LETTER: Why are there no direct GO buses to downtown Toronto from Cambridge?

CambridgeToday received the following letter to the editor from reader Paul Langan about the lack of direct GO bus service from Cambridge to downtown Toronto.

GO Transit is an affordable, quality public transit system, envied in other parts of the world. Sadly, this is not the situation in the City of Cambridge, Ontario.

Let us start by looking at the current abysmal bus service provided by GO Transit. 

Currently there are no direct GO Buses for Cambridge to downtown Toronto. There is a current multi-stop 2.5 hr odyssey you can take to get there. The only good part is it is $9.00 each way.  Understanding how things got this bad we need to do a quick look back at the facts that lead up to this situation.

In the days of Greyhound Bus Lines, they had a sweetheart deal with the Province of Ontario. Basically, if they kept money losing routes in sparsely populated towns, they were given a monopoly to run buses down the Highway 401 to Hwy 427 into downtown Toronto. No competition allowed even from our own Go Transit.

So for years, the City of Cambridge had Greyhound buses running on this direct route to downtown Toronto. Even after the Greyhound cancelled their rural bus routes they kept their monopoly on the 401 direct to Toronto route.

Greyhound Pulls Out of Cambridge

In 2021 Greyhound pulled out of Ontario thus providing a golden opportunity for the Ontario government to make an easy decision to have GO Buses take over this route. Taxpayers own the highway and the GO Transit buses. No significant investment or hurdles to overcome. An easy win for the citizens of Cambridge with no financial burden to the province.

Ford Government and Local Politicians Ignore Simple GO Transit Bus Solution

Tragically, our Premier, Doug Ford, and our ineffective local MPPs have done nothing. Our Region of Waterloo and City of Cambridge politicians remain silent on this issue showing their indifference/ignorance on the issue.

As a senior, I drive to Aldershot and pay only $9.00 each way to go into Toronto via GO Train with free parking. Options like taking transit from Cambridge to the Guelph Go Station are none existent. Driving to Guelph and parking at the parkade can add $30 to your travel and there is no weekend service therefore it is not an option.

Doug Ford’s Conservative government has currently allowed a private sector bus operator OnExbus to run from Kitchener Sportsworld, express route on 401/427 into Toronto. At a roundtrip cost of $58.75! So the cost is $50.00 more for me to go to Toronto thanks to Premier Doug Ford.

The answer to the City of Cambridge's lack of express buses to downtown Toronto is simple. 

Doug Ford, Go Transit is a quality, affordable, successful, publicly-owned transit system. Doug do the right thing and have GO Transit express buses run from the City of Cambridge to downtown Toronto. 

We deserve better.

Paul Langan, 
Cambridge, ON