Hi, I wanted to if anyone here commutes from brampton to mcmaster on the go transit and if its really a big deal?

I drive to McMaster from Brampton everyday. At first, I thought it would be very tiring, but it actually isnt too bad. It usually takes me 35-40 minutes. After a few weeks, you will not find commuting hard. Driving is a lot quicker than taking the bus however. If you can, I would suggest driving. Depending on where you live in Brampton, the bus can add up to 30 minutes to your commute. Taking the 407 (up to Ford Drive) also shortens the trip.

If you are thinking of commuting to save money, it is important to note that commuting from Brampton will not be cheap. You will probably spend around $100 on gas every week and will have to pay for parking, as well as car maintenance. If you choose to use the 407 (which will definitely save you time when trying to get to school for your 8:30 am labs or lectures), you will have to purchase the transponder and then pay for every trip you make using 407. Commuting from Brampton will probably end up costing you just a little bit less then residence or renting in Hamilton.

Hope this helps! J

rrtt, how fast are you driving to get Mac in 35-40 minutes? When I come from Caledon and making good time (no 407 however) it takes an hour and five minutes!

Anywhoo, a student monthly pass for GO is $226. If you're on an Express bus from Mac (which only stops at Square One beforehand) I think the trip is about 45 minutes, but if you're taking the normal bus it's about 75 minutes. Unfortunately I very rarely took the bus from Brampton to Mac, which is why I'm giving you info from Mac to Btown only.

226 x 6 (monthly pass for all months less the ones you have exams, as you won't be coming nearly as often) = $1356. Student ten rides are $76.50 each. So bare minimum (I'm assuming you'd only need two ten ride passes, which isn't too realistic) you would be spending $1509 to get from Bramalea to Mac for the year, plus gas and other car fees and/or Brampton Transit.

You also need to consider when your classes are...The first classes at Mac start at 8:30AM and the last class is from 7pm-10pm. Sooo you'd be leaving Bramalea around 7:30AM and wouldn't be getting home until 11pm or so, which is something you should consider too.

I am taking a summer course at Mac and I planned my trip by go bus and I wont be home by 11:50pm (I live in Markham)....Does anyone have any suggestions to get home faster (is there a GO train that I can catch after my 930 class?)

Unfortunately GO does not run as frequently in the summer. So if your class ends early you can perhaps catch another, earlier bus. If that doesn't happen...that's all you can do with GO, unfortunately.

But perhaps there are other people coming from Markham and you can carpool?

Oh 11:50 that's tough. I have to get on the Go Bus at 6:45am each morning and I won't be getting home until 11pm all summer. It's gonna be a looooong summer. You should definitely try carpooling and if you can't find anyone... well.. at least you won't be the only one coming home late.

Ya it is tough...but I am only taking one course during the summer so I only have to travel twice a week ...I have to get off at the York Bus Loop at around 11:20pm before I catch my final GO bus to go to Unionville station...Does anyone know if the York Bus Loop is scary at night time (like, are there people there? Will it be busy at night? I really don't want to wait 20 mins. by myself at night waiting for a bus...)

Just a response to the comment lorend made....I said in my last post that where you live in Brampton will definitely affect the length of your commute. I live near the Meadowvale Cemetery (very close to Mississauga). It takes me about 30 minutes to get to Caledon/Mayfield so it makes sense that it would take lorend an hour to get to mcmaster while it only takes me 35 minutes. Depending on where in Brampton you live, your commute time will vary. I personally do not find commuting “a big deal.”

I'm going to be commuting using the GO Bus from Brampton in September and while it won't be as convenient as residence I don't find it to be that big of a deal. I took the 47A home most weekends for the past 2 years and frequently back to Mac from Brampton Monday mornings and it wasn't so bad. 47A is the express as mentioned so it doesn't take too long, at hour at most if there's a jam getting to/from the 407.

I usually just use the time on the bus ride to nap after a long day or after waking up early or just listen to my iPod.

It might be a bit rough with an 8:30 class or a night class but other than that I think it'll be fine. The buses are comfortable and the ride isn't too long.

