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The Oakville Beaver, W ednesday M a y 8, 2002 - A 5 New GO train runs expected to entice drivers off the highways By Angela Blackburn OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF GO commuters, who take the morning train to Toronto, can now sleep a little later -- or get to work even earlier. On April 29, GO Transit added two new early-morning GO train runs out of the Burlington GO Station on Fairview Street, stop ping in Bronte and Oakville, and arriving at Toronto's Union Station at 6:07 a.m. and 6:35 a.m. Another, later run was also added. This train leaves Burlington GO at 8:44 a.m. (Appleby GO at 8:50 a.m.) and makes stops in Bronte, Oakville and Clarkson before becoming an express, non stop to Union Station to arrive there at 9:27 a.m. "That's only 43 minutes from Burlington to downtown Toronto," said GO senior information officer Edmund Shea. That will now leave GO riders 10 train trips to pick from between 5-9 a.m. on weekdays. The new late train should take some of the crowds off the earlier trains. GO expects the expanded train service will attract 800 new riders per day -- 140,000 over the rest of this year. It will cost $700,000 for the new service -- only $570,000 of which is expected to be recov ered this year -- however, GO officials said it should pay for itself over the next couple of years. Adult GO fares -- which are calculated based on distance trav eled -- jumped by 15 cents last month, but Shea said the increase wasn't specifically tied to the new service, but overall operations. A round trip from Oakville to Union Station costs approximately $10.40, $47 for a 10-ride fare or $164 for a monthly pass. While GO served 43.3 million riders last year, almost a six per cent hike over 2000, the Oakville GO Station remains the busiest GO station and the Lakeshore West Route, the busiest GO route, said Shea. And GO didn't stop there. All three new train trips have bus con nections from Hamilton and Aldershot. In fact, a Hwy. 407 inter-regional GO bus weekday route that began in September 2000 -- and has experienced a daily ridership growth from 700 to 1,600 passengers -- will now include stops at Hwy. 407 car-pool parking lots at Bronte and Trafalgar, as well as at Sheridan College. The route provides bus service between downtown Hamilton and Square One in Mississauga, and beyond to York University, as well as GO stations in Bramalea and Unionville (with connections to Scarborough and Pickering). The expanded bus serv ice will cost $750,000 for the rest of this year and it's hoped its anticipated $630,000 revenues will Riziero Vertolli · Oakville Beaver Promoting the two new eariy-morning GO train runs were, from left, Eldred King, vice-chair GO Transit, Doug Holyday, GO board of directors,Gary McNeil, GO managing director, Bill Sears, GO board, Joyce Savoline, Halton regional chair, Kurt Franklin, acting mayor of Oakville and Joan Lougheed, acting mayor of Burlington. ultimately climb to pay for itself. An additional 2,000 parking spaces were also recently added to GO stations at Oakville, Bronte, Appleby and Burlington -- though the Burlington and Oakville lots are still filled over capacity, said Halton Regional Chair Joyce Savoline. "Some people from points west of Oakville have been driving the QEW to get to the first train depar ture out of Oakville," said Shea. Now they can catch the train in Burlington and keep the cars off the highway and the local GO sta tion lots. Shea said GO ridership has steadily increased. In 1997, 8,700 people used the trains on a daily basis from Oakville. That figure jumped to 11,000 as of 2001. "We're a victim of our own success," said Savoline. However, the regional chair noted the new bus service is the first "new" GO service to be added to the Lakeshore line in 30 years. She admitted more needs to be done to make transit available, effi cient and affordable enough to entice drivers off the highways -- and out of traffic gridlock. "The key is to expand options for commuters and spread out the crowds," said GO Transit vice chair Eldred King, who noted one GO train can hold as many people as would fill a 7-km parking lot with their vehicles. Savoline lauded the arrival of the "first seamless" east/west transit between Durham and Hamilton. Burlington Councillor Joan Lougheed said the new service is "very, very important" in offering the flexibility, rapid, efficient serv ice and affordability that com muters seek. "We can't keep asphalting the Earth. We don't need larger and larger networks of roads," said Lougheed. "We've been dealing with growth issues heavily in Oakville over the last 12 months and it really heartens us that there may be solutions coming in the future," said Oakville Councillor Kurt Franklin. R ebates = B ig S avings ! 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