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General Business Updates and News
(01-11-2024, 03:25 PM)neonjoe Wrote: https://www.grt.ca/en/about-grt/performa...sures.aspx
Ridership has been increasing, the busses and LRT are packed on most days. The limiting factor right now isn’t cleanliness but speed as well as our built urban form. For a small-mid size system specifically in a region with multiple disconnected cores our transit system fairs very well based on North american standards. It could be better, but it’s definitely not terrible.

When the LRT has a 2-car train every 2 minutes, then we can talk about grade-separating strategically-chosen parts of the line. Until then, any talk of “a subway” is nonsense.
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(01-11-2024, 04:09 PM)taylortbb Wrote: GRT is clean (a lot cleaner that the TTC, MTA, etc, which undeniably have high ridership). Reliability is pretty good (could be better, but again, it's not any worse than the TTC, MTA, etc). But compared to driving it's undeniably slow.

GRT is slow, but so is STM (Montreal), compared to best-case driving times. I actually don't know any transit systems which generally do better than best-case driving times. Usually you don't have the random inconveniences of driving like traffic and lack of parking, though, when you take transit.
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(01-12-2024, 12:03 AM)plam Wrote:
(01-11-2024, 04:09 PM)taylortbb Wrote: GRT is clean (a lot cleaner that the TTC, MTA, etc, which undeniably have high ridership). Reliability is pretty good (could be better, but again, it's not any worse than the TTC, MTA, etc). But compared to driving it's undeniably slow.

GRT is slow, but so is STM (Montreal), compared to best-case driving times. I actually don't know any transit systems which generally do better than best-case driving times. Usually you don't have the random inconveniences of driving like traffic and lack of parking, though, when you take transit.

New York City subway, I’m pretty sure. London. Paris. Parts of Toronto. Well, maybe not “best case” but that is a theoretical construct only available in the real world at about 3 AM when you probably have no interest in going.
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(01-12-2024, 01:08 AM)ijmorlan Wrote:
(01-12-2024, 12:03 AM)plam Wrote: GRT is slow, but so is STM (Montreal), compared to best-case driving times. I actually don't know any transit systems which generally do better than best-case driving times. Usually you don't have the random inconveniences of driving like traffic and lack of parking, though, when you take transit.

New York City subway, I’m pretty sure. London. Paris. Parts of Toronto. Well, maybe not “best case” but that is a theoretical construct only available in the real world at about 3 AM when you probably have no interest in going.

Also intercity trains can often beat or match driving because of their higher speed. But for local transit, basically anywhere that has prioritized unfettered driving will always make driving faster, and rush hour terrible. It’s literally an economic axiom.
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(01-12-2024, 01:08 AM)ijmorlan Wrote:
(01-12-2024, 12:03 AM)plam Wrote: GRT is slow, but so is STM (Montreal), compared to best-case driving times. I actually don't know any transit systems which generally do better than best-case driving times. Usually you don't have the random inconveniences of driving like traffic and lack of parking, though, when you take transit.

New York City subway, I’m pretty sure. London. Paris. Parts of Toronto. Well, maybe not “best case” but that is a theoretical construct only available in the real world at about 3 AM when you probably have no interest in going.

Tokyo subway/JR is typically faster than driving/taking a taxi, unless your journey involves a lot of transfers or a big detour due to lack of connections between the train lines.

However, comparing Tokyo to Waterloo Region is silly.
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Residents urge Cambridge council to limit proposed 5.8 per cent tax hike: https://www.cambridgetimes.ca/news/resid...3a5dd.html
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(01-12-2024, 01:10 PM)tomh009 Wrote:
(01-12-2024, 01:08 AM)ijmorlan Wrote: New York City subway, I’m pretty sure. London. Paris. Parts of Toronto. Well, maybe not “best case” but that is a theoretical construct only available in the real world at about 3 AM when you probably have no interest in going.

Tokyo subway/JR is typically faster than driving/taking a taxi, unless your journey involves a lot of transfers or a big detour due to lack of connections between the train lines.

However, comparing Tokyo to Waterloo Region is silly.

I mean, is there a transit system that is always faster than driving? No, obviously not. Are there specific trips where transit is faster than driving. Obviously yes, for the same reason, even in KW it is likely true.
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(02-08-2024, 02:04 AM)danbrotherston Wrote:
(01-12-2024, 01:10 PM)tomh009 Wrote: Tokyo subway/JR is typically faster than driving/taking a taxi, unless your journey involves a lot of transfers or a big detour due to lack of connections between the train lines.

However, comparing Tokyo to Waterloo Region is silly.

I mean, is there a transit system that is always faster than driving? No, obviously not. Are there specific trips where transit is faster than driving. Obviously yes, for the same reason, even in KW it is likely true.

