{"id":12888,"date":"2015-12-16T14:43:35","date_gmt":"2015-12-16T19:43:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=12888"},"modified":"2015-12-16T14:43:35","modified_gmt":"2015-12-16T19:43:35","slug":"shuttle-service-should-help-commuters-get-to-and-from-the-go-council","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/shuttle-service-should-help-commuters-get-to-and-from-the-go-council\/","title":{"rendered":"Shuttle service should help commuters get to and from the GO: Council"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

The best way to solve the parking problem around the GO Station is to discourage people from driving to the station, and getting on the bus to get to the GO is to charge for parking \u2013 at least according to some Councillors.<\/p>\n

Council voted to light a fire under Metrolinx to charge a \u201cnominal parking fee\u201d for spaces currently serving the Wellington Street station as a way to \u201cdiscourage commuters from driving there\u201d and getting on an enhanced shuttle service to and from the commuter hub.<\/p>\n

The move came out of a wider motion from Councillor John Abel, calling on increased provincial funding to be dedicated to the development of a rapid shuttle service to and from the GO Station, running in circuits in Aurora\u2019s four quadrants.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have too many cars and not enough parking and one of the solutions is to either build capacity for parking or find a way to get people there without bringing their cars, and that would be by public transit,\u201d said Councillor Abel, who added smaller buses recently added to the York Region Transit fleet to serve Georgina would serve a useful purpose in Aurora. \u201cWe should take this opportunity to let them hear loud and clear that we have issues we would like to invite them to try and resolve.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to make it loud and clear that we need a very intensified, unique and innovative way of moving people quickly to the GO Station. If they had a fleet with maybe four quick moving buses that could get people up there in 10 minutes they would leave their cars at home. The Province has afforded $15 million to York Region Transit for infrastructure needs. I think this is a great opportunity for us because we are at a critical situation now with transit.\u201d<\/p>\n

The motion garnered a degree of support around the Council table with Councillor Harold Kim, for instance, stating he agreed with it in principle not only as a Councillor but as a GO commuter. He estimated about 30 per cent of riders at the station come from outside Aurora, but said an added fee for parking would not make him very happy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe risk\/reward is not there for me to pay extra parking for that,\u201d said Councillor Kim, noting erratic service from the YRT to the GO Station. \u201cTo get out of Aurora doesn\u2019t take a long time. I understand the concerns about traffic. I know there are pressure points I don\u2019t like either, but to charge additional parking on GO Train commuters when they are doing their part to stay off the road, and the 404 is just putting a pressure point on GO Transit riders that want to take public transportation.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Councillor Michael Thompson, it was a matter of getting all options on the table to facilitate meaningful dialogue with the Province and the Region.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to be looking at different ways in which to address [traffic congestion and parking],\u201d he said. \u201cI am open to the idea of sitting down with the Region, Metrolinx, and all the players to see if there are some creative solutions that we can look at to be able to address it and here\u2019s one we\u2019re suggesting: a shuttle. Are there other alternatives? At the start there can just be some dialogue, but better that dialogue comes of some ideas, be they innovative or every day. I think we need to explore all options.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councillor Jeff Thom was of a similar view. He said all players need to look at public transit solution with the GO Station at its core.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was in university, the public transportation in St. Catherine\u2019s was excellent and it was easier to get to school downtown, to the bus station, wherever, using public transportation,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t see the same thing in Aurora currently. I like the idea we are looking to the Region to increase their interest in getting people to our GO station in a more efficient way and in a more environmentally sensitive way that maybe could address the parking issue. If this starts a conversation and we can move that forward, I think it is excellent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mayor Dawe noted following a meeting with Ontario\u2019s Minister of Transportation last week that his department is \u201ckeenly aware\u201d of these issues and are looking at a number of items, including paid parking at GO Stations. Land for parking spots cost anywhere between $35,000 and $38,000 at the end of the day, but they are also aware of the negative impact that could happen if parking is charged.<\/p>\n

\u201cI certainly support the intent of the motion and I certainly support looking for a combined way to do this,\u201d said Mayor Dawe. \u201cThe Region, Metrolinx, and the Province do work together on a regular basis to address these issues. They are trying to put together plans that service the entire Region. We can\u2019t look at these things in isolation.\u201d<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The best way to solve the parking problem around the GO Station is to discourage people from driving to the station, and getting on the bus to get to the GO is to charge for parking \u2013 at least according to some Councillors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-3lS","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-31 14:30:38","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12888\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}