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GO Transit to advertise services along the QEW by John Bkila Oakville Beaver Staff 21 | Thursday, October 20, 2016 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com New signs on the QEW through Oakville and Burlington will advertise GO service to commuters in a hurry. Commuters will see GO options on the signs, according to Ontario's Minister of Transportation Steven Del Duca, who announced the pilot project at the Bronte GO Station Friday (Oct. 14). The year-long, low-cost pilot will use existing electronic highway signs to give drivers information on upcoming GO trains departing from a nearby station. Drivers saw the signs Monday, (Oct. 17) advertising Appleby GO in Burlington. Bronte and Oakville GO stations will be served by similar signage later this fall. According to the ministry, train information on the signs will factor in the time it takes to drive to the GO station, park and catch the next train. Ticket prices won't be included --yet. Del Duca said the project will be refined as it goes forward. "We may get to a point, with some advances, where we're able to determine, for example, how many parking spaces are available at a station...," he said. "It's one of the reasons we start with a pilot, to see where the impact is, what the effect is like... I suspect it will grow and evolve over time." Nor will delay times be factored in or displayed on the signs, yet. "It is a pilot," said Del Duca, "so I expect there will be an evolutionary process that we undertake around what additional information we are in a position to provide. But this is a great step in the right direction." The announcement was also attended by Ontario Minister Ontario Labour Minister and Oakville MPP Kevin Flynn, left, joined Ontario Minister of Transportation Steven Del Duca, at the Bronte GO Station Friday (Oct. 14) to announce the arrival of new electronic signs on the QEW in Oakville and Burlington that will inform commuters of GO transit options. | Nikki Wesley/Metroland of Labour and Oakville MPP Kevin Flynn, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport, and Burlington MPP Eleanor McMahon and Greg Percy, Metrolinx chief operating officer. Percy noted GO Transit is typically on time 94-95 per cent of the time. No price tag was disclosed for the pilot, but Percy indicated it would be kept low as existing signs would be used to start. The selection of Appleby, Bronte and Oakville GO stations as initial locations for the pilot was a result of tenacity of the local MPPs, said Del Duca, indicating it was Flynn and McMahon who suggested the idea for the pilot. "What we're introducing today... it's an innovation that allows you to change your behaviour.... It brings the commuter into the equation," said Flynn. "It really makes (the signs) interactive -- the commuter is able to make a decision they simply weren't able to make in the past. In the past, it was very much just information. (Current signs on the QEW) just told you the facts.... I think the pilot project is something that's going to be received very well because it simply gives drivers options they didn't have before (while on the road)." McMahon believes the signs will be useful to drivers. "So, I'm sitting on the QEW westbound in lane two, I just hear on my radio... there's a collision on Mississauga Road on the QEW and you suddenly realize you're now not going to make your 9 a.m. meeting," she mused. "You look up and the sign says GO train 12 minutes.... I'm going to do that. Why? Because I can sit on the GO train and make a phone call, hands-free, to my staff saying I'm not going to make that meeting, please tell the folks I can join them by phone... and have my material in front of me. ".... There I am, I haven't missed the meeting, I haven't wasted anyone's time and I can actively participate because I can sit on the train and I'm leveraging my personal technology to participate," said McMahon. "What we are doing is augmenting current technology by making it easier for people to make that choice (to use transit)." Open Invitation for everyone Saturday, Oct 22nd. 2:30pm - 4:30pm Our Guests: Mayor Rob Burton, MPs and MPPs Ambassadors from Turkey and Pakistan will also be in attendance Oakville Town Hall: 1225 Trafalgar Rd. Oakville, ON. L6H 0H3