Even I haven't found a transit trip on GRT that is faster than driving. Though I count convenience and practicality by more than just a ridiculously simplistic metric of time taken.
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(02-11-2024, 11:34 PM)Bytor Wrote:
(02-08-2024, 02:04 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: I mean, is there a transit system that is always faster than driving? No, obviously not. Are there specific trips where transit is faster than driving. Obviously yes, for the same reason, even in KW it is likely true.

Even I haven't found a transit trip on GRT that is faster than driving. Though I count convenience and practicality by more than just a ridiculously simplistic metric of time 

Uptown mall to Waterloo park petting zoo is a good bet. but yes, in Waterloo they are rare due to our a) massive investment in roads and b) limited investment in transit which doesn’t get stuck in transit. 

Obviously there can only be faster transit trips when transit isn’t stuck in traffic. Which is one reason why so much of our country doesn’t believe transit can ever be faster.

Its also worth noting that google maps lies about car travel times so it won’t actually tell you which is faster. And I do mean lies, because it only counts time driving, not parking, or walking to/from your car. Which of course it includes this time for transit.
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(02-12-2024, 02:08 AM)danbrotherston Wrote:
(02-11-2024, 11:34 PM)Bytor Wrote: Even I haven't found a transit trip on GRT that is faster than driving. Though I count convenience and practicality by more than just a ridiculously simplistic metric of time 

Uptown mall to Waterloo park petting zoo is a good bet. but yes, in Waterloo they are rare due to our a) massive investment in roads and b) limited investment in transit which doesn’t get stuck in transit. 

Obviously there can only be faster transit trips when transit isn’t stuck in traffic. Which is one reason why so much of our country doesn’t believe transit can ever be faster.

Its also worth noting that google maps lies about car travel times so it won’t actually tell you which is faster. And I do mean lies, because it only counts time driving, not parking, or walking to/from your car. Which of course it includes this time for transit.

Also again going to point out that (e)bikes are often the fastest way to get around anything that one should consider a city. (Is Waterloo a city? Well...)
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(02-12-2024, 05:28 PM)plam Wrote:
(02-12-2024, 02:08 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: Uptown mall to Waterloo park petting zoo is a good bet. but yes, in Waterloo they are rare due to our a) massive investment in roads and b) limited investment in transit which doesn’t get stuck in transit. 

Obviously there can only be faster transit trips when transit isn’t stuck in traffic. Which is one reason why so much of our country doesn’t believe transit can ever be faster.

Its also worth noting that google maps lies about car travel times so it won’t actually tell you which is faster. And I do mean lies, because it only counts time driving, not parking, or walking to/from your car. Which of course it includes this time for transit.

Also again going to point out that (e)bikes are often the fastest way to get around anything that one should consider a city. (Is Waterloo a city? Well...)

This is a good addition but I’m going to throw escooters (the lime things but one you own) into contention. At least for short trips they’re faster because you can carry them into your destination saving on parking time.

One thing the Dutch have done very well on is reducing the parking time for bikes. Wheel locks+ very accessible racks + smartly equipped bike cargo means I can be off my bike an in a door in less than 15 seconds sometimes, where as in Canada between fumbling with a u lock, unhooking panniers, and less convenient parking it’s often more like 1-2 minutes and if there is protected parking, which is nice, it can be even 3-5 minutes to get down into the secure parking area and then back out. It’s why I used a kick scooter (the non e kind) for going to work when my work was a 1-2 minute bike ride away. Yeah, the ride was a bit longer but the end of trip time was way shorter.
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(02-13-2024, 01:58 AM)danbrotherston Wrote:
(02-12-2024, 05:28 PM)plam Wrote: Also again going to point out that (e)bikes are often the fastest way to get around anything that one should consider a city. (Is Waterloo a city? Well...)

This is a good addition but I’m going to throw escooters (the lime things but one you own) into contention. At least for short trips they’re faster because you can carry them into your destination saving on parking time.

One thing the Dutch have done very well on is reducing the parking time for bikes. Wheel locks+ very accessible racks + smartly equipped bike cargo means I can be off my bike an in a door in less than 15 seconds sometimes, where as in Canada between fumbling with a u lock, unhooking panniers, and less convenient parking it’s often more like 1-2 minutes and if there is protected parking, which is nice, it can be even 3-5 minutes to get down into the secure parking area and then back out. It’s why I used a kick scooter (the non e kind) for going to work when my work was a 1-2 minute bike ride away. Yeah, the ride was a bit longer but the end of trip time was way shorter.

Fair enough. Even in 2016 there were tons of people in suits riding kick scooters around Zurich. Bikes are faster than parking but slower than scooters. (I never use panniers but I guess they're slower).
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