GO Transit puts improvements into overdrive
JOHN BARBER
November 29, 2007
I don't think I ever did anything crueler to my son than to send him to Guelph on public transit at the age of 15. You want them to be self-sufficient, you know they have to learn by doing, but I still flush with shame at the memory of the poor guy stumbling home 12 hours later, numb and trembling, having spent seven hours travelling 90 kilometres on the GO "system," missing the event that inspired the journey as a result, then spending another five hours struggling home again.
My cursory glance at the schedule the evening before had not revealed the hidden pitfall of three-hour layovers in beautiful downtown Brampton. It was my fault. Thinking he was ready to make his own way in the world, I had casually pushed him into a nightmare.
What was I thinking? There are few grown men with the courage and resourcefulness to take public transit to Guelph.
Around the same time, Premier Dalton McGuinty announced a quite spectacular $17-billion investment to alleviate the nightmare, promising improvements to the GO system that will "make a difference between hearing about your daughter's first soccer goal or seeing it for yourself."
Apart from the fact that I had selfishly expected public transit to help me avoid attending my child's distant sports matches, that folksy message hit home, maybe even bought a vote. My transit-traumatized teen will be old and grey before the last billion is spent, but every nickel is necessary.
The proof of the promise is that they're already flowing.
"It's exciting times," GO czar Gary McNeil remarked in an interview yesterday, checking off a long list of current and pending improvements to the system, from new stairwells at Union Station to the ultimate dream of electrifying the Lakeshore corridor, which the Premier promised to make real with his billions.
The system is growing by "leaps and bounds" thanks to "really strong support from all three levels of government," according to Mr. McNeil. GO is laying new tracks, building new sheds and parking garages, installing a $280-million switching system and taking delivery of the first of 53 new diesel locomotives - at $5-million per - to replace its entire existing fleet.
The new diesels "will allow us to pull 12-car trains, so that's a 20-per-cent increase in capacity right there," Mr. McNeil said.
With the new trains will come new crews reporting directly to GO, as opposed to the freight-hauling companies that still own most of the commuter track. "Customer attendants" will replace conductors, and there will be a lot more of them than the private rail companies were ever willing to spare.
GO is also moving ahead of another recalcitrant partner, the City of Toronto, in tackling Union Station, deciding to act unilaterally rather than wait for the city to organize a long-overdue renovation. "We're going to do everything we can to push more people through the system," Mr. McNeil said. Last month, he suggested that burgeoning GO take sole ownership of the entire station.
Electrification remains a long-term but realistic goal, according to Mr. McNeil. In the meantime, everything is set for dramatic improvements to the conventional service. "We're in a position right now to start running more trains in the very near future," the GO boss promised.
I even read, in the latest issue of GO News, that there is now actual bus service to Guelph, thanks to worthy efforts "to better serve our student commuters and all passengers." It's all good.
But the next time, I drive.
Correction: Yesterday's column erroneously reported that a columnist with a competing newspaper demanded that all city councillors be shot. In fact, he recommended they be hanged. The Globe regrets the error.
jbarber@globeandmail.com
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He could have been a bit more careful with his 15-year-old son and actually took the care to read the schedule properly if his son was counting on him. Or he could have checked and seen that Greyhound or VIA are a far better choice.
Anyway, that bit about GO crews replacing the CN and CP crews is interesting. At the very least it will make CN's periodic labour disruptions less problematic.
