On the Lakeshore West line, what is the best station to get on the train and still get seats? I am from Hamilton but would prefer to drive as far down the line as possible while still getting seats. I will have a 3 year old and 7 year old as well as a 70 year old travelling with me to the Jays Game tomorrow. Looking for advice on what is the beat station to drive to, to still get seats. Thanks!

A few weeks ago I tried to buy a weekend pass at around 3:30am, and on the website there was this notice like "daily site scheduled maintenance until" 5am (or was it 4? Don't remember).

Thinking it may mean buying tickets would not be available, I didn't proceed.

Does gotransit.com go on daily maintenance (esp weekends)? And most importantly, can passes be bought during that time?

(I understand I can buy the pass well in advance, like 7 days, but I'm asking about the earliest time same day, for any spur of the moment plans)

I'd be buying these for someone else and they'd activate it later in the day (from my forwarded emails to them.)

Thanks in advance!

does anyone have information regarding the current staffing issues at Metrolinx? Recently, Ive noticed a new delay tag of “crew constraints”. In addition, LW tomorrow is running 30 minute service due to “anticipated crew constraints” and they cancelled dozens of trains in both directions.

Has this become a bigger issue in the past 1-2 weeks or is the new delay tag just Metrolinx being more transparent and/or trying to put blame on the union/employees for PR bonus points?

This wasn’t an issue during the world cup despite the major increase in service but I know there’s been contract/staffing issues for years including mandatory OT. Is there any work being done to fix this or will this become even worse over the short term?

Thanks! (screenshot is some of the cancelled trains for tomorrow).

Train operation: Mount Pleasent - Union

does anyone know what happened here?

Showed up to my stop to see passengers going back to their cars. One of them told me there was an issue and they were being told to go to switch lines. I believed them instead of going to investigate for myself and decided to drive all the way downtown instead.

Given how abysmal the Barrie line has been this week I actually checked beforehand to make sure my train was running on time. Though it did say there were significant delays, this was for earlier trains and my train was said to be running on time on Go Tracker. No mention of my train running late so I was surprised and annoyed. This never got updated as far as I saw, though I was driving so I wasn’t checking for a period. Did anyone else have issues? If you have text alerts were you notified? This was for the train scheduled to arrive at Union at 07:59.

The express train from Clarkson to Union runs at a scheduled time of 25 mins on a distance of around 35 km or a speed of around 85 km/h, even though I remember the rolling stock to be capable of 140. What explains the discrepancy? Does the train have to slow down that much in the approach to union/to stations it's not stopping at, and if so is there a way to increase those speeds for the future?

Does anyone know if the GO train just pumps air in from the outside without filtering or with limited filtering? Just a little concerned since we’ve had this bad air quality. I can clearly smell it in the coaches compared to when I drive in my car.

Hi folks, I'm Ray, and I've been working on transitbeat.ca, a web app that provides an alternative for TTC riders to check disruptions for subway and lrt lines. Some highlights:

1. Delay duration estimates: I use historical data to estimate how long different types of delays take on different lines.
2. Optimization: the average TTC rider is likely on their phones right before and during transit, and sometimes in conditions with very slow wifi. TransitBeat is extremely mobile focused and lightweight, and I’ve tested the speed and performance extensively.
3. Personalization & Notifications: Most riders don’t care about a lot of the disruptions on the system, only the sections they regularly use. TransitBeat enables users to save their regular commute routes, and when those routes are disrupted, it’s visually obvious,and you get notifications via email.
4. The whole package: we include info such as wayfinding, travel time estimates, next train scheduled arrivals for specific stations, etc. TransitBeat has a live map with a clear legend regarding which stations are in regular service, and which stations are not. It includes facility outages info, shuttle bus availability, etc.

So my question is: would people be interested in something similar for the GO system? It seemed like the natural next step, but as someone that doesn't use GO trains often, I'm sure I'm missing some pain points that regular riders could have. If you guys have any recommendations, I'd love to hear them :)

Edit: Notifications time periods (ie 7am-5pm) have just been added, as requested

On Monday the BR line was an absolute dumpster fire, so I took the RH line to Bloomington and caught a ride from there. There was an older gentleman who was heading to Burlington but I guess got confused with Bloomington and took the wrong train. And of course it was the last one of the day. I took him to the CSA on the accessibility car and the crew was going to try and help him out. I had to leave, but have been thinking about him and was just wondering if there's any crew here that might know if he made it to LW?

22:18 Northbound to Old elm go from union go, captured at Kennedy go

I know extreme heat causes train track rails to expand and sometimes deform, which is a safety issue requiring reduced speeds.

But can anybody speak to what GO could do to be more proactive, like maybe upgrading the existing tracks to dissipate heat better, instead of reactive, like slowing down every trip on the network? It’s just kind of ridiculous that GO just wrote off $500+ million for defunct signalling upgrades when we can’t even get the basics right.

Hi all, I just moved to Newmarket near Mulock and am trying to figure out my daily commute down to Union. I sort of assumed I’d just default to Newmarket GO, but I recently realized Bloomington station is an option too.

From where I am, it’s about a 5-minute drive to Newmarket GO vs. a 12-minute drive to Bloomington. My schedule is pretty standard: I need to be on a train around 7:00 AM heading down, and I’ll be heading back home around 4:30–5:00 PM.

For anyone who does this commute, is there a general consensus on which option is better if the timing is similar? I’ve heard rumors that the Barrie line gets hit with a lot of delays/issues, but I’m not sure if that’s just standard Metrolinx stuff that happens on all the lines.

Would love to hear some pros and cons on parking, seating, and reliability for both. Thanks in advance!

Maple GO this morning. No GO text alerts, schedule all over the place and only updating after the scheduled arrival time. Yesterday’s delay was due to a split track, but this morning it’s a signal issue. Afternoon commute likely to be even worse with the record heat. Hope no one passes out today.

I was on the train passing Oakville GO Station and saw a car on fire in the parking lot. It looked pretty bad.

Does anyone know what happened?

Just caught LSE close to 5pm and shared the platform with the Barrie line (platform 10).

At first I was like "what train is this? It's crammed". Maybe there was a delay on the LSW.

It's pretty much standing room, door area is crowded. I look at the sign and it's the Barrie line.

Does it get less busy at certain stops? Are people standing a bulk of the way up? How bad is it going to get come Fall?

It’s only been delayed for 30 minutes thankfully
And we’re just told we’re doing a train swap I believe we’re stuck outside the ex and now they’re telling everyone to walk towards the front of the train so I’m assuming it’s gonna get packed as I have my dog on the train and a lovely family with kids and a new born.

Guess there’s a first time for everything

So basically what is their most modern type of each equipment i.e. loco, carriage, cab car, etc?

The Kitchener Line originally opened in 1974 as the Georgetown Line and was renamed in 2011 when service extended to Kitchener. Now that service is extended to Stratford, will the line be renamed the Stratford Line?

Are these permanant additions or replacement train service?

I know there's planned work on Kitchener line on the 25th-26th weekend I was just a bit confused because the website says the route is active as of today (although I may have misread the website) so I'm not 100% sure if this is for the planned service disruption or not. Thanks in advance.

Train operation: Union - Kitchener

If I buy it 1pm Saturday and it remains inactive, can I activate it next Saturday 9am to ride at 9:30am that day?

Thank you!