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GO Transit
FWIW Guelph Today has an article about Metrolinx's work on AD2W service on the Kitchener line.

https://www.guelphtoday.com/local-news/m...ta-5809002

Of course, we *COULD* also improve service today by running buses direct (and on weekends) and by creating bus lanes so that buses can actually reach the brand new bus terminal instead of giving up and turning back.

But Metrolinx just isn't that kind of organization.
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(09-14-2022, 08:07 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: FWIW Guelph Today has an article about Metrolinx's work on AD2W service on the Kitchener line.

https://www.guelphtoday.com/local-news/m...ta-5809002

Of course, we *COULD* also improve service today by running buses direct (and on weekends) and by creating bus lanes so that buses can actually reach the brand new bus terminal instead of giving up and turning back.

But Metrolinx just isn't that kind of organization.

Do you think this is actually within the power of GO to make happen? I honestly just can't see the city (or MOT if we include their highways) agreeing, AND more importantly those responsible for enforcement actually following through. See The Esplanade as a appetizer for how this will go.

Obviously GO should be pushing for this, but I wouldn't blame them for it not happening.
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Yeah that's dreaming...at least in our political landscape. If this was somewhere like China? Sure, they'd appropriate whatever the hell they wanted and we'd already have high speed rail all across the country. But this is a neoliberal capitalist democracy. Things happen sssssllllllllloooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwlllllllyyyyyy.
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(09-14-2022, 07:23 PM)ac3r Wrote: Yeah that's dreaming...at least in our political landscape. If this was somewhere like China? Sure, they'd appropriate whatever the hell they wanted and we'd already have high speed rail all across the country. But this is a neoliberal capitalist democracy. Things happen sssssllllllllloooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwlllllllyyyyyy.

Yes, they do happen slowly. But given the choice between the two systems ...
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(09-14-2022, 09:55 PM)tomh009 Wrote:
(09-14-2022, 07:23 PM)ac3r Wrote: Yeah that's dreaming...at least in our political landscape. If this was somewhere like China? Sure, they'd appropriate whatever the hell they wanted and we'd already have high speed rail all across the country. But this is a neoliberal capitalist democracy. Things happen sssssllllllllloooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwlllllllyyyyyy.

Yes, they do happen slowly. But given the choice between the two systems ...

I'm certainly not going to advocate for a Chinese style authoritarian government here...

But there are more than two choices...and our government is far from an example of things working well---even from a democracy standpoint.
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(09-15-2022, 02:47 AM)danbrotherston Wrote:
(09-14-2022, 09:55 PM)tomh009 Wrote: Yes, they do happen slowly. But given the choice between the two systems ...

I'm certainly not going to advocate for a Chinese style authoritarian government here...

But there are more than two choices...and our government is far from an example of things working well---even from a democracy standpoint.

It's up to us to vote in people who will do the right thing. Our political system definitely enables us to do it. This is not a problem with our system of government (as much as I would prefer PR) but voters with opposing views -- and those who don't bother to vote -- may sometimes cause the resulting government to take actions contrary to what we would like.

Quote:Many forms of Gov­ern­ment have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pre­tends that democ­ra­cy is per­fect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democ­ra­cy is the worst form of Gov­ern­ment except for all those oth­er forms that have been tried from time to time.…
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(09-15-2022, 11:47 AM)tomh009 Wrote:
(09-15-2022, 02:47 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: I'm certainly not going to advocate for a Chinese style authoritarian government here...

But there are more than two choices...and our government is far from an example of things working well---even from a democracy standpoint.

It's up to us to vote in people who will do the right thing. Our political system definitely enables us to do it. This is not a problem with our system of government (as much as I would prefer PR) but voters with opposing views -- and those who don't bother to vote -- may sometimes cause the resulting government to take actions contrary to what we would like.

