No plans yet to resume pre-pandemic levels of GO train service between Kitchener and Toronto: Metrolinx

People who commute between Waterloo region and Toronto, or who may eager to to go into the city for a concert or sporting event, will have to wait a bit longer for GO train service to return to pre-pandemic frequency.

Currently there are five train trips from Kitchener to Union Station in the morning. All other trips into the city involved a bus ride, then a transfer to a train.

Prior to the pandemic, Metrolinx, the agency that runs GO Transit, had increased the number of trains that ran from Kitchener to Union Station in Toronto, including afternoon and evening trips. That changed over the pandemic as GO Transit saw ridership sharply decrease as workers stayed home.

Anne Marie Aikins, chief spokesperson at Metrolinx, said GO Transit would begin returning services suspended during the pandemic and has been increasing the length of trains to accommodate more riders.

But while GO Transit has returned to about 50 per cent of its pre-pandemic services, ridership is still down and sits at about 30 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.

"People are doing what they've been told to do, which is stay at home as much as possible and limit their contacts," said Aikins. "They've been working from home. And I think it's going to be a slow change in our ridership now." 

She said there's no word yet on when service to Toronto will return to the same frequency as before the pandemic.

"People are going to hear the news very gradually," Aikins said. "What I can say is every couple of weeks, they'll be hearing news about more services coming back."