| GO Transit |
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|---|---|---|---|
(Clockwise from top left) A GO Train arriving at Exhibition GO Station; a GO Bus at Meadowvale GO Station; a platform at Union Station. |
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| Info | |||
| Owner | Ontario Ministry of Transportation (through Metrolinx) | ||
| Locale | Golden Horseshoe | ||
| Transit type | Commuter rail bus service |
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| Number of lines | 7 | ||
| Number of stations | 61 rail[1] 16 bus + numerous stops[1] |
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| Daily ridership | 217,000 (all modes)[1] - 180,000 (train) - 37,000 (bus) |
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| Annual ridership | 57 million[1] | ||
| Chief executive | Gary McNeil, President | ||
| Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario | ||
| Website | GOTransit.com | ||
| Call Centre | 1(888) 438-6646 | ||
| Operation | |||
| Began operation | 1967[1] | ||
| Operator(s) | Metrolinx | ||
| Reporting marks | GOT | ||
| Host Railroads | Canadian National Railway Canadian Pacific Railway Metrolinx |
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| Number of vehicles | 65 locomotives 520 coaches 416 buses[1] |
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| Technical | |||
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) | ||
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GO Transit is an inter-regional public transit system in Southern Ontario, Canada. It primarily serves the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) conurbation, with operations extending to several communities beyond the GTHA proper in the Greater Golden Horseshoe. GO carries over 57 million passengers a year using an extensive network consisting of diesel train and coach bus service, enhanced by convenient connections with other regional transit providers such as the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) and Via Rail.[1]
Canada's first such public system, GO Transit began regular passenger service on May 23, 1967, under the auspices of the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario. Since then, it has grown from a mere two train lines to seven, and numerous buses and bus routes.[1] It continues to expand its service, infrastructure and ridership with much success. It has also been constituted in a variety of public-sector configurations, today existing as an operating division of the provincial crown agency Metrolinx, a body with overall responsibility for integrative transportation planning within the GTHA.[2]
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Cities in and around the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) experienced huge expansions in the 1950s, influenced by growth in immigration and industrialization. Much of the existing commuter service was provided by Canadian National Railway, and it faced mounting pressure to expand its service beyond lakeshore trains it ran between Hamilton in the west, and Danforth in the east, to Toronto; however, CN lacked the financial and physical capital to do this. Real improved commuter service was not considered until the 1962 Metropolitan Toronto and Region Transportation Study, which examined land use and traffic in the newly created Metropolitan Toronto. The idea of GO Transit was created out of fear of becoming lost in years of planning; it was "approached as a test, but recognized to be a permanent service."[3]
Government of Ontario Transit (later abbreviated as 'GO Transit') began as a three-year experiment on May 23, 1967 running single-deck diesel multiple units in push-pull configuration on a single rail line along Lake Ontario's shoreline.[4][5] All day GO Train service ran from Oakville to Pickering with limited rush hour train service to Hamilton. The experiment proved to be extremely popular; GO Transit carried its first million riders during its first four months, and averaged 15,000 per day soon after. This line, now divided as the Lakeshore East line and Lakeshore West line, is, and will continue to be, the keystone corridor of GO Transit.[4] Expansion of rail service continued in the 1970s and 1980s, aimed at developing ridership in with the introduction of the Georgetown line in 1974, and the Richmond Hill line in 1978.[6][7] The Milton GO Train line opened in 1981, followed by the Bradford and Stouffville lines a year later, establishing the 7 rail corridors that today's rail service is based upon.[7]
Other than establishing new rail corridors, GO Transit introduced the Bi-Level coaches in 1979, in order to increase the amount of passengers carried per train. These lozenge-shaped railcars are a key part of GOs image, although they are now in use around the world. In that same year, the current GO concourse at Union Station was built to accommodate these additional passengers. GO Bus service also started out in 1970 as an extension of the original Lakeshore train line. It eventually became a full-fledged network in its own right, feeding rail service and serving communities beyond the reach of existing trains.
