A seven-year-old Ontario boy who loves all things transit had his dream come true over the weekend when a staff member on a GO Train noticed his interest and allowed him to make a transit announcement.
“Attention all passengers in Coach 257: Coach 257 will not open at Maple,” Nicco Di Mauro announced Saturday.
“Maple is our next station. And once again, if you are located in Coach 257 and wish exiting at Maple, please make your way through the train in the opposite direction the train is travelling. Once again, Maple is next.”
His announcement was followed by applause, with a staff member exclaiming “you’re so good!”
Nicco’s mother Terri Di Mauro said her son’s interest in transit began about a year ago when he and his father took transit to get downtown. He then found transit simulators on the popular online game Roblox.
“(He) has just spent, honestly, countless hours conducting and driving and making announcements. My living room sounds like a train almost every day,” she laughed.
On Saturday, she and her son were taking the YRT, or York Region Transit, for the first time at Nicco’s request, headed to Aurora, Ont. She said she had planned on asking staff if her son could make an announcement, but a staff member beat her to it.
“The CSA (customer service ambassador) just noticed how excited he was. (Nicco) was explaining different functions of the GO Train to the people who were in the car,” she explained.
“So (the CSA) just was like, ‘Do you want to make the announcement?’ So it was really nice. He took the initiative and then, Nicco just took it and ran with it!”
For Nicco’s part, he said he wasn’t nervous at all and that it was so much fun, he felt like a real transit operator.
“It was so perfect that I was so happy,” he said.
Terri posted a video of the announcement on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday and thanked GO Transit for making her little boy’s “dream come true.”
While Nicco won’t be signing a contract with Metrolinx and GO Transit just yet, but Terri said he has been invited to get some behind the scenes looks at how they operate.
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