Hourly GO Transit to Mississauga

Amidst the talk of GO trains (or the lack thereof) between Toronto and Waterloo Region, GO Transit has quietly and steadily been increasing service on its Waterloo-Mississauga Route 25. Starting March 31, when university-related service is cut back, it is actually adding an extra regular weekday run in both directions. (At the same time, it is cutting back on some Friday express runs and extending others to run on Thursdays as well.) Details are available at GO Transit’s schedule page, as well as on Google Maps when you ask for transit directions.

That will bring us to pretty much all-day hourly scheduled bus service between Kitchener and Mississauga on weekdays and Saturdays. It’s less than hourly in the early morning, evening, and Sundays, but still pretty impressive for a service that doesn’t seem to get much media attention. Yet, GO is increasing the service likely because there is high demand for it.

Why would you want to go to Mississauga, apart from the city itself or the Square One mall? At the Square One terminal, there are regular buses to Toronto-Union station (Route 21), to York University (Routes 45, 46, 47), and mostly commuter runs to Yorkdale and North York (Route 19).

In addition, with a Presto card you can easily ride both GO buses and MiWay local buses without buying tickets (and with a transfer discount). MiWay routes 26, 3, and 20 will take you from Square One to Islington station on the TTC Bloor-Danforth subway line. Routes 107 (weekday only rapid) and 7 both go to Pearson Airport — the 7 goes directly to Terminal 1 and the 107 stops at the Viscount LINK train station. Apart from being dropped off and picked up at the airport, GO + MiWay is by far the cheapest way of getting to Pearson from Waterloo Region.

5 thoughts on “Hourly GO Transit to Mississauga”

  1. Is it true that Greyhound has a government-granted monopoly on running buses into Toronto? That’s the only reason I can think of for why Greyhound can continue to get away with awful service – if you try to get back to Kitchener on Sunday nights, their scheduled service is 90 minutes apart, with hundreds of people lined up in the concrete shelter breathing bus fumes. Every week Greyhound is completely shocked that so many people turn up, and end up bringing in multiple buses and sometimes leaving people to wait hours for the next bus. Maybe if they had to actually compete with GO, Greyhound would realize they could run a full bus back to Kitchener every 30 minutes?

    Would working to end the Greyhound monopoly be the most effective way of improving inter-city transportation in the region?

  2. Yes, the Ontario Highway Transport Board grants concessions on certain routes — and Greyhound does have a provincially-granted monopoly on the Kitchener-Toronto run.

    Ending the concession system would make a lot of sense. On the other hand, a lot of competition doesn’t allow for a simple, frequent consolidated service — something that GO could provide. The status quo is not working, though.

  3. About Pearson: sometimes the MiWay 7/107 aren’t early enough to catch a flight. In those cases, I take a taxi from Square One, which costs about $35 plus tip. I still find it more convenient than the Airways Transit Airport and slightly cheaper, although it depends on where one lives.

    Good to hear that GO is adding more service on the 25.

  4. 109 from Square One (weekly, rapid) goes to Islington Subway as well. This was omitted in the article.

  5. I take the greyound ( Bay terminal)into kitchener on Sat mornings and there are enough people people to fill 2 buses every week. It’s the same coming back on Sunday. Having a bus from yorkdale would help out alot of people coming in from the north end. The wait in Kitchener is brutal in the winter as there is no protection from the elements and you wait in line because the buses get so packed that you may have to wait an extra 15 mins for the next one to come and pick up the rest of the people.

    They need to realize that Kitchener/Guelph is a very popular destination and should consider adding extra buses at different terminals.

Comments are closed.