GO Transit

GO Transit is an inter-regional public transit system in Southern Ontario, Canada. It primarily serves the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) conurbation, with operations extending to several communities in the Greater Golden Horseshoe. GO carried 65 million passengers in 2012, and its ridership continues to grow. The GO network employs diesel trains and coach busses; it connects with other regional transit providers such as the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) and Via Rail.

Canada's first such public system, GO Transit began regular passenger service on May 23, 1967 as a part of the Ontario Ministry of Transportation. Since then, it has grown from a single train line to seven, and expanded to include complementing bus service. GO has been constituted in a variety of public-sector configurations, today existing as an operating division of Metrolinx, a provincial crown agency with overall responsibility for integrative transportation planning within the GTHA.

Early days
Cities in and around the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) experienced huge expansions in the 1950s, influenced by growth in immigration and industrialization. Much of the existing commuter service was provided by Canadian National Railway, and it faced mounting pressure to expand its service beyond Lakeshore trains it ran between Hamilton in the west, and Danforth in the east, to Toronto; however, CN lacked the financial and physical capital to do this. Real improved commuter service was not considered until the 1962 Metropolitan Toronto and Region Transportation Study, which examined land use and traffic in the newly created Metropolitan Toronto. The idea of GO Transit was created out of fear of becoming lost in years of planning; it was "approached as a test, but recognized to be a permanent service."

Creation, growth and recession
Government of Ontario Transit (later abbreviated as 'GO Transit') began as a three-year experiment on May 23, 1967 running single-deck diesel multiple units in push-pull configuration on a single rail line along Lake Ontario's shoreline. All day GO Train service ran from Oakville to Pickering with limited rush hour train service to Hamilton. The experiment proved to be extremely popular; GO Transit carried its first million riders during its first four months, and averaged 15,000 per day soon after. This line, now divided as the Lakeshore East and Lakeshore West lines is the keystone corridor of GO Transit. Expansion of rail service continued in the 1970s and 1980s, aimed at developing ridership in with the introduction of the Georgetown (currently Kitchener) line in 1974, and the Richmond Hill line in 1978. The Milton GO Train line opened in 1981, followed by the Bradford (currently Barrie) and Stouffville lines a year later, establishing the 7 rail corridors that today's rail service is based upon.

Other than establishing new rail corridors, GO Transit introduced the Bi-Level coaches in 1979, in order to increase the amount of passengers carried per train. These unique rail cars were developed in partnership with Bombardier Transportation. In that same year, the current GO concourse at Union Station was built to accommodate these additional passengers. GO Bus service also started out in 1970 as an extension of the original Lakeshore train line. It eventually became a full-fledged network in its own right, feeding rail service and serving communities beyond the reach of existing trains.

Towards the end of 1982, Ontario Minister of Transportation and Communications James W. Snow announced the launching of GO-ALRT (Advanced Light Rail Transit), an interregional light rail transit program providing $2.6 billion (1980 dollars) of infrastructure. Although this plan did not come to fruition, certain key objectives from it were established in other ways: additional stations were built, all-day service to Whitby and Burlington was established, and networks of buses and trains interconnected the network.

GO extended limited rush hour train service on the Bradford, Georgetown and both Lakeshore lines, and began offering off-peak service on the Milton line in 1990. Train service was also extended to Burlington on the Lakeshore West line in 1992. But the era of continuous growth came to end as ridership shrank as a result of the early 1990s recession. In a series of cost-cutting measures, then-Ontario Premier Bob Rae announced a "temporary" reduction in spending on services, causing all of the expansions of the 1990s to be reduced or eliminated.

Reconfiguration and revival
All day train service was restored from Burlington to Whitby, and peak service was finally brought to Oshawa in 2000, but this would be only one indicator of things to come. A large initiative to expand the GO Transit network in the mid-2000s under the GO Transit Rail Improvement Plan, or GO TRIP. $1 billion was invested in multiple rail and bus projects, making it the largest commuter rail project in Canadian history. This was later dwarfed by a further slate of new GO infrastructure proposed in MoveOntario 2020, the provincial transit plan announced by Premier Dalton McGuinty in the leadup to the 2007 provincial election. With significant re-investment in regional transit, GO experienced significant growth in its train network: all day service was restored to Oshawa in 2006 and Aldershot in 2007; service was expanded to Barrie South in 2007, to Lincolnville in 2008, and to Kitchener in 2011; and an excursion train now operates on summer weekends to Niagara Falls.

