Metrolinx has released the latest available data for GO Transit ridership, and the numbers show that the transit agency had a record-breaking fall in 2019.
The GO Train and UP Express info highlights ridership details from April 2019 to December 2019 and showcases just how much usage is growing.
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Year-over-year performance is up 4.5%, resulting in total ridership across the two platforms equaling 60.3 million. A closer look shows that of the 66 rail stations in GO's vast network, 55 of them saw positive year-over-year growth, ranging anywhere from 0.1% (Milliken) to 75.4% (St. Catharines - part of Niagara WEGO). Of the 11 stations that saw negative year-over-year ridership, Weston Station saw the biggest drop at -11.3%, followed by Hamilton at -9.6%. Every train line as a whole saw positive year-over-year growth.
In terms of the busiest stations, by total annual ridership, Oakville comes out on top with a staggering 1.5 million riders. Close behind are Clarkson (1.4M), Whitby (1.2M), Pickering, (1.1M) and Ajax (1M). While St. Catherines had the lowest ridership at 5,300 followed by West Harbour (15.9k), Acton (23.9k), Niagara Falls (38.7k), Weston (47.5k), and Guelph (60.5K).
According to Metrolinx, both weekend and off-peak weekday ridership are growing more than three times as fast as peak times. Metrolinx CMO Mark Childs says that offering riders more options and reasons to travel outside of peak times has been crucial to overall growth.
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“Additional weekend service, lower short distance fares and the new Sunday Funday $10 pass are helping boost our ridership demand. We introduced weekend service to Stouffville in 2019, which led to a 7.9% increase in ridership on that line.
“Bringing our long-standing and new partnership events to life such as Cirque du Soleil, Santa Claus Parade and combo event offerings provided new ideas and incentive for our customers to choose GO during the holidays.”
September, October, and November 2019 all came in among the highest ridership months on record, averaging more than 6.5M riders each.
Metrolinx.com
For a higher resolution map, and to see ridership data for all stations click here.
