Rapid shuttle could mean relief from Aurora traffic woes

yorkregion.com
Nov. 26, 2015
By Teresa Latchford

A rapid shuttle to and from the Aurora Go train station could remedy ongoing and worsening commuter traffic woes.

It isn’t uncommon for the area southeast of Wellington Street East and Industrial Parkway South to be congested as GO train commuters enter and exit the commuter-parking garage during rush hour.

The town has also received enough complaints from residents regarding commuter parking at Town Park that the town performed a parking enforcement review earlier this year, according to Councillor John Abel.

“The parking garage is full on a daily basis and soon we will be evicting those parking at Town Park and they will have nowhere to go,” he explained. “When you ask why these commuters don’t take public transit to the station, they just laugh.”

He recalled a conversation with a resident who must see her children off in the morning and then rush to the parking garage in the hope of finding a parking spot, so she can catch the train to work. Often, she finds herself in a panic with a lack of parking and her efforts to ditch the car and take public transit has resulted in her missing the train.

“I don’t want to offend anyone but we have the poorest transit service, with buses that are often late and can’t meet deadlines,” Abel said. “If we want to encourage more people to take transit, we will have to provide the services they need.”

Abel envisions small shuttle buses that would have stops near main roads in each quadrant of Aurora with the specific mandate of picking up commuters and taking them straight to the Aurora Go station.

To make it even more appealing to commuters, Abel envisions auxiliary police officers being given the authority to hold up traffic to give these shuttles the right of way.

“It’s not a new idea. I used something like this in the ’70s when I lived in North York,” he added. “We are identifying a crisis here and it’s only going to get worse as the population grows and the GO increases service.”

At this week’s council meeting, he had planned to ask fellow councillors to support him in lobbying York Region for the funds to establish the service from the additional $15 million it will be receiving through the provincial gas tax contributions.

His proposal also requests the region consult with the town on the development of the shuttle service and that Metrolinx be requested to charge a nominal parking fee at the garage to discourage commuters from driving to the station.

“It’s time we asked for services because Aurora isn’t getting its fair share of transit dollars for what it is contributing,” Abel said.

However, due to a lengthy agenda for the Tuesday night meeting, the discussion has been postponed until the Dec. 8 council meeting.

If the region is willing to approve the proposal, Abel predicts the shuttles could be up and running in the second quarter of 2016.