GO Transit adding trips on Lakeshore train lines
GO Transit adding trips on Lakeshore train lines
By BEN SPURR Transportation Reporter
Thu., Sept. 20, 2018
Riders on GO Transits busiest lines will soon spend less time waiting for their next train. ... At a news conference at GOs Willowbrook yard in Etobicoke on Thursday, Transportation Minister John Yakabuski announced a 21-per-cent increase to service on the Lakeshore West and Lakeshore East GO corridors. Starting Monday, GO will add 220 new trips per week on the two lines.
Yakabuski described the initiative as the largest GO service expansion increase in five years. ... With these new trips there will be more than 400,000 train seats available each and every week, he said.
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However, Metrolinx has been adjusting its operations for months in order to add service to the Lakeshore corridors, and the initiative predates the Conservatives election victory in June. ... Metrolinx, the provincial agency that operates GO, will add 27 new trips per day on the Lakeshore East line, which will double midday weekday service between Oshawa and Union Station, and enable trip frequencies of 15 minutes outside of peak periods.
Seventeen new train trips will be added each weekday on the Lakeshore West line, with six of those during rush hour. The 11 additional trains during midday represent a 50-per-cent increase in off-peak service. ... Now from dusk til dawn, anyone on our Lakeshore corridor can arrive at a station with the expectation to have a service within 15 or 20 minute average, said Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster.
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Ben Spurr is a Toronto-based reporter covering transportation. Reach him by email at bspurr@thestar.ca or follow him on Twitter:
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