The cost was already mentioned above so I won't get into that.

Man, commuting is a breeze, when there isn't trafic -- which I why I decided to move to Hamilton before I started Mac. Driving from Toronto takes 45 minutes to Mac, so Brampton is even easier I imagine, depends where in Toronto/Brampton you are though.

Originally Posted by sew12

I'm going to be commuting using the GO Bus from Brampton in September and while it won't be as convenient as residence I don't find it to be that big of a deal. I took the 47A home most weekends for the past 2 years and frequently back to Mac from Brampton Monday mornings and it wasn't so bad. 47A is the express as mentioned so it doesn't take too long, at hour at most if there's a jam getting to/from the 407.

I usually just use the time on the bus ride to nap after a long day or after waking up early or just listen to my iPod.

It might be a bit rough with an 8:30 class or a night class but other than that I think it'll be fine. The buses are comfortable and the ride isn't too long.

The cost was already mentioned above so I won't get into that.

Hi, i went on the go transit website to look at the schedules and i got confused can you help me on how to actully get from brampton bramlea and steeles to Mcmaster such as taking which buses?

I'll just post the instructions for how to find a bus route from the start.
Click on "Schedules".
then "Train and Bus Schedules".
Next, "Use the Schedule Finder".
Starting City: "Brampton"
Terminal Station: "Bramalea GO Station" (located on Bramalea and Steeles; pick this because the other ones are listed with routes you dont need for some reason)
Bus Service: "Hwy 407 West GO Bus (Hamilton-York U)"
Direction: "West" if you're trying to get to mac, "East" if you're trying to get home
Pick your day
Then pick your time slot. Dont worry if it looks like the drop down list resets once you pick. Your choice will still show up

So the Go bus you'll probably be looking at is the 47 or the 47A (which is the express bus with fewer stops). Just look for the the bus you want in the little chart based on what time you need to be on campus for. It may look a little confusing but it's not too bad after you get the hang of it! Good luck!

*Also... when you go to catch the bus, i think you go to bus stand 3 to wait. You can get a day ride pass which works out to $18.70 and you can just use that to get back and forth from school, apparently as many times as you want in one day. Not sure how much the 10 rides are.

10 rides from Bramalea are around $75 if you have a student ID.

rrtt, that explains why it doesn't take you that long to get to Mac!

Ten rides are $79.50 with the GO Student ID. Prices went up March 14th.

If you're visiting McMaster during the summer during normal business hours (M-F 9-5) go to Compass and ask for help reading schedules! They're trained to know that kinda stuff.

Originally Posted by MrSmith

Hi, i went on the go transit website to look at the schedules and i got confused can you help me on how to actully get from brampton bramlea and steeles to Mcmaster such as taking which buses?

Obviously you know where the Go Station is (on Steeles) so just go there and you're looking for 1 of 2 buses, both of them will bring you to McMaster.

You want either the 47 or 47A.

The 47 is just the regular bus so it makes a bunch of stops on the way to McMaster. It stops at a bunch of carpool lots along the way to pick up students. Due to this it takes longer to get to the school.

The 47A is the express bus. It takes the 407 and only stops at Square One before going on to McMaster. It's a shorter trip. Depending on traffic I'd say it's an average trip of 50 minutes, sometimes less, sometimes a bit more.

This is the schedule for this route:
http://www.gotransit.com/publicroot/...&station=&new=

I just went to Schedules > Train and Bus > Choose from a list > and pick 46, it's purple.

Look along the top of the schedule for 47 or 47A, then look along the side to see the times they arrive at the Bramalea Go Station and the time they will arrive at McMaster.

Once you make up your class schedule you can look at the Go Bus schedule and find the times that you will need to get on the bus to get to school in time for your classes.

Hope that helps.

If you're going to be commuting every day you'll want to purchase a monthly pass. The price was mentioned earlier in this thread, it is $226 for a monthly pass between Bramalea Go and Mac. You get unlimited monthly rides with that pass.