your pass discount: https://forms.grt.ca/January-monthly-pass-refund
This should be applied to everyone who bought a January pass automatically. I'm going to make a t-shirt "GRT does not compute" or something, I can't even express how frustrated I am with their repeated demonstrations of their complete lack of software competence or concern for riders.
Edit to add: In fairness, this form does allow me to add the refund as stored value so it's not entirely garbage.
(01-31-2020, 02:54 PM)timc Wrote: [ -> ] (01-31-2020, 02:31 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: [ -> ]Yes, and the payments come off your paycheque. In the past this also meant that the pass was perpetual, instead of being a new piece of paper every month.
I think I understand why they do it — they just get a big monthly amount from UW, for example, rather than a bunch of individual payments. However, from the rider point of view, it would be better to just have a discount for signing up for a monthly pass paid by PAD like ones utilities etc., without tying it to the employer.
My corporate pass doesn't come off my paycheque. I have an EasyGO card, and the only difference are that there is a discounted price when I load the monthly pass on the EasyGO site, and that my fare card has my photo on it. I'm not sure why there is a photo--maybe to prevent sharing--but drivers never look at it anyway.
Before the fare cards, there was a different pass, but even then there were 3-, 6-, or 12-month options.
So you have to go to the EasyGO site explicitly every month to do it? That seems pointless. I should have said I was basing it on my experience when I had a corporate pass — I signed up at a session on campus at UW, they gave me a card, and every following month the price was taken off my pay. Very convenient — the pass just kept working with no special maintenance.
The only reason I can see to tie it to certain employers is if it is done as payroll deduction. If it’s done any other way, it should be open to everybody. And automatic debit should definitely be an option.
(01-31-2020, 03:26 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: [ -> ]So you have to go to the EasyGO site explicitly every month to do it? That seems pointless.
You can set the pass to auto renew just like a normal monthly pass.
(01-31-2020, 03:26 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: [ -> ]The only reason I can see to tie it to certain employers is if it is done as payroll deduction. If it’s done any other way, it should be open to everybody. And automatic debit should definitely be an option.
The discount only available for employers that pay in to TravelWise, which has a sliding scale for cost based on number of employees. So it's sort of a non-taxable benefit way for employers to subsidize employee's transit passes (and other things, like the carpool matching and emergency ride home).
Be mindful - if you plan to buy Monthly passes for the foreseeable future (and don't really know when your next pay-as-you-use month will be), take the refund (credit, debit or cash). Either way at least it will be there but you won't want to use stored value next month if the pass still makes better financial sense.
I still want my 10 free days as the first 10 weekdays of February....
Has anybody heard anything about the UW transit plaza recently?
I haven't heard anything recently, no. I do know that work was delayed by an unexpectedly-located fibre-optic cable that had to be worked around.
I did see some equipment moving on the site last month, but not much recently.
New Conestoga College Bus Station has been unveiled on EngageWR.
New station will have canopies, covered bike shelter, heated shelters, scheduling display panels, charging stations and emergency call buttons.
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(02-11-2020, 03:47 PM)trainspotter139 Wrote: [ -> ]New Conestoga College Bus Station has been unveiled on EngageWR.
New station will have canopies, covered bike shelter, heated shelters, scheduling display panels, charging stations and emergency call buttons.
How do you folks feel about this? It seems like the original design is best (and they should be able to squeeze in more platforms), the first design is better, and the proposed design is the worst. It is the farthest from most of the buildings, and faces onto the back of those buildings. But I don't go to the school so I don't really know.
Additionally, I thought the region was stopping the zipper platforms because they don't accomodate articulated buses.
Also, I'm not sure if this in scope for this project, but the MUT should not be curb faced, and worse, all of the driveway accesses are unnecessarily wide, this is more obvious than ever before because the turn radii are wider on the driveway than on the bus depot. And for that matter, why does the bus depot have any corner radii heading east towards the dead end?
It looks like two of the platforms show articulated buses at them, so I presume it's not a problem after all?
Yet there is not a single articulated bus in the fleet, am I correct?
You are correct but the new Northfield Garage is being designed to handle and service them.