GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

[WB62]

I really really wouldn’t put your money into what Metrolinx public relations says

 

[nfitz]

So it just so happened GO had a pop up info desk at Pickering GO Station. Got the same explanation about express trains as above (as expected). But something else was a bit discouraging. When I asked if 15 minute service during midday weekday will come back once construction was done, they were a bit non-committal. They said they capacity to do so was there, but changing travel patterns meant it might not happen immediately.

At least a real and honest answer for once.

Whoever that is, will likely be fired tomorrow

 

[PShells]

It's nice, but.... In the new schedule, I see only two Oakworth-Highland meets per day 1550/1559 vs 1552/1601, and 1748/1757 vs 1750/1759.

Still plenty of gaps in the service pattern, and one-way peak service still prevails.

I would call this a very timid toe-in-the-water implementation, and no big advance on a line that continues to represent a huge stranded investment by virtue of failure to complete the Highland - Underwood double tracking.

Show me 30 minute headways, unbroken during peak periods, and I might be celebrating.

- Paul

Given the lack of progress I’ve experienced on the Stouffville line since I started using it in 2022 I’ll take every incremental win, especially on service levels after OOI fell apart.

If every April/September service change adds 1-2 trains per day (even 1 each direction) across each train line before you know it we’ll reach decent off-peak service.

I naively believed the 15 minute service in 2025 advertising when I began looking at where to live in 2021, so I’ve lowered my expectations significantly.

 

[crs1026]

Returning people to an office speaks to added peak demand, as opposed to building 2WAD headways.
There have been various hints at budget cutting and mission rethinking. Sounds like 15 min headways may be a casualty, for now. If so, this may be the reault of not having enough crews, equipment, budget…. Or simply a lack of resolve.

- Paul

 

[nfitz]

If every April/September service change adds 1-2 trains per day (even 1 each direction) across each train line before you know it we’ll reach decent off-peak service.

Good grief - at that rate it will be about 2040 before the finish restoring the pre-Covid Lakeshore East service! Let alone any of the upgrades!

By my (hopefully correct) count, they are down about 2 dozen express trains and 2 dozen every 15-minute mid-day trains on weekdays. That's about 50 trains a day. So 13 to 25 years to fully restore service.

Heck, 2050, not 2040!

 

[PShells]

Good grief - at that rate it will be about 2040 before the finish restoring the pre-Covid Lakeshore East service! Let alone any of the upgrades!

By my (hopefully correct) count, they are down about 2 dozen express trains and 2 dozen every 15-minute mid-day trains on weekdays. That's about 50 trains a day. So 13 to 25 years to fully restore service.

Heck, 2050, not 2040!

I was coming from the perspective of net-new service additions without thinking about lower service on the Lakeshore lines since the pandemic.

An additional 1-2 trains per day for each of the Kitchener, Milton, RH and Stouffville lines every six months would be welcome.

 

[Toronto1834]

When did the weekend westbound express trains from Union to Burlington at 11:02, 11:32, 12:02, 1:32 and 2:32 start running and what is their purpose? These trips don't serve Hamilton and there are no additional express trains going eastbound.

 

[reaperexpress]

Good grief - at that rate it will be about 2040 before the finish restoring the pre-Covid Lakeshore East service! Let alone any of the upgrades!

By my (hopefully correct) count, they are down about 2 dozen express trains and 2 dozen every 15-minute mid-day trains on weekdays. That's about 50 trains a day. So 13 to 25 years to fully restore service.

Heck, 2050, not 2040!

Pre-Covid there were 8 express trains per day in each direction, with a total of 6 trains per hour in the peak hour (4 express, 2 local). Local service only ran every 30 minutes during peak periods - 15-minute local service wasn't introduced until 2021 (when it was changed to 2 express, 4 local). The current peak hour service is 5 trains per hour, all of which run local.

Here's the AM Peak timetbale from January 2020 (from my GO Timetable Archive):

Lakeshore East saw the largest drop in total trips compared to pre-pandemic service, mostly because of the loss of 15-minute midday weekday service that existed pre-pandemic (and in 2021) which was cancelled in 2020 (and in 2022).

Pre-pandemic there were 64 trains per direction on weekday, but just 41 in 2024 (increased to 42 in 2025).

However, weekend service is now at 158% of pre-pandemic, thanks to the 15-minute service introduced in 2024. There are now 49 trains per day, compared to 31 pre-pandemic.

Charts are all from my 2024 regional rail summary

 

[reaperexpress]

When did the weekend westbound express trains from Union to Burlington at 11:02, 11:32, 12:02, 1:32 and 2:32 start running and what is their purpose? These trips don't serve Hamilton and there are no additional express trains going eastbound.

