By Doug Draper
Ontario’s Liberal government ought to stop talking about expanding Go Transit services into the Niagara region and start doing it by getting a regular Go Train service on the rails, says Welland Riding MPP Cindy Forster.
Cindy Forster, representing the Niagara, Ontario riding of Welland in the provincial legislature, calls for more train transit servces between this region and the Greater Toronto Area. .
During Question Period in the Ontario Legislature this September 25th, Forster called on the Liberal government to get going on a promise it has previously made to move toward regular, daily Go Train service between communities in Niagara and the Greater Toronto Area.
“It’s bad enough that VIA Rail service (a federally funded rail transit system) has been slashed,” said Forster, “but it’s even harder for Niagara families to understand why this government keeps wavering on expansion of Go Train service. …. The Liberal government,” she added, “is so focused on sticking Ontarians with the bill for more transit promised in the GTA, that it seems to have forgotten that commuters depend on buses and trains to get them to work in regions like Niagara.”
In a phone interview with Niagara At Large this September 26th, Forster added that as much as the province has increased Go Bus service between the GTA and Niagara in recent years, “it is real problematic because I don’t think buses are the answer in light of the gridlock” on highways like the QEW.
The Go buses get just as caught up in highway traffic as trucks and cars, said Forster, and it adds significant time to the commute for people who need to travel between Niagara and the GTA to work and home.
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne responded to Forster’s comments by saying that the government is continuing to work toward expanding Go services into but the province also needs the federal government and Niagara’s municipalities to work with it to ensure that when someone gets off a Go Train in Niagara, there are other transit services within te region they can use to get them to where they want to go.
“We eed an integrated transportation plan that involves the federal government, the province and governments in the municipalities,” the premier said.
Niagara’s regional government has worked with Niagara Falls, St. Catharines and Welland, three municipalities with their own bus transit systems, and other municipalities across the region to stitch together a limited regional transit services on a trial basis. That system is in the second year of a three-year pilot and some regional councillors have already suggested they want to pull the plug on it because it is too costly and is not getting enough riders.
Supporters of the system argue that it will not draw more riders until it is expanded to a point where it becomes more convenient to use for all or most of Niagara’s residents.
Niagara regional chair Gary Burroughs has confirmed in interviews with Niagara At Large that Go Services officials have expressed a reluctance to run more buses and trains into the region until it does more to build a more accessible, rider-friendly transit system within its own boundaries.
Forster said she agrees Niagara municipalities have to do their part, but she also wants to see the province play more of a leadership role to bring it all together.
The New Democrat MPP for a Welland riding that includes Port Colborne, Thorold and parts of Wainfleet and St. Catharines, also said that Niagara residents who share her view that transit would be used by larger numbers of people here if it were made accessible should call and email MPPs in the Niagara River, the premier of Ontario, the province’s transportation minister, and transport critics and leaders for the opposition Conservatives and NDP, and make that clear to them.
Niagara At Large would invite you to do a little bit of searching on the internet to get the names and contacts of these key inviduals to share that message if you have the will to.
In the meantime, you can click on the following link for a video of the exchange between Forster and the Premier on this issue in the provincial legislature. For that exchange click here – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gPlA6DTiGE&feature=youtu.be .
(Niagara At Large also invites all of you who care to share your real first and last name with your views on this issue to offer them below so that we can continue with a virtual town hall discussion and debate on the subject.)
Niagara At Large 
Sure hope Cindy is taking about having that proposed GO Train run from Hamilton to Niagara Falls through WELLAND, where the tracks & canal tunnel already exist (avoiding a needless $10-20M expense in St. Kitts). This was proposed by Trillium Railway.
It would also help South Niagarans commute to Toronto for the jobs that were stolen from us when they killed Niagara industries with high Nuclear power rates ~1975. North Niagarans ready have the GO Bus.
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I have just come back from a trip to the UK, and had the pleasure of travelling on a train from Lockerbie to Edinburgh. The cost of a return ticket was about $25 dollars Canadian. The train was new, clean and smooth running. It was also fast, snacks were available from an airplane style trolley everybody wore smart uniforms,and very professional. This was a huge eye opener for me, as the last time I traveled by train two years ago to Toronto, the service back to Niagara involved buses. It is high time to get into the 21st century here in Niagara.
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We were there in 2012 during the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee & during the preparation for the Stratford-upon-Lea Olympics.
Their subways are super & there is a Lot of above-ground rail & Light Rapid Transit (as TO is debating). They stopped every 5-10km. for passengers.
The only Train à Grande Vitesse (High-Speed Bullet) was from Stratford to Canterbury – perhaps 75-100km. away, and en route to the Chunnel to France.
In NIAGARA, we want trains that stop often, not High-Speed that can only stop in Niagara Falls, Hamilton & Toronto.
And Niagara North is already well-served by the GO Bus. They do Not need a new train that needs a $20M bridge or tunnel to cross the Canal when we already have a tunnel in Welland.
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