Ranking Every GO Station, Part 3

Welcome back to part three of five in this series, where I will continue to rank every GO station from worst to best. In this part, I will look at the next set of fifteen stations. While these stations are far from perfect, there is gradual improvement over the stations from the previous two parts. I will try to keep each description and rationale brief.

#40: Maple

In hindsight, I think I ranked this station, in Vaughan, too high. A new dense pocket of housing has been built to the east, directly between the station and the Walmart, which is good. However, because of resident complaints, no walkway exists, or is planned, to the housing to the west of the station, meaning the walk around is long and circuitous. As well, local transit connections aren't great: while the 4 Major Mackenzie and 107 Keele run close, getting from a bus stop to the station is less-than-direct. There are plans to run the 105 Dufferin into the new bus loop, which gets a thumbs-up from me.

Genuinely unsure why I ranked this station so high. 

#39: Clarkson

This Mississauga station is located on the Lakeshore West Line, and features frequent, all-day, every-day service. It is also the first stop on the express trains to and from Union, which is very convenient. While the station has sprawling parking lots, as well as a garage, it is isn't all bad. There's a decent amount of housing close-by, some of which is high-density. The neighbourhoods to the immediate north are bisected by a multi-use trail along the Sheridan Creek, meaning that walking or cycling to the station is relatively easy and quite safe. The bus connections here are decent: MiWay's 110 University Express, which operates to UTM, comes from here, and the 13 Glen Erin, 23 Lakeshore, and 45 Winston Churchill are alright. A few Oakville Transit routes run here, too.

#38: Scarborough

This Lakeshore East station is a bit peculiar: despite being long-established, the still feels like a sleepy, walk-in station. That said, the area it is in is residential, so there's lots of housing nearby, at a variety of densities. As it is situated on St Clair, TTC connections to the 9 Bellamy and 102 Markham Road can be made here, which is helpful. Service along Midland, in the form of the 20 Cliffside, is alright, but connections can be made to it from the train at Danforth as well.

#37: Guildwood

Another Lakeshore East station in Scarborough that works. This station is a stop for VIA trains bound for Ottawa and Montreal, and so it is pretty important. The station itself is a good connection across the rail tracks from Kingston Road to Westlake, and while the transfer isn't the most pleasant, the TTC connection on Kingston Road is frequent and connects to a lot, including the Morningside and Lawrence area. My one main complaint, which GO has identified as well, is that accessing the station from the areas immediately south is a bit inconvenient. Fortunately, Bikeshare Toronto has established a few stations in the area, which has bridged some of this gap.

A cute little Bikeshare cluster.

#36: Aurora

Aurora GO has previously been mentioned in this series, because of its parking issues. I won't focus on that, because frankly I don't really care too much. I think Aurora is being held back. It's quite close to the historic downtown, which is a good thing. However, despite Wellington reflecting this character, it's a car sewer with few safe places to cross. Getting off the westbound bus stop at Berczy, the closest to the station, forces a dangerous jaywalk, unless the railroad crossing barricades are down. This stop serves all three Aurora YRT routes, being the 32, 33 and 54, so it's a bit unacceptable in my opinion. Improvements are coming to the station, especially since service on the Barrie Line is due to increase in coming years.

An aside, but it does bother me that this station is located here, and not at Yonge and Henderson, where a useful connection to VIVA Blue could be made. I wish YRT took this gap seriously, as it could be resolved with a simple diversion on route 98 Yonge.

#35: Milliken

Milliken really benefits in me writing this now, just as the renovations to the station have been completed. The project that buries Steeles under the rail corridor improves upon one of the mistakes that Agincourt GO made, which was annoying transfers. The stops for the 43 Kennedy, 53 Steeles East, and 57 Midland are located directly under the corridor, meaning that transferring to the train is by a short flight of stairs. While this is good, the area around is industrial, and pretty disconnected. This is due in part to it being on the border between Toronto and Markham, so the vision for the area is a bit blurred.

