Toronto's GO Transit

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Feb 27, 2019
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I thought I'd post this rather interesting video on Toronto's GO Transit heavy rail service. Those interested in rail transit generally or unfamiliar with Toronto's system might find some of the comments thought-provoking or at least informative. The contributor, a Canadian ex-pat now living in Europe, provides some perspective, however I would suggest his bias clouds some of the value that GO does provide to the city of Toronto and surrounding communities. Still, nothing he says is false. I suspect the same commentary may apply to other North American cities with similar-sized systems.

 
Interesting. His premise is true, that many of our current commuter rail systems in North America seem to be tied in to car dependency, except for a few inner suburbs where legacy train stations exist in walkable neighborhoods.

I remember once when I lived in the Philadelphia area traveling to a presentation that was being held at an office near Metropark in NJ. So it was a natural to travel there by train. However when I got to Metropark I found that for a pedestrian it was very difficult to get there from here, the area around the station was a maze of office buildings surrounded by huge parking lots. I ended up being late for my meeting after trying to find my way through the maze. Obviously none of the architects had ever considered that someone might arrive by train in spite of the presence of a nearby station with excellent commuter and Amtrak service.
 
I love Not Just Bikes!
He (Not Just Bikes) has taken a few shots at VIA in the past too.

I think a similar video could be made about Metra.
That was my opinion as well, along with a few other cities. The comparison of Chicago and Toronto is a good one - similar size, both essentially "3-sided" cities on a lake, with transit spokes extending in all possible directions.
 
Metra is an interesting and unique scenario among commuter systems, however, as the rail lines are all legacy system which have, more or less, run consistently for well over 100 years.

As such, many suburban stations run through historic downtowns. In the last couple of decades there has been movement and success in redeveloping several of these areas around the station.

Where things have not necessarily been so successful is in designing service to promote travel to these downtowns as destinations, apart from the am/pm commute. Take Arlington Heights, for example. It's a small entertainment mecca of the northwest suburbs with lots of restaurants and condos. Even the more residential areas are, to some extent, walkable from the station. However, the last train back towards the big city comes through at about 9:30. It needs to be a couple hours later if anyone wants to go a show or the comedy club or dancing or drinks. Service is hourly middays and evenings. Which is alright. But greater frequency would be better. Metra is, finally, trying a discounted ticket for travel of shorter distances, which might actually incentivise getting beyond a neighborhood comfort zone to try taking the train a couple of suburbs over.

However, there is scant bus service through this suburb from the train station. So, want to get anywhere beyond walking distance? Hahahaha.

At some stations Pace has collaborated with suburban based office complexes to offer a connecting bus to/from the closest Metra stop. And there is some rush hour based service in certain areas, such as Naperville. So, that's a plus. However, extension of Metra lines has also occurred, largely, to establish large parknand ride areas in exurbs.

And, of course, the hub and spoke not only requires coming into the city from one direction to head out another. But service isn't always well coordinated to foster the transfer. The train you COULD connect to might depart 5 minuteds before your inbound train arrives downtown.
 
Where things have not necessarily been so successful is in designing service to promote travel to these downtowns as destinations, apart from the am/pm commute. Take Arlington Heights, for example. It's a small entertainment mecca of the northwest suburbs with lots of restaurants and condos. Even the more residential areas are, to some extent, walkable from the station. However, the last train back towards the big city comes through at about 9:30. It needs to be a couple hours later if anyone wants to go a show or the comedy club or dancing or drinks.
Pre-Covid, I'd see groups on the UP-Northwest trains on Saturday nights bar-hopping by Metra using the weekend pass. They tended to do it in the outbound direction, in which the trains are more frequent and run later (last departure from Ogilvie being about 12:30am), starting at Jefferson Park or Edison Park or Park Ridge, going to the bars in a suburban downtown for an hour, then catching the next train a stop or two and doing it all over again.
 
Pre-Covid, I'd see groups on the UP-Northwest trains on Saturday nights bar-hopping by Metra using the weekend pass. They tended to do it in the outbound direction, in which the trains are more frequent and run later (last departure from Ogilvie being about 12:30am), starting at Jefferson Park or Edison Park or Park Ridge, going to the bars in a suburban downtown for an hour, then catching the next train a stop or two and doing it all over again.

And, yet, if you want to get back into the city from even...well THE CITY (Edison Park) it wasn't easy.

What I've often seen Saturday nights are young people riding the last inbound train to party, with the intention of returning to their burb Sunday.
 
He (Not Just Bikes) has taken a few shots at VIA in the past too.


That was my opinion as well, along with a few other cities. The comparison of Chicago and Toronto is a good one - similar size, both essentially "3-sided" cities on a lake, with transit spokes extending in all possible directions.
Chicago works a little better, I think, due to the frequency of service, and more connection points other than just downtown Chicago. Although the farther you ride the CTA from downtown, the fewer options you have. Also the stations I've seen are not out in the middle of nowhere surrounded by vast parking lots. Metra may be a different animal, I've only ever taken a couple of their routes.
 
Enjoyed the content and his dry style. Makes a lot of good points really. I don't think that offering free parking to a rail station is a bad idea - there needs to be more options however. There is no reason why they couldn't set up a bus stop with all that real estate, that could connect people to where they live, shop, visit, etc.
 
Chicago works a little better, I think, due to the frequency of service, and more connection points other than just downtown Chicago. Although the farther you ride the CTA from downtown, the fewer options you have. Also the stations I've seen are not out in the middle of nowhere surrounded by vast parking lots. Metra may be a different animal, I've only ever taken a couple of their routes.
I've always been impressed with the frequency and coverage of Metra. GO could find worse models to emulate.

That one station (Bloomington) wasn't intended to be in the middle of nowhere when construction was planned. It should have been part of a vast "bedroom community" development that has slowed due to green and NIMBY concerns and a little thing called the pandemic. The tracks were already there - a fairly frequent freight route that VIA's Canadian also passes through, and it is at an interchange with a major highway which should funnel commuters from further north. That's why I referred to the report as somewhat biased, although factual. It also seemed strange to focus on this station at a time when a large percentage of Toronto commuters are still working from home and GO is not running anywhere near their pre-pandemic full schedule. Most GO stations, including those in crowded industrial or residential areas, don't look much fuller right now.
Bloomington.jpg
 
I have to say Toronto has built a pretty impressive system, especially since they basically started with nothing, unlike most larger US cities that inherited a legacy commuter system built by the private railroads.

I hope that the ambitious plans to electrify and add frequency come to fruition. I want to see actual shovels in the ground and wire being strung before I get too optimistic.
 
The 1969 Book, The Commuter Railroads, by Patrick Dorin, was written just as the original GO routes opened, and has a nice write up on it, including the creation and planning of it. At that point, it was a single route along the Lakeshore, with Toronto Union in the middle, and the bulk of the service running to Oakville, and Pickering.

Ken
 
I have to say Toronto has built a pretty impressive system, especially since they basically started with nothing, unlike most larger US cities that inherited a legacy commuter system built by the private railroads.
Yes, only Montreal had a legacy system operated by the private companies. The only pre-existing Toronto quasi commuter trains were CN's RDC to Stouffville - now a GO line - and CP's to Peterborough/Havelock, which was scheduled for a restart until cancelled by the current federal government (who are now reconsidering it as part of the proposed HrSR route).
 
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