Raise the Hammer

To respond to @Borrelli with respects to my comments regarding the proposed 2-way, all-day GO train service and it's establishment of a truer connectivity between Hamilton and Toronto:

While there is an existing express bus service between Hamilton and Toronto, I'm not sure that you could place that service as the 'better' connection between Hamilton and Toronto over a full-time train service. While there is no arguement that the bus can provide quicker times, (and being a semi-regular user of the bus, I have experienced your observations of it's benefits), there still remains a stigma over 'bus' versus the sexier 'train' service. Certainly the pundits have pushed the 'train' is better then the 'bus' in the push for LRT, and the same arguements could be applied to the GO train service.

The comment regarding the curtailing of traffic applies to realizing a higher capacity train over the 55-seat bus. Add with the assertion that the train is preferred over the bus for travel considerations, it is safe to comment that only a positive outcome will be realized.

I will agree with Borrelli that service may actually suffer with the conversion from buses to trains, as I have even opted to take the bus to get to Hamilton faster than the train could deliver me from Toronto. However, I suspect we may be in the minority in choosing the bus over a train. I know in some of my conversations with my peers about taking the GO to Toronto, the conversation quickly goes south when I mention that I used the bus :p

The point of the post is to illustrate that when Metrolinx and the Ontario Government go fishing for more funds from the GTHA, and they show the map of the services they are either providing or proposing to provide, a solid train line looks a lot more attractive than a dotted bus line. Especially when that line can be illustrated sooner rather than later...unlike LRT, which will unfortunately remain dotted for longer than some Hamiltonians desire.