ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[Bytor]

Don't know where else to post this, but anyways.

After repeated emailing council members and Regional staff of an answer on why LRT service was cut for the summer, I got a bounce back from Peter Zinck's email address. Apparently he has retired as the Director of Transit Services and the new person is now Neil Malcolm.

I can imagine this post-it note on the monitor in Peter 's old office that Neil now gets warning him of me. ;-)

[ac3r]

Everybody should be flooding Redman and Galloway's emails asking why LRT service cuts were done.

I managed to get an answer: https://www.waterlooregionconnected.com/...#pid103267

[Bob_McBob]

I managed to get an answer: https://www.waterlooregionconnected.com/...#pid103267

What was the answer?

[ac3r]

I managed to get an answer: https://www.waterlooregionconnected.com/...#pid103267

What was the answer?

I was joking. I figured they'll just give some nonsense reply that they had to do it for ___________. A "trust us bro it had to be done" statement. Them reducing services but without providing a reason says all they had planed to ever say.

[Acitta]

Everybody should be flooding Redman and Galloway's emails asking why LRT service cuts were done.

I hardly ever take the ION since I mostly ebike everywhere. When I do use transit, it is more convenient for me to take the #16 to uptown or the #6 back home if I am at Fairway Station.

[plam]

Everybody should be flooding Redman and Galloway's emails asking why LRT service cuts were done.

I hardly ever take the ION since I mostly ebike everywhere. When I do use transit, it is more convenient for me to take the #16 to uptown or the #6 back home if I am at Fairway Station.

Indeed. Things aren't really that far apart for me in the region. But, from my selfish perspective, it is still useful as a backup I guess.

[Bytor]

So I got email from Neil Malcolm, Peter Zinck's replacement, saying the following:

Hi Cory – we always reduce GRT services (bus and ION since it’s inception in 2019 as part of the original approved ION service plans) in the summer months due to lower demand (school is out, more people are on vacation, etc.).  This practice overall has long been in place and this is a standard practice across the transit industry.



More frequent services will resume in September and Regional Council has approved the restoration of additional services (reduced during Covid) that will added back into place in stages in fall and winter to manage increasing ridership and improve service frequency.



I hope this helps,

Neil

Of course that's BS. In 2019 they kept 10 minute headways all summer, and 2020 and 2021 were covid-19 anomalies where service was reduce outside of summer time.

I pointed out that lack of summer service reduction in 2019 but I have yet to get a response to that.

[neonjoe]

The higher summer 2019 service could have been due to iON having just launched. There were likely a lot of additional riders using it just for the novelty.

[danbrotherston]

The higher summer 2019 service could have been due to iON having just launched. There were likely a lot of additional riders using it just for the novelty.

I'm sure there were lots of novelty riders at the beginning, during the free period, but I don't think anyone is going to pay and board daily for the novelty of it, without riding it somewhere.

[Bob_McBob]

I'm actually starting to wonder if regional councillors even understand what "normal" ION service is anymore. In the ION update report staff prepared for council in May 2021, they described the level of service they planned to deliver from April to August as "92% of normal service levels" and only a minimal reduction of what had been delivered in Q4 2020.

[bravado]

I know I'm preaching to the choir but imagine if we had a government that saw a new expensive road only getting 75% of its capacity, would they close a lane or plan to make it smaller in the next upgrade cycle? Hell no.

[ijmorlan]

The higher summer 2019 service could have been due to iON having just launched. There were likely a lot of additional riders using it just for the novelty.

I'm sure there were lots of novelty riders at the beginning, during the free period, but I don't think anyone is going to pay and board daily for the novelty of it, without riding it somewhere.

During the free period I rode the entire system almost daily. Since then, only occasionally (I’m within biking/walking distance of my work, and for most of the time I haven’t been going in to the office anyway).

[ijmorlan]

I know I'm preaching to the choir but imagine if we had a government that saw a new expensive road only getting 75% of its capacity, would they close a lane or plan to make it smaller in the next upgrade cycle? Hell no.

There are 4-lane roads all over the city that have sat there for decades, never even coming close to needing all their lanes, even under the assumption that vehicular demand for free roads must be satisfied.

So yeah, you’re right.

[sevenman]

I know I'm preaching to the choir but imagine if we had a government that saw a new expensive road only getting 75% of its capacity, would they close a lane or plan to make it smaller in the next upgrade cycle? Hell no.

Block Line, King St. Waterloo, Davenport, Westheights are just a few off the top of my head that had lane reductions.  If the ION was even close to 75% capacity, I think we'd all be happier.

[sevenman]

I know I'm preaching to the choir but imagine if we had a government that saw a new expensive road only getting 75% of its capacity, would they close a lane or plan to make it smaller in the next upgrade cycle? Hell no.

There are 4-lane roads all over the city that have sat there for decades, never even coming close to needing all their lanes, even under the assumption that vehicular demand for free roads must be satisfied.

So yeah, you’re right.

Can you name some of these roads?...that have sat for decades.  Just curious.