GO Transit also went through three major reconfigurations. In January 1997, the province announced it would hand over funding responsibility for GO Transit to the GTHA municipalities. In exchange, the province would assume certain other funding responsibilities from municipal governments. However, the Greater Toronto Services Board was abolished on New Years Day 2002, and responsibility was given back to the province. The Greater Toronto Transportation Authority was created in 2006, with the responsibilities of co-ordinating, planning, financing and developing integrated transit in the GTHA. This agency would then become merged with GO Transit in 2009 under the name Metrolinx. GO Transit would continue as an operating division alongside two other major initiatives: the Union Pearson Express and Presto card.



Future
As part of the 2011 provincial election, Premier Dalton McGuinty made a campaign pledge to provide two-way, full-day train service on all corridors. Metrolinx is undertaking planning for these service expansions, improved rush-hour service on all corridors, as well as extensions to Hamilton's James Street North Station in the west, and Bowmanville in the east. The project, which is part of Metrolinx's Big Move regional transportation plan, is estimated to cost $4.9 billion and serve 30 million additional riders by 2031. Other possible future rail service extensions identified in GO Transit's 2020 plan include Niagara Region, Bolton, Brantford, Peterborough and Uxbridge.

Improvements are being made to Union Station, which is the busiest passenger transportation facility in Canada, and is expected to have its current passenger traffic double in the next 10 to 15 years. Improvements include new roof and glass atrium, covering the tracks platforms and railway tracks, new staircases, additional vertical access points, and general visual improvements of the platforms and concourses. Other options such as a second downtown station are also being studied to meet future demand.

In partnership with the City of Mississauga, GO is developing a bus rapid transit (BRT) system after much success with its Highway 407 express buses, launched in the fall of 2000. Metrolinx also announced plans in January 2011 to electrify the Lakeshore West, Lakeshore East and Kitchener rail lines, as well as the Union Pearson Express.

A new rolling stock depot is planned in Whitby; funded by Ontario and the federal government.

Service area
The Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) consists of the City of Toronto, the City of Hamilton, and the surrounding Regions of Halton, Peel, York, and Durham. GO Transit also reaches beyond the GTHA into Niagara and Waterloo Regions, and Peterborough, Simcoe, Dufferin, and Wellington Counties.

In total, GO trains and buses serve a population of 7 million in a 11000 km2 area radiating in places more than 140 km from downtown Toronto. Present extrema are Hamilton and Waterloo to the west; Orangeville, Barrie, and Beaverton to the north; Peterborough and Newcastle to the east; and Niagara Falls to the south.

The GO system map shows seven train lines (or corridors), all departing from Toronto's Union Station and mostly named respectively after the outer terminus of train service. Although colours are assigned in a consistent fashion to each line in all official media, in colloquial parlance lines are only ever referred to by their names.



Rail
GO Transit's rail services carry the large majority of its overall ridership. Passengers are carried by Bi-Level coaches built by Bombardier Transportation. These coaches, easily identifiable by their elongated-octagon shape, were originally designed in partnership with Bombardier in the 1970s, and are now used by a number of other commuter railways across North America. They have a seating capacity of 162 people per coach, or 1,944 per train. The coaches are primairly pulled/pushed by MPI MP40 locomotives, which replaced most of the older EMD F59PH locomotive. The new MP40 is more powerful, allowing it to pull 12 coaches instead of 10. All upper levels of the coaches on rush hour trains are designated "Quiet Zones".

Most GO Train routes operate only in peak rush-hour periods towards Union Station, which accounts for over 90% of its train ridership. To date, the only off-peak train service exists on parts of the Lakeshore lines; half hourly trains operate on weekdays off-peak hours and weekends between Aldershot and Oshawa. Each train runs with a three-person crew. Two commuter train operators drive the train and handle related operations. The third crew member is the customer service ambassador who deals with passenger service issues, stationed in the accessibility coach in the middle of the train. Bombardier Transportation is responsible for providing train operations (except the Milton line), taking over from CN crews in 2007. CP crews continue operate the Milton line. GO trains achieve on-time performance of approximately 95%, and a refund will be provided if a train is more than 15 minutes late, with some conditions.

