Metrolinx numbers show GO Transit falling short of train arrival time targets

GO Transit is having trouble meeting its target when it comes to trains arriving on time, according to figures shared by Metrolinx from the past six months.

The Crown agency in charge of the regional public transit system aims to have 94 per cent of its trains arrive within five minutes of their scheduled time, but the numbers show that they consistently fell short of that mark when calculating the average arrival time on all seven of its corridors.

The average trains that reached within five minutes of their scheduled time in August 2018 was 91.3 per cent. In September, that number was 90.7 per cent, 91.3 per cent in October and 90.5 per cent in November.

The system nearly met its target in December at 93.9 per cent.

These numbers don’t include factors outside of Metrolinx control, like extreme weather events, medical emergencies or police incidents.

Greg Percy, chief operating officer for Metrolinx, says the 94 per cent target is based on “past practice and best practice.”

“Ninety-four per cent, we’ve demonstrated that we can deliver,” said Percy. “As you add more services, it gets more challenging to get that 94 per cent, but we will. We have to do things differently to achieve that.”

Percy says hitting that target should become easier once some of the construction on the line wraps up.

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“This past year we upgraded a lot of really old bridges on our Lakeshore line,” said Percy. “To do that, we set up detour routes because we wanted to make sure that we keep providing service, but we saw a drop in ridership because our on-time performance was worsened by the route we had to take to do the bridges.”

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Percy added that Metrolinx’s on-time performance control centre is also looking at new ways it can change the train schedule to meet their target.

“If you don’t measure it, you can’t fix it. So we’re measuring all that stuff because it’s about understanding it to make it better.”