#34: Erindale

The area around Erindale is suburban, but it benefits from being established. There's a mix of lower-density and higher-density housing. While most bus connections are made on street, the MiWay routes that you can transfer to are pretty solid: notably the 26 Burnhamthorpe and 38 Creditview.

#33: Rutherford

Recently renovated, Rutherford has moved much of its parking into a garage. While the immediately adjacent area is industrial, there's some housing on the north side of Rutherford Road. The renovations also included a new bus terminal, allowing for more seamless connections with YRT's 85 Rutherford, a frequent route that provides a connection to Vaughan Mills. That said, there is a missing bus route north from the station via Barrhill. Maybe in due course.

The new station looks nice.

#32: Cooksville

Cooksville's new integrated parking garage and bus terminal makes this station a bit of an outlier on the Milton Line: relevant outside of peak periods. With the new bus terminal, a number of MiWay routes were extended here, providing both better connections to the GO train, and with each other. While the Hurontario services are out on street, this will eventually be replaced with a link to the Hurontario LRT. Since this station is closest to Square One, taking the GO train to the mall will become very easy to do.

#31: Oriole

Oriole is one of those stations that you wouldn't notice unless you knew it was there. While the transfer isn't direct, it does connect to the Line 4 subway, which is convenient despite the limited GO schedule on the Richmond Hill Line. The station is being moved north soon to make a more direct connection. The parking lot is located under the 401, on land that is otherwise useless. The north side of the station, on Esther Shiner, is high-density, and still growing, so many people live close-by. There is also a footbridge to the Silver Hills neighbourhood to the south. While this appears to be in vain, since the schedule on the GO train is so limited, there is one big benefit. The footbridge and the platform provide a convenient way to cross Highway 401, which is sorely needed in this area.

The station's footbridge. I took this picture for a previous blog post.

#30: Long Branch

While this station could use better integration, it's not the worst. Located on the border of Toronto with Mississauga, the nearby Long Branch Loop serves as the end of the line for three TTC routes, and two MiWay routes, and there are many transfers between these routes. The area around the station has some density, and there are paths to the north and south sides of the station. The nearby Marie Curtis Park is one of Toronto's best, as well. The big issue is the lack of integration: Long Branch Loop requires a walking transfer. It isn't the longest, but it is long enough where MiWay passengers are better getting off a stop prior to the loop.

#29: Agincourt

While this station's renovations weren't as great at Milliken's, this station is better overall. There is plentiful housing nearby, at both low, medium, and higher densities. The station is also close to a major local mall, and numerous other community services, so it is an important piece in developing a complete neighbourhood.

#28: Mount Joy

Despite being located in a more suburban part of Markham, the city has made an effort to densify the area immediately around the station, especially considering that this station is usually the terminus for Stouffville service. While there are still large parking lots, the area is changing. The bus connections nearby aren't amazing (a frequent link to Cornell Terminal would be a good idea), they aren't the worst. The important part of this station is the GO bus connection to Uxbridge, the 70/71. Uxbridge is otherwise relatively disconnected from the rest of the GTA, so this station plays an important regional role.

#27: Centennial

This station's building is mostly just a parking garage, but the uses nearby are interesting. A thirty-second walk south is a major community centre, and Markville Mall is a bit further south than that. A GO station adjacent to a major mall is interesting, and improves access greatly. There is some low-density housing to both the north and west of the station. While the station has no bus terminus, YRT's 129 McCowan North stops just east. This is the most frequent north-south route in Markham, so it is good that it manages to make a connection to a line that runs north-south.

The station building itself is basically a parking garage with a platform.

#26: Kipling

The last station for this post, Kipling is both the first Milton Line station after Union, and the last subway stop on Line 2. Despite running at peak hours only, the Milton Line here acts as sort of an extension of the Kipling Line for many people. Both TTC and MiWay have major terminals here, so getting anywhere across Etobicoke or eastern Mississauga is relatively easy. Additionally, GO's 29 to Guelph Central GO operates from here via Square One, providing important regional connections as well. While it could obviously do better in terms of frequency, Kipling GO remains busy at all hours.

Thanks for reading! The next part will deal with fifteen more stations, and then we get to our top 10.