Ontario doubling weekly trips along Barrie GO Train line

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The Ontario Government is nearly doubling weekly GO Train trips along the Barrie line.

Making the announcement on Tuesday morning, the province said that starting January 2, there will be new midday and evening weekday service between Union Station and Aurora GO Station. Combined with the current existing service, travellers along this section of the Barrie GO line will now have access to all-day train service, seven days a week.

According to Metrolinx, the average weekday ridership on the Barrie rail corridor is 19,200.

Although, one thing to note, while the service is along the Barrie line, the added portions do not extend all the way to Barrie.

The service improvements and enhancements along the Barrie GO line include:

New hourly, two-way service between Union Station and Aurora GO Station during the midday and evenings, and extra morning, afternoon and late evening trips between Bradford GO Station and Union Station.
Hourly weekend GO rail service starting December 30, 2017.
All GO trains will serve the new Downsview Park GO Station, connecting to the TTC Line 1 subway extension to York Region.
Timed GO bus connections providing customers north of Aurora GO Station convenient access to the new GO train services.

“It is exciting to be offering more than 100 new GO Train trips running in both directions between Aurora and Toronto each week. These new trips mean more options for our customers and the opportunity for people to try our service because it meets their schedules,” said Phil Verster, President and CEO, Metrolinx, in a statement.

Vester said that Metrolinx has also created connections to the TTC’s new Line 1 subway extension at Downsview Park GO Station, and to GO buses that meet all new train service.

“We are committed to continue offering more service to keep our region moving faster,” he said.

Additionally, starting in January 2018, adult, senior, youth and student commuters will pay a TTC fare of just $1.50 when they use a PRESTO card to transfer between GO Transit or the UP Express and the TTC.

The province is investing $21.3 billion to transform GO Transit from a commuter transit service to a regional rapid transit system. It says that a total of 230 GO train trips will now operate every week along the Barrie GO line, nearly six times the 40 trips per week that were operated a decade ago.

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