A Well-Connected Region: GO Transit and Peterborough

Recently, I was reading a blog post from Youtuber RMTransit, where he spoke about how GO Transit's train offerings being west-heavy create some operational issues at Union Station. I think it's a good piece, but I wish that he had explored a bit more into how GO Transit's service overall is west-heavy. I'm not saying that service is entirely adequate (especially between Hamilton and Kitchener), but the GO Transit west of Toronto is far more useful than east of it.

I bring up Kitchener and Guelph as cities that are not within the Greater Toronto Area, but instead sit in the larger Greater Golden Horseshoe. In the east, there's only one city that really comes to mind here: Peterborough. Peterborough's 85,000 residents is smaller than Guelph, but the service quality is exponentially worse. Guelph has a station on the Kitchener Line, and is served by GO bus routes 29, 31, 33, and 48. Peterborough, however, is only served by the 88 bus. You can obviously make an argument about which city demands more, sure, but it doesn't really account for latent demand that would take transit if service was improved.

In this blog post, I want to outline some of the issues related to GO Transit service to and from Peterborough, how service can easily be improved, and how this would work towards better connecting our whole region.

Current Service, and issues with it

As mentioned, the only way to get to Peterborough is using the 88 bus, which began service in 2009. This route runs between Oshawa GO and Trent University, with local service in Bowmanville, and stops at park-and-ride lots in Newcastle, Scugog, and Cavan. There are three stops in Peterborough: Crawford/Harper Park-and Ride, Peterborough Bus Terminal, and Trent University. Service runs seven days a week, and frequency varies from between every hour to every two hours, meaning schedule consultation is imperative before taking a trip. The trip takes about 1h 40 one-way, with timed transfers to the GO Train at Oshawa. A trip to Union takes around 2h 50 to three hours. This status quo makes Peterborough feel very isolated.

As this Peterborough Examiner article notes, the trip used to take at most an hour. Buses used to use the 401 and 115 directly, meaning there were only a handful of stops at park-and-ride lots along the 115. In September 2020, a reorganization of Highway 2 services between GO and Durham Region Transit led to the cancellation of bus 90, which ran to Newcastle via Bowmanville, incorporating that service into the 88. This has significantly slowed the 88. Sure, Bowmanville definitely requires the service, but that coming at the expense of Peterborough-bound customers is hard to justify.

The low frequency paired with decent demand has meant that buses have had to leave customers behind, forcing them to wait another hour or two for the next bus. Downstream, there is no space for other customers, so those in Bowmanville barely get a chance to get on themselves.

The combination of slow average speed and bad frequencies make the route a tough sell, and the only people who really use it are those who have no other choice. It limits trips people make to Peterborough, it makes it difficult for students at Trent to be commuters, and it makes the accessible 'transit region' end in Durham.

My Proposals

I will divide my proposal into two terms: short and long.

Short-Term

My short term proposal would require significant investment, but it is necessary to make Peterborough's service comparable to other parts of the Greater Golden Horseshoe.

The first component of the proposal would be to increase service on the 88 to every hour, making connections to every other GO train throughout most of the day. This would reduce the need to schedule trips, and would help the passenger loads spread more evenly throughout the day. Additional trips could be scheduled during busier periods, if required.

The second component is the installation of the 88C express bus. This would operate between Trent U and Oshawa GO, with only a single stop in between at Peterborough Bus Terminal. I think this route could operate on Fridays and Sundays only, to start, serving the busiest periods travelling to and from Trent U, with other service added eventually. This would cut the 88 trip time down to probably 50 to 55 minutes one-way, a significant reduction. This service could operate every hour, but some trips may leave Trent U at the same time as the regular 88, so that buses wouldn't arrive at Oshawa at the same time.

The proposed new GO bus route via Highway 407

A proposal from the local MPP is to add a new bus from Trent U to Highway 407 Station via Highway 407, noting that the highway recently has been extended to connect with the 115. I strongly support this, and have it as my third and final component of the short-term proposal. This route would have stops at Peterborough Terminal, Crawford/Harper P&R, Cavan P&R, 115/35 P&R, Windfield Farms, Brooklin P&R, Brock/407 P&R, Cornell Terminal, Unionville GO, and Richmond Hill Centre. I estimate that travel time would be just over 2h one-way. Yes, this is a long time, but the route is like 135km long one-way (I think it would be the longest GO route?) The long run time is offset by a number of connections made. This route would allow for customers to reach Toronto without travelling through downtown, would improve access to both York University, Trent University, and even Ontario Tech U/Durham College (with a short transfer), jobs in York Region would be accessible, and new commuter bases for Trent would be unlocked, notably in Brooklin. These reasons make the route a necessity, and, to me, it would the 407 extension worthwhile for non-drivers.

The new Highway 407 extension, which the Trent U--Highway 407 Station route would operate along.

Long-Term

Assuming the above proposal is implemented, my long-term proposal would build off of it.

The other change would a full rearrangement of the services that run east from Oshawa GO. I would return the 88 to its pre-2020, which would likely remove the need for the 88C express and would likely boost frequencies on the 88 to around every 40 minutes. Service to Bowmanville would be a distinct route, ending at an upgraded and expanded Newcastle Park-and-Ride, where transfers could be made to the 88. Additional service out to Newcastle, Port Hope, and Cobourg, would be added, with a stop at this Park and Ride lot as well. This would allow commuters to live in any of these communities, and work or attend school in any of the other.

I use the Newcastle Park-and-Ride as a bit of a placeholder, because the Lakeshore East Line is to be extended to Bowmanville. When this occurs, the 88 would run from this station, as would the Newcastle, Port Hope, and Cobourg services, and transfers would occur here instead of in Newcastle.