Unintended benefits

A weekend train to Stratford has enabled tourism to more places than Stratford alone

Posted: 04/18/2026

I visit the University of Waterloo fairly often. I am unable to take a train there as the existing weekend trains— introduced last November —are timed such that they are only useful for those travelling into Toronto, not visiting places further west along the line including Guelph and Waterloo. Instead I take the 30, which is much more convenient when visiting the University since the bus goes directly to it. However, the lack of a train currently limits the appeal of taking public transport to Guelph and Kitchener/Waterloo to those okay with taking the bus (which wouldn't be faster than driving). This is especially a problem in Guelph, as buses running to the city are much slower than those running to Waterloo. This situation will soon change.

On April 17, 2026, an announcement I expected to be about an extension of the Conestoga Parkway turned out to actually be about the return of GO Train service to Stratford effective July 6, 2026. The accompanying press release not only noted the return of a weekday rush-hour trip, but also noted trains meant for those visiting Stratford, particularly the Stratford Festival. Based on my knowledge of when these trains normally run, I assumed the train would leave Union around the time of the existing first trip to Brampton, getting to Stratford around 11:30. I figured the return trip would leave Stratford around 7 p.m., a couple hours after the 2 p.m. performances would have ended. Rumours on social media claim both trips are within an hour of my predictions (extending the existing first train to Brampton, then leaving Stratford around 6:30 p.m.).

Since this train will additionally stop in Guelph and Kitchener, there will now be a morning train to those areas and an evening train back, with travellers able to spend up to around 8 hours in Guelph or Kitchener between the train's arrival and the return trip's departure. If marketed well, these trips may be a boon for tourism in these areas and I would expect Metrolinx to capitalize on it with the Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest this fall. However, the announcement did not mention this possibility. This not being brought up may limit the number of people who know of this possibility to those who were already looking into taking GO Transit to Kitchener or Guelph (much like I have).

When you introduce a service or design, it is a good idea to determine if other people will benefit from it beyond your initial intended audience. For your public transit system, it increases ridership which through fare revenue will reduce the funding required to run the service. For anything you might be selling, finding further groups who may benefit from your design will increase the net benefit as well as the potential sales, both improving the world more (if your design does that) and giving you more revenue.

For additional comments about the service unrelated to the purpose of this page, see my additional comments page.

Last updated: 04/18/2026