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ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit
(06-25-2019, 07:33 PM)KevinL Wrote: Reports all through today of crowded LRVs.

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

I wonder how it would play out if the region actually had to order more LRVs right away due to greater than expected ridership.
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Didn't the 200 already surpass their projections for Ion? Strong ridership would be expected, I'd think.
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My trip home tonight was me getting on at R&T just aftet 8 on a train that was running late but packed. I got fed up being packed in a train like sardines and hopped off at UW. A few mins later the one I was originally going to catch arrived on time and had a fair amount of space (I even managed to get a seat on that one even though it was standing room in the middle modules).

I can't wait for the free period to be over so they are not packed to the gills.
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(06-25-2019, 04:32 PM)ert86 Wrote:
(06-25-2019, 03:35 PM)jeffster Wrote: 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.

It is laziness, IMHO. For the trip there, that is -- at night, though, I don't want him walking, borderline shady neighbourhood. I have had to evict people from the property when I've gone to pick him up, but I don't expect him to tangle with the homeless or addicts, but I've dealt with it for years and I know how not to escalate a situation, yet be firm enough for them to listen.
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(06-25-2019, 08:28 PM)tomh009 Wrote:
(06-25-2019, 07:33 PM)KevinL Wrote: 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.

It would be crazy if it turned out better than they thought. Unsure how quickly Bombardier could build new units, and I am not even sure what the ION has schedule for their next delivery, but I can't see it being less than 3 years.
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(06-25-2019, 09:27 PM)jeffster Wrote: It would be crazy if it turned out better than they thought. Unsure how quickly Bombardier could build new units, and I am not even sure what the ION has schedule for their next delivery, but I can't see it being less than 3 years.

The actual build time is measured in months, and is not an issue now that they know what they need to build. The challenge would be finding available production slots, and that really depends on what other orders BBD is working on.

How many trains does the OMSF have capacity for?
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^28, iirc.
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(06-25-2019, 09:27 PM)jeffster Wrote: It would be crazy if it turned out better than they thought. Unsure how quickly Bombardier could build new units, and I am not even sure what the ION has schedule for their next delivery, but I can't see it being less than 3 years.

The baseline service plan in the project agreement calls for:

Timeframe# vehiclespeak headwaymax # double vehicles
2021-2024168 min0
2025-2030207.5 min3
2031-2035237 min6
2036-2040277 min9
2041-2045307 min12
2046-2047337 minall
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Can confirm the train at 9:30 out of R&T Park was similarly packed.

I do expect ridership to drop, but at this point, this is better than I expected.

Maybe instead of a summer schedule, it should just be free for the summer, that should even out the ridership levels.
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I was one of those tourists on Tuesday along with my mother and 4.5 year old nephew. We boarded 512 at 1:03pm, southbound at Victoria Park. By the time we got to Fairway, we had encountered at least one school field trip ("Are there any more kids from Rockway on this train?") and one seniors residence field trip. We arrived at Fairway with 511 in very close pursuit. 512 gave up at that point ("We are having an issue with this train so you will have to board the other one"). While the three of us exited the train, and crossed at the proper pedestrian crossing before boarding 511, most other passengers jumped off the platform and them clambered up the other side. 511 left packed and very few people got on/off along the route. We crossed the KW border around 2:05. The trip to Conestoga and back was uneventful and eventually the car emptied. We arrived back at Victoria Park station at 2:56, for a total trip time of about 110 minutes. There didn't seem to be overly long waits at platforms including when we had to switch trains at Fairway, nor lengthy stops along the way.

Pool question: who will be the first WRC member to ride all 14 vehicles? (pictures, or it didn't happen)
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It does beg the question though, what if public transit didn't have a user fee ?( I wont say free because everything has a price) What would the impact be on people's commuting choice ? Packed transit but less cars ? Better for the environment, better for people's stress level. encourage the system to be built out faster ? All hypothetical, but interesting..
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On the topic of the parking at Conestoga, when I got on for my commute home yesterday, some oldsters were having a conversation with someone about where the best place to park to catch the train is. I overheard one of them say, "well, people got on this last station, so there must be some place to park."

One then did ask me where I parked my car, to which I replied "well, I work a few minute walk from here, so I'm just on my way home." They then wanted to know, was there space in the lot? Do they have any way of knowing if a car belongs to an employee or not?

I'm happy that so many people are experiencing transit, from a few casual chats on the train it seems like the first time ever for many people. But I'm going to be happier when the free-of-charge period is over and people are on transit to get somewhere. My wife has opted not to bother trying it out until she can pay to get on. It's $2.75...

Departure information was working this morning! And it was accurate.
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The Record picked up the Conestoga parking issue.

https://www.therecord.com/news-story/945...-warnings/
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(06-26-2019, 01:31 AM)nms Wrote: Pool question: who will be the first WRC member to ride all 14 vehicles? (pictures, or it didn't happen)

I started a log on my phone but there's three trips already where I forgot to note the vehicle number and I haven't been taking pictures. I should just take a picture, it would be quicker and easier.
...K
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(06-26-2019, 06:56 AM)Rainrider22 Wrote: It does beg the question though, what if public transit didn't have a user fee ?( I wont say free because everything has a price)  What would the impact be on people's commuting choice ?  Packed transit but less cars ?  Better for the environment, better for people's stress level. encourage the system to be built out faster ?  All hypothetical, but interesting..

It is interesting. I don’t think you can draw many conclusions from this week since the novelty factor is so high. But it would be great if there could be a regular experiment (one week/year, random days throughout the year, etc.) with free fares and see what happens.
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