Grand River Transit

[Canard]

Ah … simpler in the sense that there is one fewer variant to service.

Oh, shoot - gotcha. Totally copy that, one less "Type" of thing to learn how to maintain...

I've heard this is why Southwest flies only the exact same type of plane.

[tomh009]

I've heard this is why Southwest flies only the exact same type of plane.

Southwest, and a lot of other airlines, including (until recently) WestJet. Simpler maintenance, fewer spares, plus the pilots only need to be trained and certified on one type of plane.

[danbrotherston]

Moreover, this is why airplane manufacturers try to share components and flight certifications between similar models.

[nms]

U-Passes are paid through the college/university ancillary fees and not the student union fees which I believe will be unaffected by the changes

I'm not really seeing the distinction between the Feds fee, Feds administered fee, and student services fee in this respect. They just happen to be bundled that way at UW. The PCs have left universities mostly in the dark about what will be deemed a "non-essential" service that students must be allowed to opt out of. Most of the examples fall under the student services fee, not the Feds (student union) fee.

The latest reporting that I saw was that only athletics and safety (eg WalkSafe) fees would be ineligible for opting out. Everything else could be affected. Windsor sought clarification and seems to think that their U-Pass would be a candidate for opting-out.

[ijmorlan]

I'm not really seeing the distinction between the Feds fee, Feds administered fee, and student services fee in this respect. They just happen to be bundled that way at UW. The PCs have left universities mostly in the dark about what will be deemed a "non-essential" service that students must be allowed to opt out of. Most of the examples fall under the student services fee, not the Feds (student union) fee.

The latest reporting that I saw was that only athletics and safety (eg WalkSafe) fees would be ineligible for opting out. Everything else could be affected. Windsor sought clarification and seems to think that their U-Pass would be a candidate for opting-out.

What’s so special about athletics, that it should be non-opt-out?

Bad question, I know, because the question pre-supposes good faith and rational thought on the part of the current government.

[danbrotherston]

The latest reporting that I saw was that only athletics and safety (eg WalkSafe) fees would be ineligible for opting out. Everything else could be affected. Windsor sought clarification and seems to think that their U-Pass would be a candidate for opting-out.

What’s so special about athletics, that it should be non-opt-out?

Bad question, I know, because the question pre-supposes good faith and rational thought on the part of the current government.

The right lobbyist/is Ford's friend....I do recall one of the Fords commandeering a TTC bus to transport his schools football team...

The next time a PC voter says the words "corruption" just smack them upside the head.

If the UPass becomes opt-out, the UPass is done.  This could be very bad for the region...

Ugh, Ford is far worse than I had feared.

[Bob_McBob]

Is Mayor Jaworsky really this out of touch with how to ride a bus?

https://www.therecord.com/news-story/914...d-for-lrt/

Waterloo Mayor Dave Jaworsky questioned the need for a new trip planner considering buses will be coming along more often to stops.

"It's so frequent, you really don't need the trip planner," Jaworsky said.

[Rainrider22]

Is Mayor Jaworsky really this out of touch with how to ride a bus?

https://www.therecord.com/news-story/914...d-for-lrt/

Waterloo Mayor Dave Jaworsky questioned the need for a new trip planner considering buses will be coming along more often to stops.

"It's so frequent, you really don't need the trip planner," Jaworsky said.

I am willing to bet he hasn't taken transit unless it was for an photoop....  That was an off side comment for sure...

[danbrotherston]

Is Mayor Jaworsky really this out of touch with how to ride a bus?

https://www.therecord.com/news-story/914...d-for-lrt/

Waterloo Mayor Dave Jaworsky questioned the need for a new trip planner considering buses will be coming along more often to stops.

"It's so frequent, you really don't need the trip planner," Jaworsky said.

This absolutely should be the goal, transit should be so frequent you don't need a schedule.

But we aren't there yet, even on the most frequent routes we're only approaching that point at rush hour, most routes are still far from it.

That being said, we don't need a new trip planner, namely, we don't need to pay eSolutions Group for more trash software, just make region's public standard data feed work really well so that Google Maps and whoever else wants to consume the feed can give a great experience.

[KevinL]

So the Jan 29 P&W agenda is up: https://calendar.regionofwaterloo.ca/Cou...e3010e7da8

Page 74 has the revised bus routes at Ion launch. Nothing too different from what we've seen; there's still no word on the 202 corresponding with Ion ('negotiations with UW continue') and there's a small revision to route 3 (between Alpine and Strasburg it diverts off Ottawa to take Kingswood).

[Bob_McBob]

What's the latest on that bus terminal that was supposed to be built beside UW years ago?

[KevinL]

It's very much in these plans, so they better get round to building it...

[trainspotter139]

What's the latest on that bus terminal that was supposed to be built beside UW years ago?

They are still negotiating with the university on it. GRT wants something that can integrate all the university routes with ION while the university seems to be wanting to limit the number of buses on Ring Rd.

[robdrimmie]

Page 74 has the revised bus routes at Ion launch. Nothing too different from what we've seen; there's still no word on the 202 corresponding with Ion ('negotiations with UW continue') and there's a small revision to route 3 (between Alpine and Strasburg it diverts off Ottawa to take Kingswood).

The route maps on GRT's site have also been updated: https://www.grt.ca/en/about-grt/bus-serv...s-ion.aspx

That revision to route 3 is ultimately good I think - it's great for me personally, it will go right past my house - but I don't think it really satisfies the stated goal of maintaining service provided by the 11. I'm already pretty close to Alpine and Ottawa, and it's a mostly reasonably walk for the entire stretch of Kingswood already. The areas most impacted by removing the 11 are further down Kingswood closer to Block Line. They'll have to go up to Strausberg to get to the 16 and Selkirk is a long and windy* street. And f they're going downtown they'll have to transfer now, though they can hop on the Ion at Mill pretty easily.

Somehow I missed entirely how great Route 16 is going to be for me. I go to Belmont Village erratically and it's an irritating swap to the 8. And a direct ride to Uptown will occasionally be useful. It very much widens the areas of town that I can get to without transferring, so for me at least it's a very strong improvement.

It is absolutely the case that for the first little while at least I'll go out of my way to get to the ION to go uptown though.

* wine-dee like a coil, not win-dee like a breeze

[KevinL]

The southern parts of Kingswood will also be able to get the extended 201 on Block Line, and connect to Ion at Block Line station.