The following correspondence from senior staff is in response to the perceived lack of parking for the new Go service:
The Go service to be provided will be two runs to Toronto in the morning, at 6:15 a.m. AND 7:30 a.m. and two return runs at 4:45 p.m. and 5:45 p.m.
GO estimates they will have 200 riders per day, including those boarding in the KW region. The number of riders emanating from within Guelph is suggested to be less than 100. We will be monitoring this ridership closely to assess how accurate these numbers are as well as attempting to determine how many arrive by car, bike, walk or preferably, using Guelph Transit. As staff indicated in an earlier email, GO is providing a sizable subsidy to its riders that take Guelph Transit to catch their trains. We will be speaking with GO shortly to determine if there is any interest in a joint partnership with the City to subsidize parking as well, furthering our efforts to encourage sustainable transportation.
A few key messages to consider:
– there will be no issue accommodating those GO riders who chose to drive downtown to the station at that time of day. We recommend parking within the West Parkade.
– Persons concerned with the cost to park downtown should be encouraged to use Guelph Transit, a service that GO is subsidizing by 70%.
– We have approximately 300 unoccupied parking spaces downtown during the peak hours of each business day (2010) Staff