I would argue that it is in part a problem with the system of government. The voting system we use can be amazingly bad at translating the popular will into a set of representatives. PR is one fix, but changing just the balloting system to ranked choice would at least avoid the problem of a less-preferred candidate for an office becoming the one elected. Even if we did switch to PR, we would still have FPTP elections for municipal government and other bodies, so these ideas should not be seen in the broader context as being in opposition to each other.

I also think it should be harder to get on the ballot. That may seem paradoxical, but we have way too many unserious candidates. By unserious, I don’t mean people like the current leader of the Conservative party; I mean people whose chance of being elected is, in round figures, zero. My proposal would be to require no money, but a sufficient number of signatures that only someone with at least some organization and existing supporters would ever be able to get on the ballot. My hope is that debates and media coverage would then include all registered candidates rather than focussing on the ones that are widely considered electable.
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Curious: We're traveling back to Canada for the holiday season and will be getting around mostly by train. Has anyone taken the GO train from KW to London before? How does ticketing work for it? We still have our presto cards, but last time I checked, we were unable to use them on that particular trip? I don't suppose metrolinx has improved things?

Also, I don't suppose anyone knows if GRT EasyGO (or London's equivalent fare card) expire? I also have EasyGO fare cards but I want to make sure they'll still be valid before I come back. (And yes, it is very annoying that I have to carry 3 separate fare cards + cash for rural transit + buy VIA tickets separately to travel in Southern Ontario when here I have a single fare card that gets me on every form of transit (and bike rentals) except the literal tourist boat).
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(09-16-2022, 09:31 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: Curious: We're traveling back to Canada for the holiday season and will be getting around mostly by train. Has anyone taken the GO train from KW to London before? How does ticketing work for it? We still have our presto cards, but last time I checked, we were unable to use them on that particular trip? I don't suppose metrolinx has improved things?

Also, I don't suppose anyone knows if GRT EasyGO (or London's equivalent fare card) expire? I also have EasyGO fare cards but I want to make sure they'll still be valid before I come back. (And yes, it is very annoying that I have to carry 3 separate fare cards + cash for rural transit + buy VIA tickets separately to travel in Southern Ontario when here I have a single fare card that gets me on every form of transit (and bike rentals) except the literal tourist boat).

There is one train that goes to London leaving Kitchener at 18:21. The train from London leaves at 5:18. You have to buy your ticket online. Presto is not valid for that trip. An alternative is ONexbus.ca. It has around 6 buses a day and also runs on the weekend. It is much faster that the dog slow GO train, however the only Kitchener stop is at Sportsworld.
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(09-16-2022, 10:17 AM)Acitta Wrote:
(09-16-2022, 09:31 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: Curious: We're traveling back to Canada for the holiday season and will be getting around mostly by train. Has anyone taken the GO train from KW to London before? How does ticketing work for it? We still have our presto cards, but last time I checked, we were unable to use them on that particular trip? I don't suppose metrolinx has improved things?

Also, I don't suppose anyone knows if GRT EasyGO (or London's equivalent fare card) expire? I also have EasyGO fare cards but I want to make sure they'll still be valid before I come back. (And yes, it is very annoying that I have to carry 3 separate fare cards + cash for rural transit + buy VIA tickets separately to travel in Southern Ontario when here I have a single fare card that gets me on every form of transit (and bike rentals) except the literal tourist boat).

There is one train that goes to London leaving Kitchener at 18:21. The train from London leaves at 5:18. You have to buy your ticket online. Presto is not valid for that trip. An alternative is ONexbus.ca. It has around 6 buses a day and also runs on the weekend. It is much faster that the dog slow GO train, however the only Kitchener stop is at Sportsworld.

Thanks Acitta that's great info. Fortunately I'm only going to take the train TO London, not from London as my return trip from London will be direct to Belleville and I'll probably take Via for that.

If it was just me, I'd definitely consider taking the bus, but as I am traveling with my family, including a toddler and suitcases, the GO train, albeit longer, seems like it'd be more comfortable than trying to get a stroller on a bus all the way down at sportsworld.

