Grand River Transit

[danbrotherston]

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

Sidebar:

I thought about this for several minutes, I think the word you're looking for is "winding".  But I realize I say wine-dee all the time, without realizing that winding is probably the right word.

[Viewfromthe42]

Now the question is whether Google Maps will update their transit directions on the same day as GRT, or if that will lead to frustrations until it updates.

[robdrimmie]

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.

That's a good point, thanks. I didn't think to look at the 201. I still think most of our neighbours are getting the short end of the stick, but I am glad that it is not as severe as the original plan.

[robdrimmie]

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

Sidebar:

I thought about this for several minutes, I think the word you're looking for is "winding".  But I realize I say wine-dee all the time, without realizing that winding is probably the right word.

That is 100% correct! Thank you for adding that.

[trainspotter139]

Now the question is whether Google Maps will update their transit directions on the same day as GRT, or if that will lead to frustrations until it updates.

It hasn't been an issue the last few service changes. But it really depends on how swamped the GRT Open Data APIs are on launch day

[robdrimmie]

Now the question is whether Google Maps will update their transit directions on the same day as GRT, or if that will lead to frustrations until it updates.

GRT publishes data using Google Transit Feed Specification, which includes dates in which different services are active. I just downloaded the current batch and it looks to include information through to the end of April. Google states they prefer weekly updates, so there's plenty of lead time to publish updated information with the new routes including active dates, once that's all announced.

I use Transit regularly, and it does a good job tracking regular seasonal schedule changes and this is basically the same thing, so it's probable that the information will be available to us appropriately.

(Edit to add: By "us" I mean the users of the apps that consume the data produced by GRT)

[plam]

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

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

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.

Exactly. Google and Transit App are far better than a bespoke transit app. And we have few 10-minute-frequency lines.

[Bob_McBob]

I don't care if GRT has a trip planner because I use Google Maps, but just having high frequency service doesn't help me plan a trip if I don't know which routes and transfers to use in the first place.

[ijmorlan]

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.

Idiotic. If the University wants to limit traffic on Ring Road they should look at all the single-occupant vehicles, not the buses.

Although as someone who spends a lot of time on campus, I consider it essential that it be possible for motor vehicles to get to the buildings for drop-off/pickup, even though I usually arrive from Uptown by bicycle or walking. So I’m not sure exactly what measures I would support to reduce traffic; but telling the transit service to stay away is definitely not on the list.

[danbrotherston]

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.

Idiotic. If the University wants to limit traffic on Ring Road they should look at all the single-occupant vehicles, not the buses.

Although as someone who spends a lot of time on campus, I consider it essential that it be possible for motor vehicles to get to the buildings for drop-off/pickup, even though I usually arrive from Uptown by bicycle or walking. So I’m not sure exactly what measures I would support to reduce traffic; but telling the transit service to stay away is definitely not on the list.

Pickup and drop off of what?  It's entirely reasonable for ring road to be closed to everything but buses, service vehicles and delivery vehicles.

We've said this for years, but UW Admin has only ever moved the other direction (limiting buses, and creating more pedestrian crossings of Ring Rd., and limiting pedestrian access along Ring Rd.).  My opinion of UW Admin is well known here, this is a major reason why.

[bgb_ca]

There was an tidbit on the fare card in the CBC article

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener...-1.4997060

Waterloo Mayor Dave Jaworsky asked when EasyGo would be available to all riders. Currently, university and college students are able to tap cards to get on the bus, as well as a few other riders testing the cards. Staff said it's anticipated the EasyGo cards will be rolled out to the general public in April.

[ijmorlan]

Idiotic. If the University wants to limit traffic on Ring Road they should look at all the single-occupant vehicles, not the buses.

Although as someone who spends a lot of time on campus, I consider it essential that it be possible for motor vehicles to get to the buildings for drop-off/pickup, even though I usually arrive from Uptown by bicycle or walking. So I’m not sure exactly what measures I would support to reduce traffic; but telling the transit service to stay away is definitely not on the list.

Pickup and drop off of what?  It's entirely reasonable for ring road to be closed to everything but buses, service vehicles and delivery vehicles.

We've said this for years, but UW Admin has only ever moved the other direction (limiting buses, and creating more pedestrian crossings of Ring Rd., and limiting pedestrian access along Ring Rd.).  My opinion of UW Admin is well known here, this is a major reason why.

Packages, family members, bringing things into the office, …

Especially off hours. There is simply no justification for not allowing a family member to drop me off conveniently close to a building.

I personally could walk from University Ave., but there are lots of people with less mobility for whom that is not a reasonable requirement. And I don’t mean disabled people, just people who don’t want to have to walk the equivalent of several blocks. Anybody who thinks it’s reasonable to close Ring Road must (if they are consistent) also believe it reasonable to close the area bounded by approximately Bridgeport, Caroline, Union, and Moore, or a similar-size area around Uptown, to motor vehicles.

And while in the past the traffic policies on Ring Road were not very pedestrian-friendly, with crosswalks being eliminated and pedestrians generally having to yield to vehicles at all but a very limited number of locations, right now there are many crosswalks where motor vehicles are to yield to pedestrians. In fact if anything now the issue is buses being excessively held up by an unrelenting stream of people walking. Generally speaking, I have no problem with Ring Road not being a fast road, but at a certain point all the traffic (vehicle and pedestrian) needs to get a chance to move. I wonder if it’s time to consider traffic lights at some locations.

I’m not sure what the right answer is. Off of Ring Road, I think we pretty much have it right: there are lots of service roads that go in to various buildings, but they are all dead ends so they are low traffic. Ring Road however sometimes feels busier than I would like. In the past I have mused about making it more of a zig-zag route, with shortcuts for buses only. The idea would be to slow down most motor vehicles but allow buses to move through more quickly.

I hope that regardless of what one thinks about traffic on Ring Road, however, it should be clear to everybody that cutting down on buses is not the way to address traffic levels. This reminds me of when the iXpress came in and the neighbourhood lobbied to keep them off of Central/Albert/Seagram if I remember correctly. Completely absurd to complain about a bus every few minutes on those streets, given the traffic level of general motor vehicles.

[Canard]

While he took transit ~75% of the time, I used to pick up or drop off my husband when he went to UW doing his Masters. Sometimes it was 10pm, sometimes it was raining or snowing, or sometimes he just didn't feel like taking an hour+ bus ride for a 5 minute car ride for me to come get him. Am I awful?

[Spokes]

While he took transit ~75% of the time, I used to pick up or drop off my husband when he went to UW doing his Masters.  Sometimes it was 10pm, sometimes it was raining or snowing, or sometimes he just didn't feel like taking an hour+ bus ride for a 5 minute car ride for me to come get him.  Am I awful?

I did the same for my wife, because why not?

[Spokes]

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.

Is he just delusional?