GO Transit

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

GO Transit
Reporting marks	GOT
Locale	Greater Toronto Area
Dates of operation	1967 – present
Track gauge	1435 mm (4 ft 8½ in) (standard gauge)
Headquarters	Toronto, Ontario

GO Transit (AAR reporting marks GOT), officially known as the Greater Toronto Transit Authority (GTTA), is Canada's first, and Ontario's only, interregional public transit system, established to link Toronto with the surrounding regions of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). GO carries 47 million passengers a year in an extensive network of train and bus services. Since it began regular passenger service in May 1967, GO Transit has carried over one billion passengers on its train and/or bus service. GO Transit achieved its one billionth passenger mark on October 11, 2006.

GO trains are easily identifiable; they are double-decked, green and white, and the cars are shaped like elongated octagons. These Bombardier BiLevel carriages were originally designed for GO in the 1970s, and are now used by a number of other commuter railways across the continent. GO buses are not double-decked (although a BC Transit bus was used in an experiment during May 2002), but they are also characterized by a green and white colour scheme. Most GO buses are inter-city coaches (see directory below).

Although it owns its locomotives and carriages, GO contracts out the operation of its trains to the Canadian Pacific Railway on the Milton line, and to CN on all others. As a result, GO service is sometimes disrupted by labour disputes in which it is not a direct participant.

[edit] Service area

Map of GO Train system.

Cab Control Car of a GO Train with a view of the CN Tower in the background.

GO trains and buses serve a population of six million in an 8,000 km² area (3,000 sq.mi.) radiating from downtown Toronto to Hamilton and Guelph in the west; Orangeville, Barrie, and Beaverton to the north; and Port Perry, Oshawa, and Newcastle in the east. The buses extend GO's service as far as over 100 km (about 60 miles) from downtown Toronto. GO connects with every municipal transit system in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton areas, including the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC).

The Greater Toronto Area consists of the City of Toronto and the surrounding Regions of Halton, Peel, York, and Durham. GO Transit also serves the neighbouring City of Hamilton, and reaches into Simcoe, Dufferin, and Wellington Counties.

The GO system map shows seven train routes, all departing from Toronto's Union Station and mostly named respectively after the outer terminus of train service:

However, until 2006, GO's timetables showed a single Lakeshore line, which is perhaps a more appropriate nomenclature since most off-peak, and some peak period, trains provide through service between stations east and west of Toronto.

A GO Train F59PH, currently the standard power on GO Transit's rail lines.

Most of the GO Train route network operates only in peak rush-hour periods and then only in the primary direction of travel. For example, as of February 2006, the Milton line service consists of six trains leaving Milton each weekday between 6:25 and 8:00 a.m., and six trains leaving Toronto each weekday between 4:30 and 7:00 p.m.

There is off-peak train service on parts of the Lakeshore and Georgetown lines. Hourly trains operate on weekdays between Oshawa and Burlington, with weekend service between Oshawa and Oakville. The Georgetown line has a more limited off-peak train service between Toronto and Bramalea.

Each train route has a corresponding GO Bus service for the times (and directions) when the trains are not operating. These accept the same tickets as the trains and in many cases serve the same stations. For example, buses operate from Toronto to Milton, and from Burlington (on weekends Oakville) to Hamilton, at all times except the weekday evening peak when trains are available. Some train routes are similarly extended by buses at all times, as noted in the list of routes, with through buses when the trains do not run. Thus buses to Barrie operate from Bradford in the evening peak, and from Toronto at other times.

Still other GO Buses are independent of rail services. Some parts of the route network use expressways (such as the frequent Toronto–Hamilton express bus via the Queen Elizabeth Way) while others are more local in character. Toronto Pearson International Airport is served by a route from Brampton to Yorkdale and York Mills subway stations. Buses serving downtown Toronto operate to a terminal adjacent to Union Station.

[edit] Connections

GO Transit Orion V 2000 at GO Finch Bus Terminal bound for Newmarket. Since the introduction of York Region Transit's VIVA Blue line, the GO Newmarket "B" route has only operated occasional service during rush hour periods.