(I will say, it's stupid for buses to come to sportsworld given the ION doesn't make it there...Fairway would make more sense...but I've always felt Sportsworld was a mediocre stop).
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(09-16-2022, 01:29 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:
(09-16-2022, 10:17 AM)Acitta Wrote: There is one train that goes to London leaving Kitchener at 18:21. The train from London leaves at 5:18. You have to buy your ticket online. Presto is not valid for that trip. An alternative is ONexbus.ca. It has around 6 buses a day and also runs on the weekend. It is much faster that the dog slow GO train, however the only Kitchener stop is at Sportsworld.

Thanks Acitta that's great info. Fortunately I'm only going to take the train TO London, not from London as my return trip from London will be direct to Belleville and I'll probably take Via for that.

If it was just me, I'd definitely consider taking the bus, but as I am traveling with my family, including a toddler and suitcases, the GO train, albeit longer, seems like it'd be more comfortable than trying to get a stroller on a bus all the way down at sportsworld.

(I will say, it's stupid for buses to come to sportsworld given the ION doesn't make it there...Fairway would make more sense...but I've always felt Sportsworld was a mediocre stop).

Since the bus goes between Toronto and London, stopping anywhere else would just make the trip longer for those travelling between London and Toronto. The good news is that since it started, ONex has moved from minivans to full size buses, so maybe demand will increase enough to have some buses start in DTK. I can only hope.
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(09-16-2022, 01:42 PM)Acitta Wrote:
(09-16-2022, 01:29 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: Thanks Acitta that's great info. Fortunately I'm only going to take the train TO London, not from London as my return trip from London will be direct to Belleville and I'll probably take Via for that.

If it was just me, I'd definitely consider taking the bus, but as I am traveling with my family, including a toddler and suitcases, the GO train, albeit longer, seems like it'd be more comfortable than trying to get a stroller on a bus all the way down at sportsworld.

(I will say, it's stupid for buses to come to sportsworld given the ION doesn't make it there...Fairway would make more sense...but I've always felt Sportsworld was a mediocre stop).

Since the bus goes between Toronto and London, stopping anywhere else would just make the trip longer for those travelling between London and Toronto. The good news is that since it started, ONex has moved from minivans to full size buses, so maybe demand will increase enough to have some buses start in DTK. I can only hope.

I mean, I hope so too, but I doubt it's for time reasons...the Fairway Exit is only 2 minutes further up the highway. Probably the main reason is that GRT isn't offering use of their terminal for intercity buses, with a secondary reason that their Fairway terminal is slightly more difficult to access by bus....you know because while we're happy to dump unlimited amounts of money INTO bus terminals we are unwilling (as a whole society) to actually make services into and out of bus terminals efficient or useful in any way.

But I digress...
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(09-16-2022, 09:31 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: Also, I don't suppose anyone knows if GRT EasyGO (or London's equivalent fare card) expire? I also have EasyGO fare cards but I want to make sure they'll still be valid before I come back. (And yes, it is very annoying that I have to carry 3 separate fare cards + cash for rural transit + buy VIA tickets separately to travel in Southern Ontario when here I have a single fare card that gets me on every form of transit (and bike rentals) except the literal tourist boat).

NZ does the collection of cards thing too. There's talk about unification but it hasn't happened yet.

Switzerland forces everyone including the ferries but maybe not the tourist boat to have unified ticketing. I mentioned this when responding to a call for comments about NZ interregional rail, which is currently basically nonexistent. (https://patricklam.ca/post/20220917-nz-i...onal-rail/)


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The GO Transit union has reached a desk with Metrolinx to the end the strike: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/g...-1.6648745
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(11-11-2022, 12:08 AM)ac3r Wrote: The GO Transit union has reached a desk with Metrolinx to the end the strike: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/g...-1.6648745

I guess getting to a desk together is the first step to a solution. ;-)
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