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12 - The Oakville Beaver, Friday December 19, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com GO and Metrolinx transit plans don't match By Tim Foran METROLAND WEST MEDIA GROUP Politicians in Halton have expressed concern over "mixed messages" from GO Transit on future expansions of service to the region that are included in the GO 2020 Strategic Plan, released last week. The plan announced Friday did not envision extra train service to Milton and Georgetown stations outside peak hours, and only half-hourly service on the Lakeshore West line between Union Station and Hamilton. That is different than service strategies for Halton included in a regional transit plan released by the GTA-wide transit planning agency Metrolinx this month. That plan, to be provincially funded at $11.5 billion, had included a more frequent level of service on the Lakeshore West line and all-day, two-way train service to both Milton and Georgetown. "It's obviously a mixed message," said Halton Hills Mayor Rick Bonnette. "GO seems to be going on their own right now." Bonnette said he met with GO officials less than two months ago and understood the increased service to Georgetown would be coming in less than five years. "I can understand a delay of a year or two years due to economic circumstances...but I don't want to see it taken off the map," said Bonnette, adding he anticipated an extension of the line to Acton in the same time span. A Metrolinx spokesperson said the difference between the plans is the timeline. GO's strategic plan foresees service improvements between now and 2020 while the three projects for Halton Region are included in Metrolinx's 15-year forecast, meaning the extra service in the latter plan might be coming between 2020 and 2024. On June 25 of this year, GO Transit announced it would be starting a sixmonth environmental assessment process to explore all-day, two way service on the Milton line. GO's plan includes that twice-hourly service to Meadowvale station but only bus service the rest of the way to Milton. Halton Chair Gary Carr said he recently spoke to GO Chair Peter Smith, who is also the vice-chair of Metrolinx, and said he was assured that extra trains to Milton would be arriving in the next couple of years. He added Metrolinx plans for service on the Lakeshore West line to run every 15 minutes in off-peak hours and up to five-minute "subway" times during peak periods, once the line has been electrified as planned. GO spokesperson Vanessa Thomas said the GO Plan and Metrolinx's plan "do differ in some ways." But she said GO's strategic plan is a work in progress. Carr, who is Halton's representative on Metrolinx, admitted the situation may be confusing to local residents but vowed it would be the Metrolinx plan that would go forward. The Province created Metrolinx in 2006 under the Greater Toronto Transportation Authority Act. The legislation allows for Metrolinx to eventually assume control of GO Transit, but that has not yet been proclaimed by the Province, said Metrolinx Chair and former Burlington Mayor Rob MacIsaac. "Our plan is to meet with GO to resolve the discrepancies between the two plans," MacIsaac said. He added of the project list foreseen in GO's strategic plan: "It would have been better had it not been there, frankly." Currently, GO recovers 85 to 90 per cent of its operating funds through its fares, and the strategic plan doesn't foresee that cost recovery ratio dropping below 75 per cent. GO did not comment on whether the extensions of off-peak service to Georgetown and Milton were finan- cially feasible. However, MacIsaac said Metrolinx does not simply look at expected cost recovery when planning new projects. Instead it examines the return on investment of its priority projects -- which include the electrification of the Lakeshore West line and a rapid transit system along Dundas Street from just west of Halton to Etobicoke ­ based on a triple bottom line of environmental, economic and social measures. Increased train service to Milton and Georgetown might be included among those priorities. However, MacIsaac said the Province's $11.5 billion will probably not be enough to complete all 15 priority projects planned by the agency. "I think we're going to need federal participation to finish off all 15 projects," he said. The Province's money was announced in June 2007 as part of its MoveOntario 2020 transportation plan. At the time, it called on the federal government to provide about $6 billion to complete the $17.5 billion plan. 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