Oshawa's new station opens Monday - and we get landscaping by mid-2018 guys!

By email from GO Transit Oshawa GO Customers: We have good news to share! Your new station building will be ready for your Monday morning commute, giving you more convenient access to GO and VIA amenities including bigger washrooms and waiting areas. We've also made improvements to the Kiss & Ride and parking lot, so that it's easier for you to get in and out of the station whether you're walking or driving. By mid-2018 we'll finish demolishing the old station building, adding a canopy connecting the new building with the VIA platforms and the VIA pedestrian bridge, as well as landscaping.

Let’s talk TCO, broken windows, Pickering, Metrolinx, imported European glass...

Special to This Crazy Train

By GO Voyageur

Back in April, I traversed the Pickering pedestrian bridge from the GO station to the DRT bus stop on the other side.  Along the way, I noticed four shattered panes of glass…

Metrolinx and I exchanged the following tweets:

I forgot about the problem until June, when I had to cross the bridge, again.  Metrolinx and I exchanged the following tweets:

Special order of glass?!  WTH does that mean?  What exactly did the bridge engineers design and Mayor Dave Ryan endorse wholeheartedly?

In August, I strolled across the bridge one more time.  Imagine my surprise when…

“Soon”?!  Is that the same “soon” that made us wait an eternity for real-time bus info?

On Friday, as I waited for my westbound train at Pickering, a site foreman and his team armed with station blueprints, asked me to step aside, because they needed to examine the crack in the pane of glass at the foot of the stairs from the bridge to Platform 1…

I asked him why the panes of glass at Pickering station were so prone to shattering.  I mentioned the defective glass on bridge, and I pointed to the broken pane across the tracks at the foot of the stairs from the bridge to Track 2…

He couldn’t speak to the fragility of the glass, but he did explain why it takes so long to replace the panes.  You see, the sheets of glass originate in Europe and are shipped to Quebec where they are “heat treated” (his words).  Then they are shipped to Pickering for installation.  I wanted to engage him further in this discussion, but my train arrived, and I had to leave.

Well, that explained the “special order of glass”, and why six months after the problem was reported, it was still outstanding.  But so many questions remain unanswered.  Why is the original glass installed on the bridge so fragile?  Is it substandard?  Did the design engineers miscalculate something?  Is vandalism the cause for all this shattered glass?  Why do replacement panes need to be sourced from Europe?  Are there not more economical sources of glass in North America?  What is the total cost of ownership (TCO) of this structure?

Is it time Ontario’s Auditor General, Bonnie Lysyk, met with Metrolinx’s new President and CEO, Phil Verster, to get acquainted and review some numbers?

Rip Van Crotch

COMPLETE WITH SLEEP MASK

 

And this is how kids break arms and legs

Parenting...sort of 👬 #gotrain #carterbrian #marlowjames

A post shared by lesleyandco (@lesleyandco) on Oct 15, 2017 at 10:05am PDT

I retire in 2039 - shovels won't hit the ground in Courtice for a GO station until 2023-24 - AT THE EARLIEST - says Metrolinx

DURHAM — One-hundred-and-seventeen years and counting.

In 1900, a newspaper article noted Bowmanville would soon have train service to Toronto. The wait continues.

At a recent regional council committee of the whole meeting, Metrolinx officials said extending GO train service east from Oshawa to Bowmanville wouldn't happen until 2023-24 at the earliest.

Hope he had enough cash for fare

Tim's in a trailer comes to Oshawa GO (seems fitting.) Oh c'mon, it's not my fault if your house is on wheels

Here it is after being "grammatically corrected"

Metrolinx finally releases report on controversial GO stations
The transit agency said it withheld the study for 15 months after the decisive vote in order to correct grammar, factual errors. - Toronto Star

READ REPORT ONLINE

How soon til we see black painted buses and trains?