Many municipal transit systems connect with GO Trains. The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) provides the most connections with GO Trains and convenient connections can be made between the trains and TTC buses, streetcars, and subway trains. Immediately adjacent to the GO concourse at Union Station is the Union station on the TTC's Yonge-University Spadina subway line. Connections at Union Station with the TTC's Harbourfront (509) and Spadina (510) streetcar lines are also possible.

Four stations on the TTC's Bloor-Danforth subway line and one on the Sheppard line are close to GO Train stations;

• TTC Kipling has a direct connection to GO Kipling (on GO's Milton line),
• TTC Dundas West is near GO Bloor (Georgetown line),
• TTC Main Street is near GO Danforth (on the Lakeshore East line), and
• TTC Kennedy has a direct connection to the GO Kennedy (on the Stouffville Line).
• The TTC Leslie station does not currently connect with the nearby GO Oriole station on the Richmond Hill line, but there has been consideration given to moving GO Oriole next to TTC Leslie Station in the future.

All GO Train stations within the City of Toronto except GO Exhibition are adjacent to TTC bus routes, and GO Danforth, GO Exhibition, GO Bloor, and GO Long Branch are also on streetcar routes.

[edit] Ridership

GO runs 180 train trips and 1,430 bus trips daily, carrying about 190,000 passengers on a typical weekday — 160,000 on the trains and 30,000 by bus. GO says that their ridership growth has continually exceeded expectations. In the first year of operation, 2.5 million passengers were carried. The combined rail and bus system today handles more than 47 million riders annually.

At least 96% of the train ridership is to and from Union Station in downtown Toronto, while about 70% of all bus passengers travel to and from the City of Toronto.

[edit] Recent Service Disruptions

In recent years, since initiating a major infrastructure renewal program in 2005, GO Transit has been plagued with frequent service disruptions, often leading to trip cancellations, and stranding passengers at GO stations. In addition to several major service disruptions, GO trains also rountinely arrive at their destinations late. Weekday passengers travelling to Union Station during the morning rush hour should expect their trains to arrive in downtown Toronto at least several minutes late. GO has blamed many of the disruptions on long-delayed construction projects it has recently undertaken. It cites underfunding by previous Ontario governments for delaying critical infrastructure improvements necessary to handle GO's growing passenger volumes. Passengers though, are more likely to fault GO directly, alleging that the agency shows little concern for their schedules, and fails to provide accurate information when major delays occur. They also point to newspaper reports, which have linked service disruptions to long weekends, suggesting that GO employees are routinely shirking work at these times, in order to extend their holidays.

GO Transit's board recently considered a motion calling for rebates to its monthly pass holders, as a gesture of goodwill to passengers after several recent service disruptions. This motion did not pass, and rebates were not issued.

[edit] History

GO Transit MCI D4500 2109 at York University.

All GO trains are now composed of the agency's bi-level railway cars with a distinctive paint scheme, and whose shape was once distinctive.

GO Transit was created and funded by the provincial government in 1967 as Government of Ontario Transit (hence the acronym 'GO') and was financed entirely by the Province of Ontario until the end of 1997. The Province subsidized any operating costs that were not recovered through revenue, as well as all capital costs. Responsibility for the system was then transferred to the Toronto Area Transportation Operating Authority (TATOA) and later to the Greater Toronto Services Board as part of the province's 'downloading' initiative, before finally returning to the province as a Crown Agency under Greater Toronto Transit Authority (GTTA).

GO began as a three-year experiment in May 1967 running single-deck diesel multiple units on a single rail line along Lake Ontario's shoreline. All day GO Train service ran from Oakville to Pickering with limited rush hour train service to Hamilton. Lakeshore GO trains carried 2.5 million riders that first year and was considered to be a success. GO Bus service, which started out as an extension of the original Lakeshore train line, has since become a full-fledged network in its own right. It feeds the rail service and serves communities that trains do not reach.

