Changes Coming to GO Transit Service in Oakville and Burlington

Published August 21, 2017 at 1:27 am

If you’re a regular GO Transit user, you might be happy to hear about some changes coming to GO Transit service in Oakville and Burlington.

If you’re a regular GO Transit user, you might be happy to hear about some changes coming to GO Transit service in Oakville and Burlington.

The province recently announced it’s increasing GO train and bus service across the network “to help manage congestion and provide convenient and frequent service for commuters and families.”

Effective Sept. 2, GO bus service will increase on some of the busier routes in Oakville, Burlington, Hamilton, St. Catharines, Guelph, Mississauga, and Richmond Hill.

Ontario will also introduce more peak period GO train service on the Barrie line to provide more travel options to commuters in Barrie, Bradford West Gwillimbury, East Gwillimbury, Newmarket, Aurora, King City, Vaughan and Toronto.

“Providing more train and bus service on our most in-demand routes is just one more way we are making transit a convenient choice for commuters,” said Metrolinx president and CEO John Jensen.

“These new Barrie GO train trips also bring us one step closer to our goal of transforming the GO rail network to provide faster and more frequent rail service throughout the entire region.”

The service changes include:

  • Six new weekday bus trips on Route 12 Burlington-Niagara, increasing bus service to every half hour between Burlington and St. Catharines, including an earlier morning trip from Burlington to Niagara College that will arrive in time for morning classes
  • 13 new weekday and four new weekend bus trips on Route 40 Hamilton-Richmond Hill to meet popular demand and provide 24-hour service, seven days a week, with a connection to Pearson International Airport and the Airport Corporate Centre
  • Nine new midday and evening weekday bus trips and two new weekend bus trips on Route 29 Guelph-Mississauga to provide consistent, hourly all-day service along this corridor
  • Extending two morning train trips on the Barrie GO line from Maple to Allandale, bringing 15-minute service to the entire line during the busiest travel period
  • One new morning and one new afternoon train on the Barrie GO line, making all stops from Bradford to Union Station
  • Realignment of Route 19 and Route 40 to provide GO bus service to the Dixie Transitway Station

As for Halton-specific changes, GO Transit says the following changes will come into effect Sept. 2:

Route 12 (Niagara Falls/Burlington GO)

New Route 12C will serve all stops from Burlington GO to St. Catharines and replaces discontinued Route 12D.

  • Five weekday eastbound trips will depart Burlington GO at 6:09 a.m., 7:12 a.m., 3:06 p.m., 4:12 p.m., and 5:17 p.m.
  • Four weekday westbound trips will depart St. Catharines at 7:20 a.m., 3:24 p.m., 4:31 p.m., and 5:31 p.m.
  • The addition of these trips, with existing trips, will provide approximately 30 minute service between Burlington GO and St. Catharines during the morning and afternoon rush hours.

Some weekday trip times have changed to provide a more consistent schedule with hourly service.

The weekday westbound 7 a.m. trip from Burlington will now depart at 6:35 a.m. to provide earlier morning service to Niagara College, arriving at 8 a.m.

At Burlington GO Station, buses will return to using the south bus loop as construction there is now complete.


Route 16 (Hamilton/Toronto Express)

There are changes to some Friday trips to better match our services with customer demand.

Afternoon trip times changed to provide service every 20 minutes instead of every 15 minutes, with some departures 10 minutes later, and the following trips cancelled:

  • The 1:45 p.m. and 2:15 p.m. westbound trips are cancelled.
  • The 2:15 p.m., 3:15 p.m., 4:15 p.m., 5:15 p.m., and 6:45 p.m. eastbound trips are cancelled.

Route 18 (Lakeshore West)

At Burlington GO Station, buses will return to using the south bus loop as construction there is now complete.


These service changes are part of the GO Regional Express Rail (RER) program. GO RER includes electrifying core segments and expanding the rail network, and bringing more two-way, all-day service to commuters, increasing the number of weekly trips from about 1,500 to nearly 6,000 by 2025.

It’s designed to provide faster and more frequent service across the GO rail network and is the largest commuter rail project in Canada.

The province is investing $21.3 billion to transform the GO network from a commuter transit system to a regional rapid transit system. The GO RER program involves more than 500 separate projects across 40 municipalities.

To learn more about specific route changes, click here.

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