Although it has always owned its locomotives and coaches, GO's trackage was originally owned entirely by Canada's two major commercial railways: the large majority by the Canadian National Railway (CN) and the remainder by Canadian Pacific Railway (CP). In 1988, as part of expanding service east of Pickering, GO built its first-ever section of self-owned purpose-built trackage. As of 1998, GO owned only 6% of the railway trackage they operated on. Starting in 2009, Metrolinx incrementally acquired further trackage from the two commercial railways in order to improve GO service. As of 2013, Metrolinx has complete ownership of the Barrie, Stouffville and Lakeshore East lines, as well as portions of the Lakeshore West, Richmond Hill, and Kitchener lines. This ownership now totals 68% of GO Transit's trackage.

Bus
For bus services, GO Transit primarily operates single-level coach buses and double-decker buses. A majority of the buses in the fleet are single-level D4500 coach buses built by MCI, which can seat 57 people. As of April 2008, GO began operating 22 Enviro 500 double-decker buses built by Alexander Dennis. These buses run exclusively on GO's Highway 407 and Highway 403 corridor on the Oakville GO Station branch. Once GO receives more, it will provide service to York Region. All of the buses are equipped with bike racks. The original fleet of Enviro 500 buses were too tall to meet many height standards set by the provincial Ministry of Transportation and thus are restricted to routes which avoid low bridges and underpasses. The new units added to the fleet in 2013 are just 10 cm lower, but meet many more standards as a result and are expected to be used on a wider variety of routes.

Most GO Bus service is designed to stand in for train service when it is not operating, or extend the reach of train service to communities beyond their terminus by buses. Other GO Buses are independent of rail services, such as the Highway 407 GO bus, which provides service that circles Toronto and makes connections between all train lines. There are also routes that serve Pearson International Airport, seasonal destinations such as Canada's Wonderland, and multiple colleges and universities. GO buses serve most GO train stations, 16 bus terminals, and numerous intermediate stops and ticket agencies.

Stations and connections
GO Transit stations are designed to provide seamless and barrier-free connections between its trains and buses. They include amenities such as elevators, washrooms, parking, pay phones, ticket vending machines, ticket sale kiosks and automated teller machines. All GO stations have Presto card readers. Most bus terminals are also served with a ticket sales booth or vending machine.

Ten of GO's train stations are shared with Via Rail. GO also connects with fifteen other municipal transit providers, such as the TTC. Metrolinx calls many of these transfer points between services mobility hubs, and it has made them a priority as it moves forward with The Big Move regional transportation plan.

Ridership
GO runs 240 train trips carrying 187,000 riders, and 2,061 bus trips carrying 64,000 riders daily. This adds up to 251,000 passengers throughout the entire system on a typical weekday. In 2012, GO Transit ridership totalled 65.5 million. This annual ridership is not static however, as it has grown 5% in one year, and 19% in the past five years. The growth is forecast to continue increasing, with 5.3% growth to 69 million by the end of the 2013-2014 fiscal year, and exceed 120 million by 2020.

At least 96% of the train ridership is to and from Union Station in downtown Toronto, while about 70% of all bus passengers travel to and from the City of Toronto. The average trip taken by a passenger is 33.5 km long. 80% of train riders and 60% of bus riders have a car available for their trip, but choose public transit anyway. Almost half of GO's ridership occurs on the Lakeshore West and East lines, which is attributable to the fact that these are the only lines that presently offer two-way, all-day service. This is followed by the Milton line, carrying almost 13% of all ridership. Other corridors carry 4-8% of riders each.



Fares


Fares on the network are based a zone tariff set between two specified points by GO Transit, and the type of passenger using the ticket. Passenger categories exist for adults, students, seniors, children, and groups. Tickets are also sold for single trip, or passes for one day or one month. Tickets can be used on a GO train, bus, or a combination of both. They can be purchased at train stations, bus terminals, ticket agencies, or on GO buses.

The Presto card is available on all GO trains and buses throughout the entire system. It is a unified smart card-based payment system for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area similar to the MetroCard used by the New York MTA and the Oyster card used by UK's Transport for London. Presto is a sister operating division under Metrolinx, and is available on a number of other local transit agencies in the GTHA. There are also discounted fares available for passengers who use local transit to connect with a GO bus or train.

The Presto system allows passengers to load a re-loadable card with any amount starting at $10, up to $1,000. Passengers pay their fare by "tapping" on and off on busses and trains. With each tap, the system calculates the fare for the ride, and it is deducted from the balance of the card. The card can also be linked to a credit card and set on autoload, so that it automatically adds a certain amount of money as soon as the balance decreases past a certain level (i.e. setting it to add $100 every time the balance decreases to less than $25).

