There's crap going down at Whitby GO station and if you're one of the poor sods who already has to schlep their ass to the back of the train each night so you can at least get off "due to platform construction and the following four coach's whose doors won't open", you're going to love this piece of news.
GO is shutting down the north-end parking lot. I don't know why they are. I've had two texts this morning telling me this was the news swirling around the platform.
I realize they built the fancy parking garage complete with LED sign that tells you how many cars are parked on each level (I have a friend that uses those numbers as her Pick3 lotto numbers), so I suppose it's felt the north lot isn't necessary or maybe it's related to the construction.
I feel your pain, Whitby folks. It's gonna get ugly.
I suggest a sit-in, complete with signs, guitars, incense, a dude in a corn cob costume and aging hippies. A good chant of "Hell no, we won't go" should suffice.
This is ridiculous!!
ReplyDeleteIt's already crazy to park at Whitby.
This will be a mess!
Its for "major" construction. Not sure how long it will be... it could be just Monday, couldn't really hear the announcement that well.
ReplyDeleteIt's for construction and it's until DECEMBER! I'm already getting stressed out thinking how I'm going to get dropped off/picked up let alone find a spot when I drive myself.
ReplyDeleteP.s - I'm loving the last minute notice on this. Just awesome.
I'm going to be the Voice Of Reason and the Voice Of The Left Out here:
ReplyDelete1) The North lot is 366 spaces out of ~4,000 - less than 10%. The signs in lot implied the Brock St entrance would remain open, and only some of the spaces would be unusable. So for at least 90% of those parking - no impact. (NB: Whitby now has the most spaces of any GO station... of course, if the buses were a bit better, it wouldn't anythign like as many)
2) As someone who walks to the GO Station (and generally from it) I don't know whether pedestrian access through the Henry St exit will remain. It it desn't, I have to get up 10 mins earlier to allow for the detour. I won't be happy about this, which means everyone in my offic won't be happy about this. And it's a large office.
Btw, thanks to CJ for all the Whitby-aimed love/good vibes. I'll be sure to reciprocate when Oshawa station gets moved for the extension to Bowmanville.
ReplyDeleteTom, your stats give me a little comfort... And ultimately I understand that the north lot REALLY is made up of reserved spaces... But it's stupid people I'm worried about. The craziness of only one kiss'n'ride and bad driving scares me.
ReplyDeleteAnd what's this new rumour about moving the 'Shwa station??
Tom, your stats give me a little comfort... And ultimately I understand that the north lot REALLY is made up of reserved spaces... But it's stupid people I'm worried about. The craziness of only one kiss'n'ride and bad driving scares me.
ReplyDeleteAnd what's this new rumour about moving the 'Shwa station??
The 'shwa GO station is eventually going to be north of the 401 (I'm thinking around the old grocery distribution centre -- can't for the life of me remember the name of it sorry). Tracks will cross 401 and go up near the bowling alley (Thornton) off Champlain? This doesn't affect the VIA at all though.
ReplyDeleteIt's supposed to hit the tracks that head on over to Bowmanville.
Province announced timelines awhile ago -- but heaven knows what the actual time frame is.
Knob Hill Farms
ReplyDeleteERe: Moving Oshawa station... go to http://www.gotransit.com/public/en/improve/projects.aspx , click on "GO Transit Rail Service Expansion to Bowmanville" then click on "Information boards". The plan is to add a link from the current GO line over the 401 to the CP line (and then run to Bowmanville). Two of three options for the link would require relocating the current Oshawa station. My understanding is that the furthest west of the three options is the the prefered.
ReplyDeleteThere are also plans to add another station on the eastern side of Oshawa. Exact locations are still TBC. (Last I heard, the best locations from the transport of view had major flood control issues).
Goven the likely cost of the extension, I think we're several years away from construction, at least.
Losing 366 spots? You folks out there are blessed. We have 123 unreserved legal parking places at Mimico and the vast majority of people have to risk street parking. Maybe I'm just bitter because I got ticketed last week...grrr
ReplyDeleteStreet parking? You have street parking in Mimico?!? Lucky thing... you can't park on the street within a mile of Whitby Go station, so it's the parking lot only for those without access to bus/bike/legs.
ReplyDeleteHey, I can't view your site properly within Opera, I actually hope you look into fixing this.
ReplyDeleteCan you email me and tell me what the problem is?
ReplyDeleteI'm on the site right now in Opera and it's fine. Don't know what the other dude is flapping lip service about.
ReplyDeleteDo you people have a facebook fan page? I looked for one on twitter but could not discover one, I would really like to become a fan!
ReplyDeleteI've thought about it but I prefer that people come online. Most readers can't access Facebook from work (Those who read during lunch/break, etc)
ReplyDeleteJanuary 16, 2013. North, south and 95 percent of the parking garage have no parking spots.
ReplyDeleteI parked at the fourth level of the garage and counted the remaining spots, there were 14.
14 spots left of the 2,958 parking spots at the whitby go station. There is no way there are almost 3 thousand people from whitby parked here. Most are probably from Oshawa because their parking lot is full as well.
401 is jammed as always. Maybe the Ajax and Pickering parking complexes will release some parking spots.
My guess is that by 2015 it will be very hard to commute to Toronto due to roads filled with cars and parking lots filled with cars. Time to work from home.
From a commuter that can see bad news for the future.