Towards the end of 1982, Ontario Minister of Transportation and Communications James W. Snow announced the launching of GO-ALRT (Advanced Light Rail Transit), an interregional light rail transit program providing $2.6 billion (1980 dollars) of infrastructure.[8] Although this plan did not come to fruition, certain key objectives from it were established in other ways: additional stations were built, all-day service to Whitby and Burlington was established, and networks of buses and trains interconnected the network.[8]
GO extended limited rush hour train service on the Bradford, Georgetown and both Lakeshore East lines, and off-peak service on the Milton line in 1990. Train service was also extended to Burlington on the Lakeshore West line in 1992.[4][6][9] But the era of continuous growth came to end as ridership shrank as a result of the early 1990s recession. In a series of cost-cutting measures, then-Ontario Premier Bob Rae announced a "temporary" reduction in spending on services, causing all the expansions of the 1990s to be reduced or eliminated.[9]
All day train service was restored from Burlington to Whitby, and peak service was finally brought to Oshawa in 2000, but this would be only one indicator of things to come. Many expansion projects were created in the mid-2000s under the GO Transit Rail Improvement Plan, or GO TRIP. $1 billion was invested in 12 GO rail projects and the GO bus network, which adding many kilometres of new track, grade separations to prevent competition with CN and CP freight traffic, and other general service improvements. This was later dwarfed by a further slate of new GO infrastructure proposed in MoveOntario 2020, the provincial transit plan announced by Premier Dalton McGuinty in the leadup to the 2007 provincial election. With significant re-investment in regional transit, GO experienced significant growth in its train network: all day service was restored to Oshawa in 2006 and Aldershot in 2007, and service was expanded to the south of Barrie in 2007, and to Lincolnville in 2008.
GO Transit also went through three major reconfigurations. In January 1997, the province announced it would hand over funding responsibility for GO Transit to the GTHA municipalities. In exchange, the province would assume certain other funding responsibilities from municipal governments. However, the Greater Toronto Services Board was abolished on New Years Day 2002, and responsibility was given back to the province. The Greater Toronto Transportation Authority was created in 2006, with the responsibilities of co-ordinating, planning, financing and developing integrated transit in the GTHA. This agency would then become merged with GO Transit in 2009 under the name Metrolinx. GO Transit would continue as an operating division alongside two other major initiatives: the Air Rail Link from Union Station to Pearson Airport, and Presto card.
Although not provided for in MoveOntario 2020, GO Transit has also identified possible rail service extensions to many areas, including the Niagara Region, Waterloo Region, Bolton, Pickering, Brantford, Bowmanville, Peterborough and Uxbridge.[10] To date, an excursion train serves St. Catharines and Niagara Falls on weekends in the summer, and extensions have been made to Guelph and Kitchener.[11] As part of the Ontario general election, 2011, Premier Dalton McGuinty also made a campaign pledge to provide two-way, full-day train service on all corridors, and a 15-minute on-time guarantee.[12]
Improvements are being made to Union Station, which is the busiest passenger transportation facility in Canada, and is expected to have its current passenger traffic double in the next 10 to 15 years.[13] Improvements include new roof and glass atrium, covering the tracks platforms and railway tracks, new staircases, additional vertical access points, and general visual improvements of the platforms and concourses.[14][15] Other options such as a second downtown station are also being studied to meet future demand.[16]
In partnership with the City of Mississauga, GO is developing a bus rapid transit (BRT) system after much success with its Highway 407 express buses, launched in the fall of 2000. Metrolinx also announced plans in January 2011 to electrify the Georgetown & Lakeshore rail lines, and the Air Rail Link.[17]
The Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) consists of the City of Toronto, the City of Hamilton, and the surrounding Regions of Halton, Peel, York, and Durham. GO Transit also reaches beyond the GTHA into Niagara and Waterloo Regions, and Peterborough, Simcoe, Dufferin, and Wellington Counties.[1]
In total, GO trains and buses serve a population of 7 million in a 11,000 square kilometres (4,200 sq mi) area radiating in places more than 140 kilometres (87 mi) from downtown Toronto. Present extrema are Hamilton and Waterloo to the west; Orangeville, Barrie, and Beaverton to the north; Peterborough and Newcastle to the east; and Niagara Falls to the south.[1]
The GO system map shows seven train routes (listed below), all departing from Toronto's Union Station and mostly named respectively after the outer terminus of train service. These trains serve all stations during peak weekday rush-hour. During off-peak times and weekends, only the Lakeshore lines between Oshawa and Aldershot. The remaining train lines are served during off-peak by GO buses, nicknamed train-buses, that run between Union Station and the other train stations.[1]
Although colours are assigned in a consistent fashion to each line in all official media, in colloquial parlance lines are only ever referred to by their names.
The Lakeshore East and West rail lines frequently operate on an interlined basis: most off-peak and some peak-period trains provide through service between stations east and west of Toronto. With this exception, however, direct movement between the various "legs" is quite limited. While several GO buses run on orbital routes that connect multiple legs, all rail-based interchange from one line to another (with the aforementioned exception of the Lakeshore lines) requires switching trains at Union Station. (Trains on multiple routes pass through or by each of the Bloor, Danforth and Scarborough railway stations, but each station is assigned to a single corridor and only accordingly-routed trains stop there.)
