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+--- Thread: Grand River Transit (/showthread.php?tid=13)
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RE: Grand River Transit - Viewfromthe42 - 03-30-2016
Cards are at least as time-consuming and complex as day-passes to purchase, probably more so in the end, which doesn't solve anything. What we want is for a casual decision to take or try transit to be achievable without going anywhere but the bus stop. Yes, buying long-term solutions (monthly passes, card systems that can be loaded and programmed to last you forever) can make sense to be done at fewer and less convenient locations. If you have to make as much effort to ride transit for a day as for a month, there's a problem.
RE: Grand River Transit - KevinL - 03-30-2016
I am reminded of the fare machines on new Toronto streetcars; you can just drop in a token and get a transfer ('POP receipt'), but it also takes cash and can do things like senior or student fares. Those do NOT currently provide day passes (only subway stations and certain fare retailers do), but it seems within the realm of possibility.
RE: Grand River Transit - MacBerry - 03-30-2016
(03-30-2016, 02:11 PM)MidTowner Wrote:(03-30-2016, 10:09 AM)Viewfromthe42 Wrote: I thought that family passes were currently only available for Sundays, not weekends in general? Seems awkward given how we still have many things in the Region which are closed on Sundays, as well as seeing this as the first "showcase" of GRT, being the worst possible service standards.
Weekends and holidays. And, you're right, giving a family its first glimpse of GRT service on a Sunday or a holiday is not a great idea. But I do think the pass is good value.
There's a rather limited number of vendors selling day passes. I guess someone from out of town or new to the system will head to the terminal to get them, but not necessarily. I believe you can buy them in advance and scratch off the date, as taylortbb says and as it works on the TTC.
Maybe the new "Presto" electronic fare system will allow for special pass purchase at a kiosk for GRT use.
Perhaps I am too optimistic for an integrated fare system? 
Did Region choose a system for e-fares yet? 
RE: Grand River Transit - mpd618 - 03-30-2016
(03-30-2016, 09:26 PM)MacBerry Wrote: Maybe the new "Presto" electronic fare system will allow for special pass purchase at a kiosk for GRT use.
Yes, they did. It isn't Presto, but the technology allows for open payments and integration in the future if the Region wants it.
RE: Grand River Transit - Pheidippides - 03-31-2016
So I've been thinking about the planned new bus facility at UW and I am still having trouble wrapping my head around how it will function.
There are two things that seem problematic to me:
1) Depending upon which routes will stop here (7?, 8?, 9?, 12?, 13?, 29?, 31?, 200?, 201?, 202?), at peak times there could easily be 10-12 buses passing through in a 5 minute window and they'll all have to stop at the tracks for a safety check glance then stop at ring road to wait to merge in to traffic to get in and out and do all of this as Ion closes the route every 4 minutes (one train each way every 8 minutes, eventually every 7 minutes) for probably a minute or more (depending when the signals are activated because of the close proximity to the UW station). That's going to add significant travel time.
2) Will buses even safely fit between ring road and the tracks? I think most of the GRT fleet is ~40ft (~12m) and based on scale in diagram (on the left edge of the image) that was in the planning document it looks like it is only 13m from stopping line at the tracks back to ring road (east bound) and only 12m from the stopping line at ring road back to where the signals are shown (westbound) (or about 14.5m from stopping line at ring road back to the tracks (westbound). So, even if a bus can fit between ring road and the tracks it will regularly be blocking the laurel trail for trail users and if GRT ever acquires articulated buses (60ft/19m?), which seems to be the plan with the new Northfield facility being planned to accommodate them, they definitely won't fit and probably couldn't be used on routes passing through this station (many of which could probably be a good fit for articulated). And, because of the volume of buses passing through they will also likely end up queueing on ring road and blocking traffic flow there as well as they wait to cross the tracks.
Thoughts?
RE: Grand River Transit - nms - 04-01-2016
Since the UW station is right there, my guess is that there might need to be a priority signal on the Ring Road. If a bus arrives at the crossing, it waits until the train goes through. Then, future trains are held while that bus goes through. That bridge is also a pedestrian pinch point to cross the campus to it could be quite the busy intersection.
RE: Grand River Transit - BuildingScout - 04-03-2016
Mississauga is straightening their routes and increasing bus frequencies, more than ten years after Grand River Transit and seven years after Oakville, both of which reported increased riderships after similar changes.
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/transportation/2016/04/03/mississauga-moves-to-make-transit-competitive-with-the-car.html
http://www7.mississauga.ca/documents/miway/miwayfive/TTR_Final%20Report_ExecSum2015-11-03.pdf
RE: Grand River Transit - D40LF - 04-04-2016
We straightened our routes ten years ago?
O.o
RE: Grand River Transit - Viewfromthe42 - 04-04-2016
(04-04-2016, 01:27 AM)D40LF Wrote: We straightened our routes ten years ago?
O.o
We make slow progress. We hear that people want reliable service to get to multiple destinations, which meant moving from a hub-and-spoke, door-to-door system, towards a grid system. But people get concerned about inconvenience of change, and so we do change slowly. The result is that the intermediate phase can be less useful for many than either the beginning or the end phase, doubly so for those who want to live near transit and have to cope with multiple shifting patterns of routes that can make these choices perilous and impermanent.
It's a Band-Aid. Rip it off in one go.
RE: Grand River Transit - MidTowner - 04-04-2016
(04-04-2016, 07:56 AM)Viewfromthe42 Wrote: We make slow progress. We hear that people want reliable service to get to multiple destinations, which meant moving from a hub-and-spoke, door-to-door system, towards a grid system. But people get concerned about inconvenience of change, and so we do change slowly. The result is that the intermediate phase can be less useful for many than either the beginning or the end phase, doubly so for those who want to live near transit and have to cope with multiple shifting patterns of routes that can make these choices perilous and impermanent.
It's a Band-Aid. Rip it off in one go.
Hear, hear.
Incremental changes to routings make residential decisions difficult. Moving to a grid is sensible: doing it slowly, though, means that people aren’t sure if a given neighbourhood will have good transit in the long term (keeping in mind Jarrett Walker’s “be on the way” principle is probably a good idea).
I am really hoping that the changes to routing when Ion starts running are thorough.
RE: Grand River Transit - BuildingScout - 04-04-2016
The iXpress routes are a key component of moving to a more streamlined system. First offer a point to point set of routes, then straighten routes and rationalize the number of stops. This has been an ongoing process for a while.
RE: Grand River Transit - MidTowner - 04-04-2016
Agreed: it has been happening for several years. We’re moving closer and closer to a really logical network. I also think it’s great that GRT has broadcast its plans for future iXpress routes, and then acted on them. For a long time, it could probably be surmised that Victoria and Ottawa would get that service, but now in the case of the latter, people can be fairly confident that there will be service there soon, and make decisions accordingly.
RE: Grand River Transit - MidTowner - 04-07-2016
Starting in a few weeks, GRT is piloting bus service between the Boardwalk and New Hamburg.
Here's hoping it's found to be successful.
RE: Grand River Transit - D40LF - 04-07-2016
Seeing how the 21 Elmira struggled to meet minimum ridership requirements, I have no hope for this.
RE: Grand River Transit - timc - 04-07-2016
(04-07-2016, 07:32 PM)D40LF Wrote: Seeing how the 21 Elmira struggled to meet minimum ridership requirements, I have no hope for this.
I have to agree. Best of luck, but there are fewer people living in New Hamburg than Elmira. There also isn't anything like the St Jacobs market to draw people out of town.