ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[Canard]

All is not lost; Ken Hall's "Network" is going to adorn the station entrance, which is probably going to turn this station into the best one along the entire line.

[KevinT]

Still haven't gone up there yet - but I guess this is about the only spot I can think of along the entire line where the public can see the LRV's from above.

UWaterloo — bridge between E3 and E5.

Weber St. overpass.

Possibly the transit hub, once the platforms are installed on the mainline (or now, but only by trespassing, and in a location where I wouldn’t, what with it being the main line and all).

The Conestoga Parkway, for those that dare to fake a breakdown and step out into traffic...  :-)

[danbrotherston]

UWaterloo — bridge between E3 and E5.

Weber St. overpass.

Possibly the transit hub, once the platforms are installed on the mainline (or now, but only by trespassing, and in a location where I wouldn’t, what with it being the main line and all).

The Conestoga Parkway, for those that dare to fake a breakdown and step out into traffic...  :-)

Or convince someone to start a Heart and Stroke style race up the expressway.

[KevinL]

I have to wonder if they installed the signage on the other side too. If they didn't, do they have it ready if the post office building ever comes down?

Answered my own question. There's a surprisingly large gap between that wall and the building, actually.



Bonus: a closeup of the street-facing sign. The canopy glass still has to go in on this segment.

[urbd]

Am I the only one that finds it strange to see the GRT logo on every ION anchor wall? IMO it makes sense to have it at the drivers' facilities at Fairview and Conestoga, but seems unnecessary at every ION station... I do get the rationale that every station is meant to act as a connector between GRT buses and LRT though. But does this make every ION station a GRT stop by default?

[KevinL]

The idea is to reinforce that they are one system, that Ion is just the rapid-transit brand of GRT.

[danbrotherston]

Am I the only one that finds it strange to see the GRT logo on every ION anchor wall? IMO it makes sense to have it at the drivers' facilities at Fairview and Conestoga, but seems unnecessary at every ION station... I do get the rationale that every station is meant to act as a connector between GRT buses and LRT though. But does this make every ION station a GRT stop by default?

Ion *is* GRT....all Ion stops are GRT stops because Ion is a GRT service.

I mean, this is really the heart of the confusion here, so many people, even frequent transit riders seem to think that ION is separate with separate fares, separate system, etc. but that isn't the case.

[KevinL]

[ijmorlan]

Thanks for posting this.

Although I have to admit I found this just as disappointing as the one about what powers the trains (spoiler: it’s electric!). Lose the cute hand-drawn diagrams and show photos of the actual stuff — inside a TPSS, cab view of the control panel, etc. — and give a few technical details such as the actual voltages involved or what the door control looks like. I don’t mean expand to a one-hour technical overview only of interest to technical people; but talk to an audience that actually cares about the technology and might one day want to learn more.

[ijmorlan]

On a somewhat-related note, has anybody else noticed that the trees on the other side of the path in the park are about to be cut down? I guess they’re 10cm or whatever over from where the new line of trees between the pedestrian and cycling paths will be so they have to come out.

Creative planning could have kept both rows of trees. Just pave the existing path as the bicycle path and create a second path parallel to the existing path, using the existing trees to guide placement of the new path.

[Canard]

They have to pick a level to jump in at - I think it's a good trade off. Most people don't care what Keolis or ATC is.

I thought only Anchor Walls with GRT interfaces would get the GRT logo. ie, I wouldn't expect to see a GRT logo on the Allen stop, for example.

(But I know next to nothing about buses or routes)

[KevinL]

There will still be buses going past Allen (the 7, for example).

The one stop that has no planned GRT routes at this time is Laurier - Waterloo Park, but I wouldn't be surprised if that gets revised in some way as there is a problem with a number of the University Avenue routes not directly visiting ANY Ion stops yet.

[Waterlooer]

They really should have moved the Laurier - Waterloo Park stop up to University Ave and then moved the UW stop up to Columbia St. The University routes currently are not connected to any ION station, which isn't good. However, moving some or all of the University routes to Seagram would make those routes slower, and miss the highly used University/Philip stop.

[danbrotherston]

On a somewhat-related note, has anybody else noticed that the trees on the other side of the path in the park are about to be cut down? I guess they’re 10cm or whatever over from where the new line of trees between the pedestrian and cycling paths will be so they have to come out.

Creative planning could have kept both rows of trees. Just pave the existing path as the bicycle path and create a second path parallel to the existing path, using the existing trees to guide placement of the new path.

To be fair, this is not related to LRT, it's related to the park trails, which is strictly a city project.

That being said, I don't believe keeping the trees would have been possible, never minding the impact on trees of paving right up to them, there isn't enough room for the pedestrian trail between the trees and some of the buildings inside the fencing.  Yes, those buildings could have been moved, but that's far more expensive that simply moving a fence a few feet.

[Drake]

They really should have moved the Laurier - Waterloo Park stop up to University Ave and then moved the UW stop up to Columbia St. The University routes currently are not connected to any ION station, which isn't good. However, moving some or all of the University routes to Seagram would make those routes slower, and miss the highly used University/Philip stop.

I understand that ION and GRT are two seperate entities. I continue to ask why?