No GO zone

Victoria Silman | Assistant News Editor

Featured Image: GO busses will cease operations to the campus as of January 5, rerouting to the Highway 407 subway stop. | Shesan Govindasamy

Metrolinx announced they will be ceasing GO bus services to York’s Keele campus. The busses will be rerouted to the Highway 407 subway terminal, where students, staff, and faculty will have to take the subway the rest of their commute.

The announcement was made November 6. However, according to VP Campaigns for YFS, Sebastién Lalonde, YFS and personnel from the university administration had a meeting on November 9, where the university expressed they had knowledge of the change since October 16.

According to Lalonde: “They had said they were embargoed by GO, but they found out about the changes on October 16. Because they were embargoed, GO and the university had to figure out what the media strategy was going to be. YFS found out two hours before the notice.”

Metrolinx Media Relations & Issues Specialist, Fannie Sunshine, explains: “While some GO Bus routes were changed to serve the new terminal, a decision was made to temporarily retain GO Bus services to and from York at the bus loop until January 2019 to minimize the impact on students and faculty, provide more time to communicate the pending service change, and ease transition.”

According to Metrolinx, the change is part of an existing plan to move service from York to the Highway 407 terminal since the opening of the subway extension last December.

Sunshine adds: “Under the Discounted Double Fare program, customers who use PRESTO and transfer between GO and the TTC will get a discount on their fare: a savings of $1.50 for adults.

“The cost of fares will not change once the destination becomes the Hwy 407 terminal. GO charges fares based on a zone system, and York University and the Hwy 407 terminal are within the same zone.”

Students have expressed their concerns about the matter, especially surrounding the added costs and time it will take to transfer between transit systems.

Newsha Pourhadi, a third-year psychology and education student, sent Metrolinx a letter regarding her concerns with the service changes. According to her, “They mentioned it will be faster getting to campus; however, if there are delays with the TTC, or an individual misses their GO bus, they would be waiting around. This also makes it inconvenient for everyone, especially those who have disabilities. I have read that York’s intention is to make the loop a transit-free area. York is a commuter school, and they are making it so much harder for students to get to campus.”

Ghazel Ghasemi, a fourth-year psychology student, expresses her frustrations after deciding to transfer to York. “I commute from King City, so it’s a long bus ride. They just want more money, and they don’t care about the students. I’m a transfer student, so if I knew this was going to happen, I would never have transferred to York.”

The YFS is revisiting the idea of an affordable universal transit pass for York, as YRT and GO have now both stopped servicing the campus. They will be consulting Züm, YRT, TTC, and Metrolinx after gathering statistics from students about their commutes.

A petition called YU Ride, started by YFS, and originally made to reinstate YRT service to campus, has now been updated in an attempt to place pressure on Metrolinx to cancel the changes. At the time of publication, it has garnered 14,987 signatures, with the number still rising.

President and Vice-Chancellor, Rhonda Lenton, released a statement on November 11, stating York’s efforts to reinstate YRT and GO service to campus. The statement reads: “We have let YRT know that we would welcome their return to campus, until fare integration is achieved and we are awaiting their response. We have also asked Metrolinx to reconsider their decision to stop service to our campus until fare integration is achieved.”