Looks like Metrolinx has rolled out new black Presto cards. Part of the rebranding effort I wrote about a while ago https://t.co/EXzQAY6gRk

— Ben Spurr (@BenSpurr) October 2, 2017

I don't eat under a blanket

This morning while sauntering my way through the York Concourse I noticed a woman struggling with this huge blanket and an infant. She was trying to cover herself and the struggling baby, and get herself in position to breastfeed. The blanket nor the baby were co-operating. And she looked super frustrated.

I backtracked and went up to her and said, "I don't eat under a blanket and neither should baby. Feed your baby, I'll stay here."

She said she didn't want to make anyone feel uncomfortable. I said, baby needs to eat. Feed the baby and I'll keep you company.

As she did this, I made some small talk and told her I was tired of mothers being made to feel what they are doing is unnatural, dirty or sexual. As we were talking, I did notice a dude staring so I stared at him until he looked away. When I caught him staring again, I got up and went over and asked him if he had a problem. He asked why she couldn't just feed the kid in the washroom. I asked him if he ate his lunch at work in the washroom. Then he offered some extremely worldly advice such as the mom should bottle feed. I told him to stop staring or I'd get security. He called after me that it was a free country which resulted in me yelling over my shoulder, WHICH IS WHY MOTHERS CAN BREASTFEED WHEREVER THEY DAMN WELL PLEASE.

As I sat back down next to the mom, she told me she was amazed at my attitude. I told her, look, I've been in your shoes. This is not an easy job. Sure, some people are jerks and even mothers, like my mom, dislike seeing women breastfeed in public. I don't care. Don't look. Move away. Change seats. Baby's gotta eat. I stayed til she was finished feeding and bid her good day. I truly don't have time for this bullshit.

BABY. GOTTA. EAT.

WE Day - the day with so much nope

The 703 train from Oshawa was packed with teens. I hate WE Day but it's 1 day. We always get through it - you and I, all of us.

What I did find annoying was the behaviour of some of the chaperones and teachers - BAGS ON SEATS, FEET ON SEATS, VOICE VOLUME DIALED UP TO 11. These people were more obnoxious than the kids.

At Union, I was met with a face full of bags after the three teachers sitting in the quad with me all stood up at once, not sure how one gets off a train. Backpack right to the face, which resulted in losing my glasses. Luckily, I'm one of those women graced with an ample chest shelf, as that's where they landed. I grabbed them before they could fall to the floor.

I mumbled, "Ridiculous" under my breath, biting my tongue to say anything more. There were some apologies. I just nodded.

Perhaps GO Transit could just dedicate a train to this crowd... I'm sure others would appreciate the effort.

So true

Forget the quiet zone. Nothing hushes the masses like a one act play titled "But I swear I tapped." #gotrain #drama @GOtransitLW pic.twitter.com/ystnbAJELn

— Robert Krbavac (@KRBAVAC) September 27, 2017

Sometimes, you just can't win

I've been suffering with osteoarthritis in both knees for just over a year now. I just learned it's now present in my right hip. I went to the doc complaining of pain, thinking it was something muscular, and learned it's moderate but manageable with exercise and strengthening.

This news has bummed me out. I'm super sick and tired of being in constant discomfort or experiencing pain. The only time I feel pain-free is after a bike ride, where for about 20 minutes, I am 25 years old again.

Life just isn't fair, is it?

Signs summer hasn't left the GO train

On the #gotrain, look up and see this. Wish CSA's would make more etiquette announcements. #gochro pic.twitter.com/JIfUHLPD4H

— Tanya (@905GoTrainGirl) September 6, 2017

@billburr #gotrain animal. It's not even that warm. pic.twitter.com/1EjaSXDp3y

— Simon Bowden (@Simon_Bowden) September 1, 2017

Ontario Making Commuting Easier for Cyclists in Southern Ontario

Province Building New Secure Bike Storage at GO Stations and Carpool Lots

Burlington, ON
Sep 12, 2017

Ontario is making it easier for cyclists to commute to and from work, school, and appointments with the construction of new, secure bike storage lockers at GO Transit stations and car pool lots across southern Ontario. This investment is part of Ontario’s Climate Change Action Plan and is funded by proceeds from the province’s cap on pollution and carbon market.