The entire network is barrier-free, and all fares and access to the network are structured on an "honour system". However, all passengers may be subject to random inspections by a "proper authority" to prove that they have paid a fare. This system is designed to reduce costs and improve efficiency, and the integrity of this system is protected by Metrolinx's By-law No. 2.

Logo and brand
The GO Transit brand has remained largely unchanged since the agency was founded. The design was created by Gangon/Valkus, a Montreal-based design firm that was also responsible for the corporate identities of Canadian National and Hydro-Québec. The firm’s team wanted to create a unified logo using the initials of the Government of Ontario (‘GO’), via two circles with a ‘T’ incorporated into it. Lead designer Frank Fox described the creation of the logo as “a happy accident. More or less, we had this feeling among us that this couldn’t be true. We went off trying many other solutions, but nothing else was good enough.”

The logo has since become woven into the cityscape of Toronto, and an prominent identifier of the agency. As one graphic design expert stated, it achieved “an enviable goal that most graphic designers strive to accomplish with any logo they design.” Only one minor revision was made after the original version was unveiled: while the ‘G’ and ‘O’ used to touch each other, a gap now exists with a bolder white ‘T’ to enhance them. The primary corporate colour was known as “GO Green”, matched the green on Ontario Highway signs, and was used on all vehicles, signage, and printed material. In 2013, GO introduced a two tone colour scheme that changed the primary colour to a darker green, and added a second lighter apple green.

Special Constables
GO Transit hires Transit Safety Officers, who are designated Special Constables that patrol transit property. They are responsible for ensuring passenger safety and protection, enforcing relevant laws or by-laws, offering customer assistance, conducting fare inspections, and supporting local police, fire and ambulance, while also promoting railway safety. Under the Police Services Act, Transit Safety Officers are appointed by the Commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police, with approval from the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services.

In addition to By-law No. 2, they have the authority to enforce other laws under police powers such as the Criminal Code of Canada, Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, the Youth Criminal Justice Act, Safe Streets Act, Liquor License Act, Mental Health Act, and Trespass to Property Act. GO Transit Special Constables are outfitted with forage caps with a hat badge and a black band, shirts displaying the Transit Safety shield, a black vest with “Transit Safety Officer” printed across the front and back, black pants with a reflective gray stripe, and a duty belt. GO Transit operates a 24-hour transit safety dispatch centre that is able to dispatch Police and Special Constables to all areas served by GO. Customers are also encouraged to report any crimes on GO property to Transit Safety dispatch, or 9-1-1.

GO Transit also employs Provincial Offences Officers (internally known as Customer Attendants) to enforce and assist with the proof-of-payment system.

By-law No. 2
GO Transit By-law No. 2 is a document of rules and regulations governing actions of passengers and employees while on GO Transit property, which includes land, facilities, trains, buses, and other structures. Besides issues relating to fares, the by-law specifies permissible and prohibited actions such as staying in designated safe areas, commercial or distribution activities, parking, and other personal actions that promote or endanger the safety of passengers. It covers items like paying fares, parking, general behaviour, fines, and rule enforcement. These rules can be enforced by a "proper authority" which is defined as "an employee or agent of GO Transit wearing a GO Transit uniform [or] carrying an identification card issued by GO Transit, a GO Transit Special Constable, or a municipal police officer." Any contravention of the by-law can result in a fine under the Provincial Offences Act.

Incidents
On December 12, 1975, a westbound GO train collided with a TTC bus that was stalled on a crossing at St. Clair and Midland Avenue. Nine passengers on the bus were killed and 20 others were injured. This was the worst accident in terms of loss of life in the history of the TTC and GO Transit systems. The level crossing was replaced by an overpass a few years later.

Since 1991, there has only been one GO train accident that substantiated a report by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada. On November 17, 1997, an empty train collided with another train waiting to depart Union Station with over 800 passengers on board. The empty train's locomotive engineer was at the opposite end of the train, and the conductor at the leading end failed in his attempts to relay the situation to the engineer or apply the emergency brake. The two trains then collided at a speed of 19 km/h, causing a partial derailment and minor injuries to fifty-four passengers and two crew members. The subsequent report made recommendations that included making emergency brakes more accessible, and that the locomotive engineer must always control the train from the leading end in the USRC (Union Station Rail Corridor).