system in ontario . for the transit system in wisconsin see go transit wisconsin . gotransit redirects here . for the transit system in north carolina see gotransit north carolina . go transit a go train and a go bus at union station . overview owner government of ontario through metrolinx locale golden horseshoe transit type commuter rail bus service number of lines 7 number of stations 64 rail 1 15 bus numerous stops 1 daily ridership 276 000 all modes 1 209 000 train 67 000 bus annual ridership 69.5 million 2015 1 chief executive greg percy president headquarters 97 front street west toronto ontario canada 2 website www.gotransit.com operation began operation 1967 1967 1 operator s bombardier transportation rail reporting marks got host railroads canadian national railway canadian pacific railway metrolinx number of vehicles 75 locomotives 630 coaches 510 buses 383 single level 127 double decker 1 technical system length 452 kilometres 281 mi rail 2 709 kilometres 1 683 mi bus 1 track gauge 1 435 mm 4 ft 8 1 2 in system map go transit is a regional public transit system in southern ontario canada serving the golden horseshoe region . with its hub at union station in toronto go transit s operations extend as far as niagara falls to the south waterloo to the west peterborough to the east and barrie to the north . go transit carried 69.5 million passengers in 2015 and its ridership continues to grow . 1 3 go transit employs diesel trains and coach buses ; it connects with all municipal transit providers in its service area as well as via rail and the union pearson express . 1 canada s first such public transit 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 . 1 go transit 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 greater toronto and hamilton area . 4 contents 1 history 1.1 early days 1.2 creation growth and recession 1.3 reconfiguration and revival 1.4 future 2 service 2.1 service area 2.2 operations 2.2.1 rail 2.2.2 bus 2.3 stations and connections 2.4 ridership 3 fares 4 logo 5 safety and security 5.1 special constables 5.2 by law no. 2 6 incidents 7 references 7.1 general references 7.2 bibliography 8 external links history edit main article history of go transit early days edit a new hawker siddeley rtc 85sp d railcar at oakville in 1968 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 . 5 creation growth and recession edit government of ontario transit later abbreviated as go transit began as a three year experiment on may 23 1967 running single deck trains powered by diesel locomotives in push pull configuration on a single rail line along lake ontario s shoreline . 6 7 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 . 6 expansion of rail service continued in the 1970s and 1980s aimed at developing ridership in with the introduction of the georgetown now kitchener line in 1974 and the richmond hill line in 1978 . 8 9 the milton go train line opened in 1981 followed by the bradford now barrie and stouffville lines a year later establishing the 7 rail corridors that today s rail service is based upon . 9 cab control car of a go train with a view of the cn tower in the background other than establishing new rail corridors go transit introduced the bi level coaches in 1979 in order to increase the number of passengers carried per train . these unique rail cars were developed in partnership with bombardier transportation . 10 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 . 11 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 . 11 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 . 6 8 12 but the era of continuous growth came to end as ridership shrank as a result of the early 1990s recession . citation needed 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 . 12 reconfiguration and revival edit 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 . 13 14 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 ; 15 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 . the greater toronto services board composed of regional municipality chairs city mayors and municipal councillors was created as a municipal agency in january 1999 and go transit was transferred as an arm of this agency in august 1999 . however then premier mike harris announced the province would re assume funding responsibility for go transit two years later and this was completed with the abolition of the greater toronto services board on january 1 2002 . 16 17 18 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 . the georgetown south project involves expanding tracks shared by trains on the barrie georgetown and milton lines as well as the union pearson express . future edit 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 . 19 metrolinx is continuing to move forward with planning for this service expansion which is now known as regional express rail in likeness to the service of a similar name in france . 20 part of metrolinx s big move regional transportation plan is estimated to cost 4.9 billion and serve 30 million additional riders by 2031 . 21 other possible future rail service extensions identified in go transit s 2020 plan include niagara region bolton brantford peterborough and uxbridge . 22 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 . 23 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 . 24 25 other options such as a second downtown station are also being studied to meet future demand . 26 in partnership with the city of mississauga go is developing the mississauga transitway 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 . 27 a new rolling stock depot is planned in whitby ; funded by ontario and the federal government . 28 service edit see also go transit infrastructure service area edit approximate service area of go transit . 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 . 1 in total go trains and buses serve a population of 7 million in a 11 000 square kilometres 4 200 sq mi area radiating in places more than 140 kilometres 87 mi 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 . 1 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 . lakeshore west to hamilton with buses and seasonal weekend trains to niagara falls milton to milton with buses to waterloo kitchener barrie richmond hill stouffville to lincolnville with buses to uxbridge lakeshore east to oshawa with buses to newcastle and peterborough operations edit rail edit a go train along the lakeshore west line . an mp40ph 3c locomotive . go transit s rail services reporting mark got carry the large majority of its overall ridership . passengers