GO’s ridership growing faster than service
Bus service, parking lots stretched
As fast as GO Transit expands its bus and train service, ridership on many routes appears to be growing faster.
This year GO was expecting about a 4- to 5 per cent increase in riders. But March ridership numbers released to GO’s board of directors this week showed average weekday ridership increased 7.5 per cent over the same month last year.
That’s about 14,080 more riders daily or the equivalent of nine additional train trips.
A surfeit of riders is a good problem to have when “most transit companies are out there screaming to get people on the system,” said GO managing director Gary McNeil.
“We’re trying to manage the demand based on the supply we’ve got available,” he said, adding that bus capacity is almost “maxed out” even though GO introduced the first of its new double-decker fleet on the Highway 407 routes in April and it is not retiring its coaches as fast as it had expected.
Ridership is migrating to the off-peak periods when there are seats available on the trains, but at many stations there’s virtually no parking available by the end of the morning rush, said customer service director Bill Jenkins.
The third track being built along GO’s busy Lakeshore line means the Oakville VIA station for about $3 million by December.(The new station will be built northwest of the existing building, which is being demolished.
Georgetown riders will have their weekend bus service to Union Station increased. An hourly express service will service downtown Brampton and a second hourly service will go to Bramalea and Malton.
The transit company also plans to launch a new weekday bus service between Bronte and Milton with 13 trips in each direction to connect with 407 bus service at the Burlington 407 Carpool lot, the Lakeshore West service to Union Station and McMaster University.
As it prepares to extend service into the Niagara Region, GO is also introducing buses from a new interim park n’ ride lot in Stoney Creek to the Burlington station. The move is expected to reduce the demand on parking at Burlington, where a new parking structure is supposed to open next month.
All GO Transit’s Milton trains are now pulling 12 cars that accommodate 300 additional passengers on each train.
The 12-car trains also are being used on three Lakeshore runs: the 8:25 a.m. Oshawa express train to Union Station; the 5:03 train to Pickering from Union and the 4:10 p.m. express to Burlington from Union Station.
Eight of GO’s 27 new locomotives are now in service. The agency is awaiting delivery of more locomotives before it can add more 12-car trains to the busy Lakeshore line. The new engines are supposed to be delivered by the middle of next year.
Meantime, some Lakeshore platforms still need to be lengthened to accommodate the longer trains. Platform work begins this month in Hamilton, in the summer at Appleby and in the fall at Long Branch.
– by Tess Kalinowski, Transportation Reporter for the Toronto Star