ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[neonjoe]

What if you just parked on the other side of the mall and walked through it?

[SammyOES]

Like anything they probably don't need a fool proof system. Probably not that many people willing to do that.

It'll almost certainly die down because there's tons of free parking in other places along the route and the # of people riding just for the sake of riding is going to drop off pretty quickly (especially after free rides end).

The University student situation is one case where I could see a long-term issue. But I bet if you enforced it plaza-style around the actual train station you'd kill off 95% of the "abuse" pretty quickly.

[KevinL]

Still very busy out there - two northbound trains in a row between 11 and noon that were standing-room-only. Some real scrambles at the doors at times as people tried to get off or on.

[tomh009]

Still very busy out there - two northbound trains in a row between 11 and noon that were standing-room-only. Some real scrambles at the doors at times as people tried to get off or on.

Lunchtime tourists!

I counted pax on four separate trains (near Kitchener Market) around 6:30 AM, and they averaged maybe 10 people each.

[MidTowner]

There were ~12 on a southbound train around 6:35 at Grand River Hospital, and 18 (including me) on the northbound train at 6:40. That's pretty similar to the 200 on a given weekday at that time.

[danbrotherston]

I was going to say I've never seen a train with fewer than 4x what you're claiming, but then I saw the time, I definitely haven't seen a train that early. Most of the trains I saw between 8 and 10 were pretty full, many people standing, even if a few seats open.

[kalis0490]

Guess I no longer need this!

The ION was still quite crowded at 8pm on Sunday. 10+ people got off at R+T Park station, the station which I expected to have among the lowest ridership.


A significant number of people got on at Frederick and got off at Waterloo Town Square. Mill and Block Line seemed to be that least crowded stations.

As others have said, it feels more like the Disneyland monorail than crosstown rapid transit.

[EdM]

> people riding just for the sake of riding is going to drop off pretty quickly (especially after free rides end).



My trip today (to Vincenzo's for lunch) was opportunistic, although with 90 minutes of travel on one fare (and thus the ability to go there and back) I would do it even if it weren't free. Assuming of course that the kinks are worked out and they can maintain the schedule / headways - my lunch trip included a lot more waiting than expected... we ended up with Toronto style bunching by the time I got off at Victoria Park.



   

[jeffster]

Also, perhaps you misread what I wrote -- if he were to take the bus only, he'd be saving 200 metres. If he took public transportation all the way to work, he'd hop on the bus, be dropped off at an Ion station, get off at the 3rd Ion station, then walk about 200m to the closest Xpress route, wait for that bus, and this would drop him off 400m from his job. Looking at the GRT trip planner, it was almost an hour.

How far from your house is the nearest LRT stop? If he can walk there (a strapping young lad!) that would reduce the commute to a single change, and likely cut out a big chunk of time. Or the nearest iXpress stop?

Minimizing the walking often ends up increasing the travel time.

The walk to the LRT is about 3 km, further than what his work is. The closest Xpress is about 2.5km. I noticed when I re-did the planner today, it no longer showed the Ion as a transfer point, but it would take him to the closest Xpress which he could then hop onto that, after 1 transfer. Though he could walk to avoid a transfer and only have one. They other route had him on one transfer, but time wise it was longer.

Doesn't matter though -- I'll have to pick him up all summer. He'll need to figure out a way there some days, either leave an hour+ before and bus it, or walk the 35 minutes or whatever it might be, or use an UBER or Taxi, since it's slightly less than 3km that cost would be under $10....(or he could use the BIKE that I bought him, but no....)

[ert86]

How far from your house is the nearest LRT stop? If he can walk there (a strapping young lad!) that would reduce the commute to a single change, and likely cut out a big chunk of time. Or the nearest iXpress stop?

Minimizing the walking often ends up increasing the travel time.

The walk to the LRT is about 3 km, further than what his work is. The closest Xpress is about 2.5km.  I noticed when I re-did the planner today, it no longer showed the Ion as a transfer point, but it would take him to the closest Xpress which he could then hop onto that, after 1 transfer. Though he could walk to avoid a transfer and only have one. They other route had him on one transfer, but time wise it was longer.

Doesn't matter though -- I'll have to pick him up all summer. He'll need to figure out a way there some days, either leave an hour+ before and bus it, or walk the 35 minutes or whatever it might be, or use an UBER or Taxi, since it's slightly less than 3km that cost would be under $10....(or he could use the BIKE that I bought him, but no....)

Sounds like laziness to me, I walked 2.2km (20min) almost every Sunday morning to take the earliest 8 for the last 9 years and when it's nice out I'd bike the 25km round trip and I have a nice beer belly going. Time for some tough love.  My biggest issue with the redrawn map is with the elimination of several terminals, now they don't have places in between A and B linger and stay on schedule, so you either make it or wait for the next one.

[KevinT]

My biggest issue with the redrawn map is with the elimination of several terminals, now they don't have places in between A and B linger and stay on schedule, so you either make it or wait for the next one.

I've worried about that too. The closing of the Gaukel terminal with the ION rollout makes sense, but others like Forest Glen don't seem like such an obvious slam dunk to me.

[timio]

Highland Hills was a good move to close with only the 22 using it the past few years. It could have closed years ago by sending 22 around the Highland/Westheights/Queen's block, but oh well.

[KevinL]

Reports all through today of crowded LRVs.

If this continues once fares start being collected, we'd better be ordering more units ASAP.

[Lens]

I've seen about 5 go by this evening through DTK southbound and they have all been crowded.

[tomh009]

Reports all through today of crowded LRVs.

If this continues once fares start being collected, we'd better be ordering more units ASAP.

For sure there will be fewer passengers. Fewer tourists, and others that will choose another transportation method once they have to pay.

The question is how many fewer.