GO Transit's rail services (reporting mark GOT) carry the large majority of its overall ridership.[1] Passengers are carried by Bi-Level coaches built by Bombardier Transportation.[18] These coaches, easily identifiable by their elongated-octogon shape, were originally designed for GO in the 1970s, and are now used by a number of other commuter railways across the continent. They have a seating capacity of 162 people per coach, or 1,944 per train. The coaches are primairly pulled/pushed by MPI MP40 locomotives, which replaced most of the older EMD F59PH and are rarely used since. The new MP40 locomotives are more powerful, allowing them to pull 12 coaches instead of 10.[19]
Most GO Train routes operate only in peak rush-hour periods towards Union Station, which accounts for over 90% of its train ridership.[1] To date, the only off-peak train service exists on parts of the Lakeshore lines; hourly trains operate on weekdays off-peak hours and weekends between Aldershot and Oshawa. Each train runs with a three-person crew. Two engineers drive the train and handle related operations. The third crew member is the customer service ambassador who deals with passenger service issues, stationed in the accessibility coach in the middle of the train. Bombardier Transportation is responsible for providing train operations (except the Milton line), taking over from CN crews in 2007. CP crews continue operate the Milton line.[20] GO trains achieve on-time performance of 95%.[21]
Although it has always owned its locomotives and coaches, GO's trackage was originally owned entirely by Canada's two major commercial railways: the large majority by the Canadian National Railway (CNR) and the remainder by Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). In 1988, GO extended part of the Lakeshore East line onto its first-ever section of self-owned purpose-built trackage. Since 2000, GO has incrementally acquired further trackage from the two commercial railways in order to improve service. As of March 2011, Metrolinx owns 61% of the rail corridors on which GO trains operate.[22]
For bus services, GO Transit primarily operates single-level coach buses and double-decker buses. A majority of the buses in the fleet are single-level D4500 coach buses built by MCI, which can seat 57 people. As of April 2008, GO began operating 22 Enviro 500 double-decker buses built by Alexander Dennis.[23] All of the buses are equipped with bike racks.[1] These buses run exclusively on GO's Highway 407 and Highway 403 corridor on the Oakville GO Station branch.[24] They feature reclining seats and other amenities.[24] Once GO receives more, it will provide service to York Region.[24]
Each train route has a corresponding GO Bus service for the times (and directions) when (and where) 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 Aldershot station in West Burlington 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 Guelph operate from Georgetown in the evening peak, and from Toronto at other times. Buses serving downtown Toronto operate to a terminal adjacent to Union Station.
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 two routes: one from Brampton to Yorkdale and York Mills subway stations, and one to Richmond Hill Centre (Yonge & Highway 7).
GO Bus service uses 17 bus terminals, with numerous intermediate stops and ticket agencies, in addition to providing off-peak and express services to GO Train stations.[1][25] The terminals have a wide range of owner/operator/user relationships; GO owned facility with exclusive use or shared with local service; municipal transit operation shared by GO; intercity terminal shared with Greyhound, Coach Canada, etc. There are also routes that serve universities and colleges during the school year.
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. The GO concourse at Union Station is adjacant to the Union subway station, allowing it and three other GO bus terminals to connect to the Yonge-University Spadina line. GO Train stations are also directly connected or close to four Bloor-Danforth line stations, and one bus terminal is located on the Scarborough RT. All GO Train stations within the City of Toronto are adjacent to TTC bus or streetcar routes. Outside of Toronto, connections with 14 other municipal transit services remain purely bus-based to date.
GO runs 180 train trips carrying 180,000 riders, and 1,973 bus trips carrying 37,000 riders daily. This adds up to 217,000 passengers throughout the entire system on a typical weekday, and 57 million riders annually.[1] GO Transit achieved its one billionth passenger mark on October 11, 2006.[26][27] GO says that their ridership growth has continually exceeded expectations.