According to the timetable archive on my computer (which is more up-to-date than the Google Drive I linked earlier), those trips appeared on the 28th of June 2025. It seems that they were added to introduce 15-minute local service from Burlington to Toronto (previously 15-minute service was only from Oakville to Toronto) and start frequent service earlier. 15-minute service now starts at 11:58 at Burlington instead of 14:46 at Oakville. They probably run the westbound morning trains express because their goal is just to get to Burlington as quickly as possible so they can start an all-stops service back to Toronto. Burlington is presumably the endpoint of the new trips since that's as far as Metrolinx owns the tracks. Continuing to Hamilton would involve expensive negotiations with CN. Ideally they would have converted the existing Hamilton services to run express while the new Burlington trains run local, but I guess they didn't do that because it would have required a more extensive rewrite of the schedule.

Current weekend AM westbound timetable

Previous timetable (17 May 2025 to 27 June 2025)

The current weekend schedule has 60 trains per direction, which is the most there has ever been on any GO Transit line other than UP Express. That's 193% of the pre-pandemic service (which was 31 trains per direction).

The new express trips provide some useful connections from Toronto to Niagara Falls on weekend mornings, which is a particularly busy time for that trip. For example, if the 11:02 train is on time and you're prepared for the tight transfer, you can get from Union to Niagara Falls station in 2h11, which is 20 minutes faster than the direct train. If you don't make the 6-minute connection, there's a local bus 5 minutes later. For some reason the express trips are not shown on the Niagara timetable, but I've photoshopped that trip in for illustration:

 

[WB62]

When did the weekend westbound express trains from Union to Burlington at 11:02, 11:32, 12:02, 1:32 and 2:32 start running and what is their purpose? These trips don't serve Hamilton and there are no additional express trains going eastbound.

For the CNE, these trips will only run until the end of the month

 

[Metroscapes]

I wasn't expecting much, but I was really hoping for proper weekend service on bus route 17 between Waterloo, Guelph, Aldershot, and Hamilton. That's disappointing.

I'd also love to see a seven-day/week express route between Bramalea and Guelph.

An express to Bramalea would have saved me when I was heading out to Ottawa on Wednesday. The VIA from London broke down, and other options weren't going to get me to Union with a wide enough buffer. I ended up driving to Pearson and catching the UP Express...which itself was delayed due to track inspections. I made my transfer, but boy, what a stressful start to the trip.

 

[ShonTron]

An express to Bramalea would have saved me when I was heading out to Ottawa on Wednesday. The VIA from London broke down, and other options weren't going to get me to Union with a wide enough buffer. I ended up driving to Pearson and catching the UP Express...which itself was delayed due to track inspections. I made my transfer, but boy, what a stressful start to the trip.

It’s kind of amazing how slow the 31 bus between Guelph and Mount Pleasant is. A Guelph-Guelph U-Bramalea-Hwy 407 route makes so much sense.

 

[reaperexpress]

It’s kind of amazing how slow the 31 bus between Guelph and Mount Pleasant is. A Guelph-Guelph U-Bramalea-Hwy 407 route makes so much sense.

Route 48 does go GuelphU - Bramalea - Hwy 407 but it's not timed to meet trains at Bramalea and it doesn't go all the way to Guelph Central. But the deviation to Meadowvale takes so long that even with a timed train connection it wouldn't be that much faster to Guelph Central. It would be significantly faster to Guelph U, though.

 

[RandomBusGuy]

It’s kind of amazing how slow the 31 bus between Guelph and Mount Pleasant is. A Guelph-Guelph U-Bramalea-Hwy 407 route makes so much sense.

And even worse, it only runs once every two hours which makes planning difficult and transfers at Union to other lines (I transfer to Barrie often) don't line up well. I avoid traveling on weekends if I can. The only slight credit I'll give to GO is that the westbound run now holds for the train with a short connection instead of the previous ~25 minute wait. They could also really use more benches for waiting instead of having to sit on the curb.

Route 48 does go GuelphU - Bramalea - Hwy 407 but it's not timed to meet trains at Bramalea and it doesn't go all the way to Guelph Central. But the deviation to Meadowvale takes so long that even with a timed train connection it wouldn't be that much faster to Guelph Central. It would be significantly faster to Guelph U, though.

There was an express 48 that skipped the Meadowvale deviation but I think it only ran for a single school year and was Friday only.

 

[KillAllTeammates]

And even worse, it only runs once every two hours which makes planning difficult and transfers at Union to other lines (I transfer to Barrie often) don't line up well. I avoid traveling on weekends if I can. The only slight credit I'll give to GO is that the westbound run now holds for the train with a short connection instead of the previous ~25 minute wait. They could also really use more benches for waiting instead of having to sit on the curb.


There was an express 48 that skipped the Meadowvale deviation but I think it only ran for a single school year and was Friday only.

As a student of U of G I have to register and ask why the hell 48 has to take a detour to Meadowvale