Hey i have never taken Go Transit before but tomorow i am planning on going home.

Does anyone know how to get from the mcmaster university go bus terminal to whitby go station?

Everything you need to know is here on the GO website:
http://www.gotransit.com/publicroot/en/Default.aspx

Cheers and don't end up in Mexico.

The easiest way is to take the Lakeshore West GO Train & Bus.

From McMaster's terminal, you take the bus that says either Aldershot GO or Burlington GO. Remember to look up at the poster to say that it's going towards Toronto Union Station.

The train from either Aldershot/Burlington, will take you straight to Toronto, and usually then onwards to Oshawa (With Whitby being a stop inbetween.)

However, sometimes they don't always go straight to Oshawa, where it's then safer to get off the train at Toronto Union, and board the Lakeshore East Train, which WILL take you to Whitby at all times.

GO's website should tell you all the times of when those trains/buses come. =)

But here's the schedule. http://gotransit.com/publicroot/en/s...&p age=1&new=

How do I get to the Hamilton GO Centre?

Take the 51 bus and it will get you directly there.

However, you can take any bus from campus, and if you get off at James you can walk the rest of the way.

Does the GO transit operate during weekends? Also, if I am going to Richmond Hill, do I just ride the GO train in Hamilton to Union and just switch to the "F" line northwards towards Richmond Hill? (This is my first time... x.x)

Originally Posted by Abyss

Does the GO transit operate during weekends?

That'll depend on the bus(es) you take. Some do, some don't.

Uh, how about the trains that run from union to Hamilton?

The buses going to McMaster don't run on weekends as far as I know. However, there should be trains going to Aldershot/Burlington from Union, where you can take a bus to Hamilton GO station. After that you can take local transit to the campus.

GO train service is limited to Hamilton, and doesn't run on weekends. There are only (I think) 3 trains out during rush hour on weekday mornings, and 3 back at night. But like others have said, if you can get down to the main downtown GO centre, you can take a bus to Burlington or Aldershot which does have full GO train service all weekend.

The trains that the bus from McMaster connects with all go to Whitby.

The Lakeshore West train always becomes the Lakeshore East train expect prior to 0913 during weekdays.

Do not bother going to the downtown terminal. Get off the Hamilton city bus at Dundurn (first stop after passing over the Highway) and walk one block north. Wait in front of the Harvey's.

If you go downtown, you can end up missing a bus. It takes 7 minutes to get downtown on the bus after Dundurn. Walking Dundurn saves you getting downtown 15 minutes after a bus you could have caught.

During the week, ALWAYS take the bus from McMaster if you are getting the train.

NEVER board the trains that go to Hamilton. They will just drop you off downtown and you will be stuck taking a slow city bus to McMaster. When there are trains to Hamilton, you want to get off at Burlington GO station and grab the bus to McMaster from there. AGAIN, NEVER take the train to or from the downtown GO centre unless you live downtown and aren't trying to get from McMaster.

Same thing in the morning. The three trains out of Hamilton GO are the most crowded trains in the GO system. Take the 0540, 0640, or 0745 GO Bus from Keyes and it connects with the train in Burlington/Aldershot which go to Union. Added bonus, you can usually get a seat on the train.

Richmond Hill: during the week, take the bus from McMaster to the train and then switch at Union. If you arrive outside of rush hour, GO operates buses from Union to Richmond Hill.

I live in Windsor. What's my best bet to getting home using the trains? Also, my cousin in Waterloo got a train card of some sort, which gave her 50% off her train ticket. Is there such a thing here?

I'm pretty sure your only option is to take the VIA train. The closest VIA station is Aldershot, which is in Burlington (I've taken it to Windsor several times from there myself). You can get to it in about 10-15 minutes from Mac if driving, and on weekdays there are some GO buses that go there from the Mac GO station (you'd have to check the schedules for when, though). On the weekend you'd have to take an HSR bus downtown to the GO station and catch the GO bus to Aldershot from there.

The card your cousin is likely referring to is an ISIC (International Student Identity) card. It costs about $20 to get for a year, but even if you take one trip on VIA it'll probably pay for itself, since it's the only way to get student discounts on the train. The discounts can be substantial, including up to 50% off, but it depends on how early you book the ticket and how many you buy at once (i.e., if you buy a "VIA 6-pak", then it can get to be 50% off). If you book when there are still "Supersaver Fares" available, then it may not make much difference whether or not you have the card (since the fares will be almost the same). However, if you wait until the last minute and only Regular Fares are available, then it can be a good discount (I just ran a sample trip on the VIA website, and it'd cost $164 on a regular fare without the ISIC card, and $106 with it for a return trip to Windsor).

You can get an ISIC card right at Mac at the Travel Cuts in the student centre, so you may want to look into it! It also gives you lots of other travel-related discounts, too.

Originally Posted by tristic

I live in Windsor. What's my best bet to getting home using the trains? Also, my cousin in Waterloo got a train card of some sort, which gave her 50% off her train ticket. Is there such a thing here?

Unless your taking the first train in the morning, avoid VIA rail - it's rarely on time. Grab the Greyhound to London (which stops on campus) and then connect to Windsor from there.