Expansion continued in the 1970s with the introduction of the Georgetown line in 1974 and the Richmond Hill line in 1978. Also in 1978 the GO Transit bi-level railcars were introduced, although many of the bi-level trains had to run with a single level cab car at first. Finally in 1979 the current GO Train concourse at Union Station was built.

The 1980s proved to be the most exciting time for GO Transit as in 1981 the Milton GO Train line opened. Then just one year later in 1982 the Bradford line and Stouffville line opened after the newly created VIA Rail Canada cut passenger rail service to these corridors. Towards the end of 1982 came GO Transit's moment of truth, as the Ontario Minister of Transportation and Communications, James Snow, announced the launching GO ALRT, an interregional rapid transit program. This is a transit system that would have allowed computer controlled trains to run at a maximum frequency of two minutes instead of the usual twenty minutes during rush hour. One line would have replaced the Lakeshore GO Train line and would have run from Hamilton to Oshawa. The other would have connected Oakville with downtown Mississauga, Pearson Airport, downtown North York and the Scarborough Town Centre before finally terminating at Pickering. A short lived third line would have run north-south connecting Brampton with Mississauga. The rail cars (designed by The Urban Transportation Development Corporation) started out as a ICTS train similar to the Scarborough RT later evolved in 1983 to the length of roughly a Toronto subway train. Further redesign in 1984/85 indicated that greater carrying capacity was going to be required resulting in cars similar in length to VIA's LRC coach car. Meanwhile Hamilton residents were strongly opposed to the plan which caused the proposal to go under in 1985 which was also a result of long time Ontario PC premier Bill Davis being replaced by the late Ontario PC leader Frank Miller who served only a few months in office.

With the end of GO ALRT and the creation of a coalition provincial government between the Ontario NDP and Ontario Liberals, it was decided that certain parts of the GO ALRT proposal would live on, in the form of a GO Train extension of all-day GO Train service to Whitby and Burlington. The tracks between Pickering and Whitby were originally built for the GO ALRT system but were soon converted to handle conventional GO Trains. All day GO Train service was brought to Whitby in 1988.

In the 1990s, the era of continuous growth came to end. Ridership shrank as a result of a recession in the early part of the decade. In spite of this, GO extended limited rush hour GO Train service to Barrie, Guelph, Acton and Oshawa in 1990. In May, 1992, while GO Transit celebrated its 25th birthday, all-day GO Train service was extended to Burlington with the building of a new station at Aldershot. However, in 1993 former Ontario premier Bob Rae announced the Social Contract, which would see a "temporary" reduction in spending on services. Consequentially GO Train service to Barrie, Guelph and Acton was eliminated. All day GO Train service to Whitby and Burlington was reduced to rush hours only (while limited Rush Hour train service to Oshawa and Hamilton remained in place). All day lakeshore train service existed only between Pickering and Oakville. In 1995 a new set of tracks and a station were built in Oshawa, allowing for frequent rush hour GO Train service to Oshawa.

With the election of former Ontario premier Mike Harris in June, 1995, plans for expanding GO Transit were put on hold as part of an overall reduction in government spending.

In January 1997, the province announced it would hand over funding responsibility for GO Transit to the Greater Toronto Area municipalities (which consist of the City of Toronto, and the Regions of Halton, Peel, York, and Durham) as well as the neighbouring Region of Hamilton-Wentworth (which became the new City of Hamilton on 1 January 2001). In exchange, the province would assume certain other funding responsibilities from municipal governments.

A year later, on 1 January 1998, the GTA municipalities and Hamilton-Wentworth (now the city of Hamilton) began to fund GO Transit, cost-sharing all of GO's capital expenses and any operating costs that are not recovered through passenger fares and other revenue. On 1 January 1999, a new municipal agency created by the province came into being: the Greater Toronto Services Board (GTSB), composed of regional chairs, municipal mayors, and local councillors from the GTSB's service area. GO Transit transferred over to the municipal sector as an arm of the GTSB on August 7, 1999, thus completing the process that had begun with the funding change of 1998.

