Attention News Editors:

GO BUS SERVICES EXPANDING IN THE NEW YEAR

    
    TORONTO, Aug. 17, 1998 /CNW/ - GO Transit will add four new bus 
routes and put more bus trips on existing routes in the new year.
    At its monthly meeting last Friday, GO's Board approved a package
of bus service improvements, scheduled to start in January 1999, that
will create new transit links between several communities in Durham, 
York, Peel, and Toronto.
    "There are now some large gaps in our service area," says GO 
Chairman Eldred King. "These new bus routes will help fill in those 
gaps and improve interregional travel for the residents of those 
areas."
    The new routes are:
    Between Beaverton and Whitby-Pickering on weekdays and weekends, 
which will connect the Beaverton, Port Perry, and Brooklin areas with
the Lakeshore GO Trains at Whitby or Pickering station.
    Between Beaverton and Sutton on weekdays, to connect with the 
existing Sutton-to-Newmarket GO Buses.
    Between Orangeville and Brampton on weekdays, which will connect 
the Orangeville and Caledon areas with the Georgetown line's GO 
Trains at Brampton station, as well as with existing bus services to 
Pearson International Airport, Yorkdale, and York Mills.
    Between Bolton and north Toronto on weekdays, which will link the
Bolton, Nobleton, and Kleinburg areas with Humber College, Yorkdale, 
and York Mills, as well as with the Georgetown line's GO Trains at 
Etobicoke North station.
    Timetable and fare details will be finalized in the next few 
months, and GO plans to start running these new services on January 
2.
    January will also see major improvements to GO's existing bus 
routes between the Stouffville-Markham area and Toronto, and the 
Richmond Hill area and Toronto. Both these routes will have their 
Union Station bus connections significantly increased to offer 
customers new, all-day service on weekdays and weekends, 
complementing the present weekday-rush-hour GO Trains on both lines.
    The improvements approved for January are in addition to the 
train service improvements made in June, which significantly 
increased express train service on the Lakeshore and Stouffville 
lines; and to the improvements starting in September, which include 
doubling the number of trains on the Bradford line, and extending bus
service from the Oshawa-Bowmanville area east to Newcastle.
    "We're now funded by the municipalities in the Greater Toronto 
Area," King says, "and all these improvements - which we're making 
within our budget allocation - will greatly enhance our train and bus
services for those municipalities."

-30-

For further information: Media enquiries - Edmund Shea, 
(416) 869-3600 ext. 5328