Video on Toronto's GO Transit: "the trains that subsidize suburbia"

[jamesontheroad]

Wanted to share this great video on YouTube. It is actually the follow-up to one from last year about VIA Rail in Canada, but this one deserves a wide international audience because it explains very well how North American commuter train systems are so complicit in actually encouraging car ownership and car use. If you've ever visited North American cities and wondered why there are four trains into town in the morning and four trains back in the afternoon (and such low usage of commuter rail fleets), this video has the answers.

Made by @NotJustBikes, a Canadian immigrant in the Netherlands.

 

[Welly]

4 trains each way in the morning and in the evening - a very useful system...

Look at the newly opened Bloomington GO station - $82 million dollars for a single platform!!! <facepalm>

At least GO Transit are now looking to make improvements in the future.

 

[duncanp]

I am looking to go to Chicago next year, and the Metra Rail system there is very similar, albeit slightly better in that some lines have services all day and at weekends.

You can see echoes of this in the UK at the various "parkway" stations, such as East Midlands and Worcestershire, which are also in the middle of nowhere, and are designed mainly for people who travel there by car.

Some TGV stations in France are also similar, where they are known as les gares de betteraves (sugar beet stations) because they are built in the middle of nowhere surrounded by sugar beet fields.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Things are not quite as bad as they were, around Toronto at least.
I have a cousin in Barrie, about 50 miles north of Toronto where a Metrolinx service terminates, and their commuter service now has at least hourly trains both ways from early till late, and there is service on Sat and Sun (with a $10/15 rover fare for 1/2 days at weekends, normal fare $15.25 each way).

 

[Taunton]

Most of these North American lines, if they had a historic service, used to have all-day service, which was hardly ever used, although you have to go back a long way. And to take the GO line along the lakeshore suburbs, local service in the 1940s-50s was one train a day - leaving Toronto at 12 noon, run principally for the mails.

Look at the newly opened Bloomington GO station - $82 million dollars for a single platform!!! <facepalm>

Sounds like Soham then. In fact, per linear metre length of the platform, probably cheaper than Soham, and including extensive parking.

 

[67thave]

Things are not quite as bad as they were, around Toronto at least.
I have a cousin in Barrie, about 50 miles north of Toronto where a Metrolinx service terminates, and their commuter service now has at least hourly trains both ways from early till late, and there is service on Sat and Sun (with a $10/15 rover fare for 1/2 days at weekends, normal fare $15.25 each way).

Indeed.
Two of the GO Transit rail lines (Lakeshore East and West) each have 4tph on weekdays, which is unheard of for almost any North American commuter railroad. Yes, the other lines are either hourly or rush hours only, but GO also provides extensive bus service to fill in the gaps.
In addition, the aforementioned bus services run by GO really are unmatched in North America (with the possible exception of Sound Transit in Seattle) in terms of frequency and speed - in particular the flagship express bus routes on Highway 407.
It's also important to point out that the station central to Not Just Bikes' critique is on the Richmond Hill line, which is the shortest and most lightly patronized of all GO corridors. A lot of this has to do with the fact that several of the stations on the line are located near much more frequent transit options (Oriole is adjacent to a TTC station, and Langstaff and Richmond Hill are both near a rapid bus line along Yonge Street).

 

[edwin_m]

The very name "commuter rail" embeds the concept that these services are nothing more than allowing people to park at the station and catch the train at peak times when the roads are busy, and drive into the city at any other time. I suspect also that the freight railroads that own most of the track want free access to it the rest of the day, and probably charge for access per train so it's cheaper to leave them in sidings the rest of the time. As mentioned though, some of them do run all-day service and might be better described as "regional rail". Some of the more progressive cities are also producing "transit-oriented development", aiming to fill the space within walking distance of stations with higher-density housing and amenities, not just car parks.

 

[Taunton]

Some of the more progressive cities are also producing "transit-oriented development", aiming to fill the space within walking distance of stations with higher-density housing and amenities, not just car parks.

That was a Toronto idea from long ago. This accounts for the clusters of 1950s-60s apartments and high rises around the TTC stations along the Yonge Street line from that era (St Clair is a typical example station). Seemed to fall away as an idea along more recent lines.