In 2000, all day GO Train service was restored from Burlington to Whitby and finally brought to Oshawa (although weekend & holiday Lakeshore GO Train service would still only see service between Pickering and Oakville).

On September 27, 2001, Ontario Premier Mike Harris announced that the Provincial government would be taking back responsibility for GO Transit, and putting $3 billion into public transit in Ontario. For the practically impoverished GO, it was a welcome funding commitment.

The GO Transit Act, 2001 was passed by the Ontario Legislature on December 5, 2001. As of January 1, 2002, GO Transit is no longer the responsibility of the municipalities of the Greater Toronto Area and Hamilton. GO has returned to provincial responsibility as a Crown Corporation, and the Greater Toronto Services Board no longer exists.

On December 30, 2006, the GO Train service was fully restored along the Lakeshore East line to Oshawa, having service include weekends and holidays.

[edit] Future expansion

Artist Conception of GO Transit's new locomotive in 2008, side and front view

Artist Conception of GO Transit's new locomotive in 2008, side and rear view

GO Transit has a ten-year plan in place, which includes provisions for new train stations, more parking spaces at existing stations, and increasing service on some (or all) existing train lines. While no new train lines are being planned, here are some of the improvements being planned, or in the process of completion:

• Construction of the Mount Pleasant Station on the Georgetown line (Bovaird Drive and Creditview Road) continues, but the station has been open for service since February 2005.
• Expanding the Highway 407 bus service to York University; other academic institutions served on the 407 routing include: McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario (new terminal set to open January 2007), Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario, Centennial College and University of Toronto at Scarborough in eastern Toronto, and Durham College and UOIT in Oshawa, Ontario.
• Increasing available parking spaces at Bradford and Milton stations, along with multi-deck parking at several stations.
• Moved the Milliken station south of Steeles Avenue into Toronto from York Region on 6 September 2005.
• Construction of a new Kennedy station, which will allow for transfers to/from the TTC (Bloor-Danforth Line, Scarborough RT or connecting TTC bus services) that opened for service on 2 June 2005.
• Improved overnight train storage facilities at Milton, Hamilton and Mount Pleasant; permitting GO Transit to operate longer trains, improve train schedule reliability and add new train trips.
• Installation of railway crossing protection arms at various roads.
• Improving accessibility to GO Transit's services for the physically challenged.
• Fleet expansion, including buses and Bombardier Bi-Level Rail Cars, and the replacement of old locomotives with more reliable and powerful models; permitting more train and bus trips, along with longer trainsets.
• Extending platforms at several Lakeshore and Milton Corridor stations to permit 12-car train sets by 2008.
• Adding a new station on the Milton Corridor, located near Highway 401 and Winston Churchill Boulevard in Mississauga, named Lisgar, which will open in 2007.
• A third track from Burlington to Bayview Junction (between Aldershot and Hamilton) on the Lakeshore West line, and one from downtown Toronto to Scarborough on the Lakeshore East, to facilitate improved schedule reliability and increased service on the Lakeshore and Stouffville corridors.
• Rail to rail grade separation started in Markham, Ontario, on the Stouffville Line (see below).
• Improvements to Union Station to increase passenger access and capacity-handling.

Larger-scale infrastructure improvements are also being planned, including:

• Rail-to-rail grade separations where the Bradford and Stouffville lines cross CN's east-west freight line, to allow for increased service, and at the West Toronto Diamond, to take the CN tracks on the Georgetown line under the CP tracks so that more trains can run more reliably--construction on the Stouffville Line began in May 2006.
• Increased track capacity on the Georgetown line's busy section between Brampton and northwest Toronto to allow more frequent train movements, and a new train layover facility near Mount Pleasant station.
• Track upgrades on the Milton line to run more peak and off-peak trains.
• The controversial proposal for the Blue22 high-speed train service between the Pearson Airport and Union Station via the Georgetown line using Bombardier diesel cars. So named for the numbers of minutes the trip would take between Pearson and Downtown (one-way distance around 30km). Because the Airport is located some 5km from the line, a proposed spur line would need to be constructed to connect the trains to the APM monrail currently serving the terminal facilities. It is uncertain how this service would be coordinated with GO Transit, which uses the same Georgetown Line and extensive track uprages along this line would be required. The project was announced as a transportation priority by the previous federal Liberal government in 2000 and a contract to build the diesel cars was awarded in 2003, with the expectation of project completion by 2008. At the current pace, this is unlikely, and is opposed by residents in places like Weston.

