Star: GO to run weekend trains to Oshawa

[ahrvojic]

Article

GO to run weekend trains to Oshawa
Nov. 9, 2006. 04:33 PM
DAVID BRUSER
TRANSPORTATION REPORTER

GO Transit plans to extend weekend train service to Ajax, Whitby and Oshawa starting Dec. 30.

Currently, GO trains run from Union Station to Oshawa only during the work week. But during the weekend, the trains stop at Pickering, and GO riders aiming to travel further east must transfer to a bus.

A GO staff business plan shows that while the net cost in fiscal year 2006-'07 will be $115,000, "there is excellent potential for the extended service to break even in the near future," according to a letter that GO board members will receive at today's monthly meeting.

The letter says that only 76,000 new riders per year, or 675 new riders each weekend day, are required to break even.

"This extension would both attract new riders and carry many existing riders a longer distance, as many people from the east now drive to Pickering station on the weekends, rather than take the bus and transfer," the letter says. "It will also enable buses to be reallocated to other, high demand services."

 

[spmarshall]

Running trains all the way to Oshawa is a no-brainer. After all, GO owns its own tracks between Pickering and Oshawa. I'd be more excited about Oakville to Burlington - currently, Bronte and Appleby Stations have no weekend service, not even buses.

And will those extra buses saved go to Brampton to relieve overcrowding on its every 3 hour Union buses? Yeah, right.

 

[dashingdan]

And will those extra buses saved go to Brampton to relieve overcrowding on its every 3 hour Union buses? Yeah, right.

Every three hours? That's awful. Milton gets buses every hour on weekends, which is sufficient.

I wonder where GO thinks there's "higher demand" on weekends compared to Lakeshore lol

 

[Darkstar416]

It's every 3 hours from Union. There's half-hour service from Yorkdale/York Mills though all weekend.. While half-hour service is semi-decent, it forces Brampton users to transfer onto the subway (and pay another fare) in order to get/from downtown (or wait 3 hours for the next bus).

 

[spmarshall]

And while say from downtown Brampton, the GO bus takes about 45-50 minutes to get to Union Station via Malton, the local GO service takes 60-70 minutes to Yorkdale, then another 25-30 minutes by subway.

Most passengers are headed towards downtown. I think the Yorkdale/YM service should be reduced somewhat for hourly Union Station service - where I sometimes count 15-25 people standing. The demand is there.

 

[Darkstar416]

I've actually witnessed personnel from GO calling control to plead for an extra bus (on the Union route) as not everyone has fit onto the every 3-hour bus.