 

[ainsworth74]

I suspect also that the freight railroads that own most of the track want free access to it the rest of the day, and probably charge for access per train so it's cheaper to leave them in sidings the rest of the time.

Isn't there a bridge in, I want to say Virginia, where the owning freight railroad restricts Amtrak and commuter/regional to a very limited number of trains per day despite the bridge being more than capable of taking far more trains than it already does just to make sure that there keep capacity (which is unused) available?

 

[ac6000cw]

I am looking to go to Chicago next year, and the Metra Rail system there is very similar, albeit slightly better in that some lines have services all day and at weekends.

The main suburban routes in the Chicago area have never lost their passenger services, control and financing of them just moved from the owning railroads to the Regional Transportation Authority in the mid-1970s, with the railroads continuing to operate the services under contract (this is still the case with the services on BNSF & UP tracks, the other routes are now directly operated by Metra staff).

If you haven't been to Chicago before, if the weather is decent take a ride out to somewhere like Hinsdale (on the BNSF line) in the late weekday afternoon and watch the trains go by - peak Metra service (all loco hauled push-pull) intermingled with freight and Amtrak trains on a busy triple-track line. La Grange station (same route) is also good, with the bonus of the IHB freight route within walking distance (the line passes under the BNSF line just east of the station).

 

[duncanp]

The main suburban routes in the Chicago area have never lost their passenger services, control and financing of them just moved from the owning railroads to the Regional Transportation Authority in the mid-1970s, with the railroads continuing to operate the services under contract (this is still the case with the services on BNSF & UP tracks, the other routes are now directly operated by Metra staff).

If you haven't been to Chicago before, if the weather is decent take a ride out to somewhere like Hinsdale (on the BNSF line) in the late weekday afternoon and watch the trains go by - peak Metra service (all loco hauled push-pull) intermingled with freight and Amtrak trains on a busy triple-track line. La Grange station (same route) is also good, with the bonus of the IHB freight route within walking distance (the line passes under the BNSF line just east of the station).

But passenger service on some Metra Rail lines is limited, such as the Heritage Corridor route to Joliet via Lockport, and the South West Service to Manhattan (Illinois) which only operate at peak hours and have no weekend service.

The Rock Island Line to Joliet via Blue Island - Vermont has a regular service all day, seven days per week.

I have been to Chicago before.

I would recommend a trip on the South Shore line, which is one of the last interurban railroads still running in the United States.

At Michigan City, Indiana, you have full size trains running in the middle of the street as if they were a tram, and the "stations" at 11th Street and Carrol Avenue were little more than a bus stop with a shelter. It is quite a surprise to hear the train horn blasting in the distance, and a full size train coming round the corner.

shows a Chicago bound train arriving at the old 11th Street station in Michigan City.

However 11th Street station has now been closed for reconstruction and installation of high level platforms.

Trains are also going to be separated from other traffic, similar to a tramway reservation.

PS.

I presume you know that Railfanning is the U.S. term for Trainspotting.

 

[Jozhua]

Why GO Transit is Actually Great​

As someone who used GO in early 2020, I found it to be a very competent system that, at least on the Lakeshore line, arguably beats the UK in some important key areas.

The Lakeshore line has frequent all day service, with very pleasant high-capacity trains. I travelled from Union station in Toronto to St Catherine's and going out changed at Burlington GO to a bus service. GO buses are absolutely not your average run of the mill bus service, they are double-decker coaches that run on highways with dedicated stations near the highway where you can park/interchange with local buses. The GO buses are timed very well with the train schedules - I had ten minutes to transfer at Burlington on to the Niagara Falls bound bus, made even easier by the fact my train arrived perfectly on time - very different to my experience in Manchester at that time.

Of course GO RER is improving things even more with electrification/EMUs and all day service is gradually expanding out to the whole network.

All day service will be available for 5/7 lines, with all day service going from 15 minute frequency to 60 on the outer edges of said lines. Even looking at some of the lines reported as "peak only" service, there is still very much service available outside of typical commuter times, so this certainly isn't just a 9-5 (or 7am-7pm) railway. Not quite UK levels of all day service, but certainly better than what most would think when they hear "peak only". GO is more accurately described as a regional rail system I believe for these reasons!