Expansions beyond GO's present service area — initiatives that are part of the project funding announcements made by the Ontario and the Canadian federal governments, including:

• Extending the Bradford line train service to the Barrie, Ontario area, using track corridor owned by the City of Barrie (who acquired the right of way following CN's abandonment, after GO Trains last ran there)
• Introducing commuter bus services to Peterborough, to Niagara Region, and to Waterloo Region to build the market for train service. Waterloo Region seems strongly in favour of Go Trains in the region.

Detailed information on these expansion projects can be found on the GO Transit Rail Improvement Program (GO TRIP) website.

Theoretically, GO Transit can serve any region in Ontario and set up service in other areas as well, as it is a provincial agency; however, there is no real market for inter-regional service in other regions (such as in/near the larger cities in Southwestern Ontario and in the National Capital Region) that is not provided by private agencies or VIA Rail.

GO is also developing a bus rapid transit (BRT) system that will provide extensive east-to-west express service across the GTA, using transit priority measures and park-and-ride stations with links to local transit. GO's already popular Highway 407 Express buses are the BRT's precursor, showing that demand for such service is already there.

The former provincial Minister of Transportation announced plans in 2005 to introduce the GTA Farecard, an unified smartcard-based payment system for the entire Greater Toronto Area similar to the Octopus Card used in Hong Kong.

[edit] Vehicles and staff

Vehicle: 288 buses, 45 locomotives, 392 coaches (2006) Employees: 1,193 (1991)

Source: Toronto Region, Ontario http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~wyatt/alltime/toronto-suburbs-on.html

[edit] Locomotives

All locomotives operated by GO Transit have been built by EMD in London, Ontario:

[edit] Retired engines

[edit] Active engines

All active engines were manufactured by EMD.

NOTES:

1. 565-568 have been sold to Trinity Railway Express in Irving, TX, USA.
2. GO Transit is ordering new, more powerful locomotives for delivery by 2007. The new engine class MPI MPXpress MP40PH-3C are being built by Motive Power, Inc. and will be put into action in 2007 and 2008.
3. The first 27 engines received by Motive Power will be used on the Milton line, and in Express Service on the Lakeshore lines. (Source on page 3)
4. GO Transit's current 45 engine roster will possibly be sold to Minnesota's proposed Northstar Corridor Commuter Rail Service that will start in 2009. (Source on page 6)

[edit] Multiple units

[edit] Coaches

Manufacturer	Model	Numbers	Notes
HSC	Bi-Level I coach
HSC	Bi-Level II coach
UTDC	Bi-Level III coach
UTDC	Bi-Level IV coach
UTDC	Bi-Level V coach
UTDC/Bombardier	Bi-Level VI coach
Bombardier Transportation	Bi-Level VII coach
Bombardier Transportation	Bi-Level VIII coach
Bombardier Transportation	Bi-Level coach		leased from Tri-Rail
Bombardier Transportation	Bi-Level coach		leased from West Coast Express
Pullman-Standard	Bi-level coaches		leased from CPR Montreal commuter rail service (1974) and CN&W (1976)

[edit] Buses

GM buses were manufactured at the Diesel Division in London, Ontario and Orion/Ontario Bus buses in Mississauga, Ontario:

[edit] Retired

Year	Make	Model	Length (ft)		Engine	Numbers
	GMDD	T8H-5307A
	GMDD	S8H-5304A
	Ontario Bus	Orion I 01.508
	Motor Coach Industries	MC-9
	MCI	102A2
	New Flyer	D40S

[edit] Active

All active buses are 102 inches wide.