Minister of Transportation Steven Del Duca and Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport Eleanor McMahon were in Burlington today to launch the new Commuter Bike Parking Program, which will help encourage people to take their bikes as part of their daily commute.

Eight bike lockers will be installed at each of 15 commuter parking lots across the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area, Niagara, and Simcoe Region for a total of 120 bike lockers. Work will be finished by the end of March 2018. In addition, 28 bike rooms will be installed at 26 GO Transit stations in the Greater Toronto Area over the next four years as part of Ontario’s GO RER program, expanding storage capacity while enhancing security. The first locations, which will be complete by spring 2018, include: Appleby, Markham, Mount Pleasant, Bronte, Unionville, and Stouffville.

Making it safer and easier to cycle in Ontario is part of our plan to create jobs, grow our economy and help people in their everyday lives.

Once I can forgive, but twice, no. The motorcycle spaces are not your reserved VIP spot. Get to the station earlier or park at Whitby, k?

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

- Submitted by annoyed multiple Oshawa patrons.

Rumblings from the NIMBYS in my Courtice neighbourhood about the GO train expansion. I WILL FIGHT YOU ALL IF YOU SCREW THIS UP.

I belong to a few private Facebook groups for the community I am in, and the communities I am next to. Everybody's bitching about how the Courtice and Bowmanville stations will bring more traffic congestion and noise to the area. And there's been some rumblings about train horns. These people seem to forget that the train tracks were in the area long before there were homes. Don't like it? Please move.

These people are high.

We already have traffic congestion. Public transit infrastructure can actually improve an area as it requires roads to be improved, or re-built. One only needs to look at Milton to see what a GO station can do to a community.

We can't keep driving out of east Durham. We need a GO train. Oshawa is over capacity. I will make it my mission to fight anyone that does anything, protests, or complains in a way that stalls this development. I didn't stay in Durham so I wouldn't get the GO train I was promised 15 years ago. I would have been long gone by now.

Bowmanville GO extension 7 years away https://t.co/2ocqhNjawl

— CJ Smith (@ThisCrazyTrain) September 12, 2017

I think you bought a sedan instead of a motorcycle

Is it time for dancing in the streets?

Special to This Crazy Train
By GO Voyageur

Let’s get some musical accompaniment from Martha & The Vandellas, shall we? Excitement mounted on August 21 when GO Transit announced their Route 12 service changes commencing September 2:   

St. Catharines received some well-deserved improvements in service. I have believed for a long time that city carries Route 12. Thank you GO Transit planners! The editing on the announcement is mine. It appears someone in the Ivory Tower forgot that GO’s directionality of buses on the QEW is relative to Union Station, the centre of Metrolinx’s universe; apparently, official MTO signage is irrelevant.  This oversight can be excused given the excitement surrounding this news.  

In my opinion, the real highlight of the announcement is the last line. It appears to be Metrolinx’s way of saying they’ve made some headway with Burlington GO station. Did they keep their word? Indeed they did; bus 8370 rolled in just before 07:00.

 

I had to contain myself as the tears of joy welled up. However, there was no head office representation — no balloons, no music, no cake, no party hardy PR folk. The only coffee served was the one I brought the driver. We shook hands and exchanged pleasantries; then he was off.

Now, don’t get all excited and start thinking that the construction at Burlington GO is complete, because it’s not. GO Station Ops personnel were still mounting signage on the bus platform as bus 8370 arrived. You now purchase your tickets from agents inside the building, and the east tunnel leading to the track platforms is no longer barricaded. However, there are still construction pylons inside the building, black partitions at the west end, scaffolding in the stairwell to the west tunnel, and there are construction grade doors along the corridor to the east. Here is a walk from east to west through the building…

 

 Is Burlington GO finished? No, but at least it’s usable. No dancing in the streets just yet.

Back pedal so fierce, Del Duca digging a hole