Calvin Henry-Cotnam has written with news that York Region Transit’s 200-series “GO Shuttle” routes are now carrying non-GO passengers.

“These routes exist to provide a convenient service to and from GO stations, with afternoon departures providing a guaranteed connection with arriving trains. While YRT offers a ride-to-GO fare of 50 cents that applies to all of its routes, these routes were set up initially to serve just GO commuters. Timetables for these routes officially had the statement such as, ‘afternoon buses do not stop to pick up passengers after leaving the GO station’.

“Unofficially, drivers would usually pick up a passenger as it was a rare instance. The buses do carry transfers, so I can assume that if I used one in the morning and paid full fare, I could get a transfer and leave the bus before the GO station to transfer to another route (or even to transfer to a non-shuttle route at the GO station, if that was possible as it is at some GO stations).”

This policy is now no longer being enforced, although York Region Transit has a stern warning to those non-GO patrons who would use this service; this from a letter by the customer service department at York Region Transit:

“GO Shuttle routes are open to all passengers along the route. If you are waiting at a stop for your regular local route and the GO Shuttle arrives, you are free to use the service if it presents a convenient connection for you.

“Note that the main intent of GO Shuttles is to provide connections to and from GO Train Stations. As such, the availability and day-to-day operation of these routes is determined by the operation of the GO Train and the number of passengers making the GO Train connection. For example, late trains will cause these routes to leave the station later, or a lack of passengers will prevent the route from leaving the station at all.

Due to this specialized nature of GO Shuttle routes, we do not encourage the use of these routes for regular (daily) local trips and will not be publicizing their availability.