Year	Make	Model	Length (ft)		Engine	Numbers
1990-1	MCI	102A3	40	No	Detroit Diesel 6V92TA	1510-1514
1993	MCI	102C3	40	No	Cummins L10	1520-1531
1999	Prevost	XL LeMirage	40	Yes	Detroit Diesel 60	1600-1619
2000	Orion	05.501	40	Yes	Detroit Diesel 50	2000-2007
2001	Orion	05.501	40	Yes	Detroit Diesel 50	2008-2017
2001	MCI	D4500	45	Yes	Detroit Diesel 60	2100-2113
2002	MCI	D4500	45	Yes	Detroit Diesel 60	2114-2148
2003	MCI	D4500	45	Yes	Detroit Diesel 60	2149-2184
2001	MCI	D4500	45	Yes	Detroit Diesel 60	2185-2215
2004	Orion	05.501	40	Yes	Detroit Diesel 50 EGR	2018-2029
2004	MCI	D4500	45	Yes	Caterpillar C13	2215-2266
2005	MCI	D4500CT	45	Yes	Caterpillar C13	2267-2286
2006	MCI	D4500CT	45	Yes	Caterpillar C13	2287-2302

[edit] Staff

All bus drivers, call centre and ticket office personnel are staff of GO Transit. Conductors on trains are contracted from Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway.

[edit] Special Constables

GO Transit has Special Constables patrolling the transit agencies' properties and vehicles. As well as enforcing the Criminal Code and violations taking place on GO Transit Property. They are also known as Transit Enforcement Officers. The rail components are also patrolled by either CN Police or CPR Police.

[edit] Contractors

• Gray Coach Lines - defunct
• Travelways
• Charterways Transportation Limited
• Penetang-Midland Coach Lines (PMCL)
• CN engineers and conductors operate all GO Trains excluding those operated on Milton line.
• CP engineers and conductors operate GO Trains on Milton line only.
• Exclusive Advertising - Represents 3,950 interior poster faces and 790 digital displays throughout the GO Train fleet.

[edit] Terminals

GO Finch Terminal

• GO Brampton Bus Terminal
• GO Finch Bus Terminal - former GO York Region Terminal
• Newmarket Bus Terminal
• GO Oshawa Bus Terminal
• GO Scarborough Town Centre Bus Terminal
• GO Union Station / Bus Terminal
• GO Yorkdale Bus Terminal
• York University GO Station (Bradford Line) - off campus

[edit] Facilities

• GO Transit Willowbrook Yard - ex-CNR car repair track and next to CNR Mimico Station - covering 17 hectares of land and 13,000 m² of workshops
• Wolfedale Yard - Mississauga
• North Bathurst Yard 1987 - formerly of CN
• Georgetown
• Guelph Junction (Milton Line near Campbellville, Ontario)
• Steeprock Bus Garage 1979 - stores 130 buses, 70 bus staging areas, 20 bus repair bays
• CNR MacMillian Yard
• East Region Office - Middlefield Road and McCowan Road at CPR Agincourt Marshalling Yard
• GO Buses are also stored and serviced in Bramalea (Garage built at Bramalea GO station), Guelph, Beaverton, Milton, Oshawa, and Hamilton.

[edit] See also

• Ontario Northland
• Canadian National Railway
• Canadian Pacific Railway
• VIA Rail
• Aurora Transit
• Newmarket Transit
• Markham Transit
• Richmond Hill Transit
• Vaughan Transit
• Viva (bus rapid transit)
• Brampton Transit
• Mississauga Transit
• Durham Region Transit

[edit] External links

• GO Transit
• GO Transit Rail Improvement Program (GO TRIP)
• Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1587
• FindTheWay.ca
• History of Regional Transit in Toronto
• GO Transit Significant Dates
• Building GO-Transit: The Rail Commuter Initiative of The Government of Ontario & Canadian National Railways, People in the project 1965-1969
• Exclusive Advertising (representing GO Train interior advertising)