GO Transit is Hard to Use

Transit, in a perfect world, should be easy to use. A trip should require a low amount of planning, and one can 'pick up and go.' While most agencies in the GTHA are somewhat easy to use, GO Transit is a major exception to this rule. I consider myself very familiar with GO Transit's rail and bus services, but, often, I still find that I am reading schedules, and spending time planning out relatively simple trips.

In this blog post, I will outline the ways that I think GO Transit is difficult to use, and provide easy-to-implement solutions that would improve functionality for all customers. I have split these into two categories: scheduling and fares.

Scheduling

There are a number of specific scheduling issues with GO, so I have left one out of these longer explanations: GO's schedules available on their website are quite hard to read.

Interlines

In order to reduce the number buses being used, and to reduce transfers for some customers, interlines are used. What this means is that some buses end a trip on one route, and then begin a different route. A customer who would normally have to transfer can just stay on board. This would be great, however, if GO published which trips are interlined, or, better yet, was consistent.

For example, most southbound trips on the 68 from Downtown Barrie Terminal to East Gwillimbury GO is shown on schedules to time with trips on the 65 to Union Station, and the 66 to Highway 407 Terminal. However, one of the 68 trips actually becomes the 65, reducing transfers for these customers. This isn't every trip though, so someone would only find out about this if they took that particular trip. This means that services aren't predictable, and someone unaware may just drive to East Gwillimbury GO to catch the bus directly. Showing interlines clearly can be done in a few ways, either of which is useful:

• Slashed signs: 65/68 East Gwillimbury GO/Union Station
• This shows both signs and destinations.
• Continuous signs: 65 Barrie South -- Innisfil -- Churchill -- Holland Landing -- GO East Gwillimbury GO → 68 Union Station
• This shows major destinations, including the next route as a destination.

I personally prefer the second, as it displays the pertinent information prominently, but still mentions more distant information that is relevant. 

Which 68 trips are interlined with the 65? Your best guess is as good as mine!

Holds

One other way GO makes using the system easier is by making connecting buses hold for the train, so that if the train is late, passengers can still make their connection. While this is shown on GO's difficult-to-read schedules, other apps don't show this. For example, the 70 will wait for the GO train at Old Elm, so that customers travelling onto Uxbridge have minimal wait times. I don't think Google Maps is great for showing directions, but if it's what people use, than maybe information on their should be accurate.

GO's schedule clearly shows that these particular trips on the 30 will hold for the train at Bramalea....

...but no mention is made on Google.

Unclear Route and Branching Designation

Many GO bus routes share a common corridor, often Highway 401 or Highway 407. However, as service has been improved, there has not been a thoughtful reorganization of service to make patterns legible, or easily understandable. As an example, I will list all the branches that leave McMaster University to travel east along the Highway 407 corridor:

• 41 to Pickering GO via Highway 407 Terminal (all stops)
• 47 to Highway 407 Terminal (all stops)
  
• 47D to Highway 407 Terminal (express)
• 47G to Erin Mills Transitway Station (all stops)

The challenge above is that the 47 offers a variety of stopping patterns, sometimes being an express service, and other times as a local service that duplicates the 41 anyways. People are then forced to look at the schedule to determine which service stops at their stop, or which is faster. GO should undertake a service realignment that makes things more clear. I would suggest:

• 41 to Pickering GO via Highway 407 Terminal (all stops)
• 41B to Highway 407 Terminal (all stops)
• 41C to Erin Mills Transitway Station (all stops)
• 47 to Highway 407 Terminal (express)

This way, all the local services are part of the 41, whereas the faster service is the 47. If someone boards at McMaster and wishes to get off at Erin Mills Transitway Station, they would be able to take any 41, as opposed to a 41, 47, or 47G, but not a 47D.

Lack of Coordination with Local Transit Services

Whenever GO schedules are coordinated with local services, you can be confident that the work was done by the local agency to make this happen. GO's inflexibility with scheduling causes numerous problems: there have been a crazy number of times where the local bus is scheduled to arrive one minute after the GO service leaves, forcing customers to wait an hour for the next vehicle. Local services often have to time connections elsewhere, and so GO needs to be a bit more flexible if the local service is overextended.

Transfers to Infrequent Services

In general, transfers from GO buses to GO trains are peak directional: for example, a bus will drop off at a station so customers can catch a train inbound to Union in the morning, and vice versa in the afternoon. This works because many trips are predictable: for example, very few people would take an inbound 30, get off at Bramalea, and want to catch an outbound train which heads back the way they just came. This is fine.

However, there are trips that just don't work like this, and the limited frequencies of them make trips difficult. Take the 21A, which runs from Oakville GO to Milton GO. Because customers might wish to switch to this north-south route from the east-west Lakeshore West Line, coordination with both directions of GO trains is difficult. While I think GO has worked it out with a hold from the less frequent inbound trains, in this particular instant, this is not the case elsewhere. Some trips become very long and inconvenient because one directions of travel is prioritized over the other.

Fares

Variety of Tickets

I am a Presto user, as I find it the most convenient for paying my fare, especially as someone who regularly uses a large number of transit agencies. When I travel on weekends, however, I use the unlimited weekend eticket, which costs only $10 for as many trips as I like, at any distance. On weekdays, a similar two-person eticket is available for $30, which I have also used. While these are great deals, they are difficult to use. 

First, as they are only available online, those who use the physical machines at stations for tickets may be unaware of them. Secondly, when you buy one, you have to put an origin and destination, which is confusing. You can put your travel from Aurora GO to Maple GO, but actually travel from downtown Brantford to Trent University, that's fine, but this isn't made clear. Lastly, these tickets cannot be put onto a Presto Card, so I still have to bring my Presto if I am using a local agency.

There are two ways to resolve the challenge with a multiplicity of tickets. While I hate Montreal's Opus card, you can put a variety of tickets on it, including an unlimited weekend ticket. By allowing customers to load the $10 pass onto their Presto, only one 'ticket' is required for the whole trip. Even better, however, would be to put a $10 fare cap on everyone's Presto on each day of the weekend. It would mean that people are free to tap without fear of spending more than $10, and it would also mean that people wouldn't have to sit down and calculate whether or not the pass is worth their time. You can just go!

Fare Zones and Fare Transparency

GO uses a number of fare zones to calculate fares. While you can find a list online, it doesn't help people actually make sense of what their fare is, and why. If my trip starts at Burlington GO in Zone 16, and ends at Hwy 115/Hwy 35 P&R in Zone 28, how much am I paying? The zones radiate out from Union, but geographical quirks, plus the fact that many trips travel through Union, complicate fare calculation. Often times, I tap my Presto and see how much is deducted, and look at the fare reader with confusion because it is not what I expected. So many times have I went somewhere, and came back in a slightly different way, but paid much less on the way back than I did on the way there.

GO should simplify the fare zones based upon actual geography. The Toronto Region Board of Trade released a report this year that simplified fare zones by region. Keeping the system to fifteen fare zones makes fares clear, and would actually reduce fares for many customers (especially since the report mentions that trips across two zones would not be more expensive than one zone). It also would still permit special tickets, like the unlimited weekend.

This is extremely hot.

Conclusion

I love GO Transit. There is no system like it in North America (aside maybe New Jersey Transit), especially considering the number of suburb-to-suburb trips that are feasible. However, the system needs a lot of work to make it functional to a wider variety of trips, and not just commutes towards the downtown core. GO service will only improve year over year, so I hope that the way fares and scheduling are handled will evolve as well.