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.[1] The average trip taken by a passenger is 33.5 kilometres (20.8 mi) long. 80% of train riders and 60% of bus riders have a car available for their trip, but choose public transit anyway.[10]
| Number of Passenger Trips (2010)[28] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rail corridors | |||
| Corridor | Riders | % | |
| Lakeshore West | 14,849,600 | 26.01% | |
| Milton | 7,348,200 | 12.87% | |
| Georgetown† | 4,634,200 | 8.12% | |
| Barrie | 3,462,500 | 6.06% | |
| Richmond Hill | 2,330,700 | 4.08% | |
| Stouffville | 3,597,900 | 6.30% | |
| Lakeshore East | 11,818,800 | 20.70% | |
| Subtotal | 48,041,900 | 84.14% | |
| Bus Service | |||
| All routes | 9,056,100 | 15.86% | |
| Total - GO System | 57,098,000 | ||
| † Known as the Kitchener line since December 19, 2011 | |||
Fares on the GO Transit network are based on the distance travelled between two specified points, and the type of passenger using the ticket.[29] Passenger categories exist for adults, students, seniors, children, and groups. Tickets are also sold for single, two and ten-ride trips, or passes for one day or one month.[30] Tickets can be used on a GO train, bus, or a combination of both. They can be purchased at train stations, bus terminals, ticket agencies, or on GO buses.[29]
The Presto card is available on all GO trains and buses throughout the entire system.[31] It is a unified smart card-based payment system for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area similar to the MetroCard used by the New York MTA and the Oyster card used by UK's Transport for London. Presto is a sister operating division under Metrolinx, and is available on a number of other local transit agencies in the GTHA.[32] There are also discounted fares available for passengers who use local transit to connect with a GO bus or train.[29]
The entire network is free of barriers, and all fares and access to the network are structured on an "honour system". However, all passengers may be subject to random inspections by a "proper authority" to prove that they have paid a fare. This system is designed to reduce costs and improve efficiency, and the integrity of this system is protected by Metrolinx's By-law No. 2.[33]
GO Transit hires Transit Safety Officers, who are designated Special Constables that patrol transit property. They are responsible for ensuring passenger safety and protection, enforcing relevant laws or by-laws, offering customer assistance, conducting fare inspections, and supporting local police, fire and ambulance, while also promoting railway safety.[34] Under the Police Services Act, Transit Safety Officers are appointed by the Commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police, with approval from the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services.[35]
In addition to By-law No. 2, they have the authority to enforce other laws under police powers such as the Criminal Code of Canada, Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, the Youth Criminal Justice Act, Safe Streets Act, Liquor License Act, Mental Health Act, and Trespass to Property Act. GO Transit Special Constables are outfitted with forage caps with a hat badge and a black band, shirts displaying the Transit Safety shield, a black vest with “Transit Safety” printed across the front and back, black pants with a reflective gray stripe, and a duty belt.[34] GO Transit operates a 24-hour transit safety dispatch centre that is able to dispatch Police and Special Constables to all areas served by GO. Customers are also encouraged to report any crimes on GO property to Transit Safety dispatch, or 911.[34]
GO Transit also employs Provincial Offences Officers (internally known as Customer Attendants) to enforce and assist with the proof-of-payment system.[36]
GO Transit By-law No. 2 is a document of rules and regulations governing actions of passengers and employees while on GO Transit property, which includes land, facilities, trains, buses, and other structures. Besides issues relating to fares, the by-law specifies permissible and prohibited actions such as staying in designated safe areas, commercial or distribution activities, parking, and other personal actions that promote or endanger the safety of passengers. It covers items like paying fares, parking, general behaviour, fines, and rule enforcement. These rules can be enforced by a "proper authority" which is defined as "an employee or agent of GO Transit wearing a GO Transit uniform [or] carrying an identification card issued by GO Transit, a GO Transit Special Constable, or a municipal police officer." Any contravention of the by-law can result in a fine under the Provincial Offences Act.[33]
On December 12, 1975, a westbound GO train collided with a TTC bus that was stalled on a crossing at St. Clair and Midland Avenue. Nine passengers on the bus were killed and 20 others were injured. This was the worst accident in terms of loss of life in the history of the TTC and GO Transit systems. The level crossing was replaced by an overpass a few years later.[37]
Since 1991, there has only been one GO train accident that substantiated a report by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada. On November 17, 1997, an empty train collided with another train waiting to depart Union Station with over 800 passengers on board. The empty train's locomotive engineer was at the opposite end of the train, and the conductor at the leading end failed in his attempts to relay the situation to the engineer or apply the emergency brake. The two trains then collided at a speed of 19 kilometres per hour (12 mph), causing a partial derailment and minor injuries to fifty-four passengers and two crew members. The subsequent report made recommendations that included making emergency brakes more accessible, and that the locomotive engineer must always control the train from the leading end.[38]
As a division of Metrolinx, GO Transit is governed by the Metrolinx Board of Directors and Executive Group. As part of the executive group, GO has a President and three Vice Presidents:
As of 2007, GO has a workforce of 1,447 personnel.[39] In its earlier years, much of GO Transit's staff were actually employed by private companies and worked for GO under contract. Today, all staff are employees of GO Transit, with the exception of train maintenance personnel, conductors and engineers, who are contracted from Bombardier Transportation or Canadian Pacific Railway.
Unionized staff are part of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1587, and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 235, and generally based in Toronto.
Exclusive Advertising is responsible for 4,350 train interior poster faces and 1,760 digital monitors throughout the system.
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