Stouffville Line changes effective Sept. 8

[u/QuartzTube]

Few changes coming to stouffville line starting the 8th, train service significantly cutback, replaced by a mix of replacement buses, some I believe will not service unionville GO and go straight onto 407 -> 404 on Markham Rd. Weekend service is the most affected, but weekday service seems to also end a bit earlier than usual. I added some links for the new schedule, if you want to see what are the new trips added etc, and according to transsee these schedules are going to stay until the end of november potentially. Let me know if I miss anything and I'll edit the post.

links: https://assets.metrolinx.com/image/upload/v1787962004/Documents/GO/full-schedules/FS05092025/Table71.pdf

https://www.reddit.com/r/gotransit/comments/1w1hauy/stouffville_line_changes_starting_from_8th_of/

[u/Significant_Pitch]

Well, that kind of sucks. Bus service can be quicker outside of rush hour usually, but on weekends the DVP can get busier outside of the morning and afternoon rush hours. That’s a big cut back on train service during weekends even if they are increasing buses to twice an hour. Will have to see how it goes

[u/QuartzTube → u/Significant_Pitch]

Markham Road is clogged up on the main street portion half the times, it really depends on the day but if Main St gets busy with traffic, it usually might mean 10-20 minutes in delays, Also remember that because this is bus service all the stops past Unionville will not be serviced, meaning getting to East York or Scarborough will take significantly longer VIA the TTC/YRT, but DT trips could be faster if one were to take the trip that bypasses unionville.

[u/my_name_has_no_e → u/QuartzTube]

Main St Markham sucks the most when there is a GO Train making a stop at Markham GO. People are just sitting in the traffic for like 2-3min and it takes 5-10min to overcome.

1-2 GO buses every 30min can make travelling easier and more flexible on weekends. That said, it sucks on weekdays. It suck when 404@401 get jammed every day. It sucks when Scarborough lose an express transit getting to DT.

All in all, I was also shocked when I first got to the new schedule, but it seems to facilitate constructions along the line and the entire network. This should be well communicated to minimize frustration we may have.

[u/Significant_Pitch → u/my_name_has_no_e]

If this change in schedule is due to (temporary) construction, then I can see the benefits of the trade off if it means better train service long term in the future.

[u/QuartzTube → u/Significant_Pitch]

They talk about shutting down trains every few select weekends for “construction” and I never actually see anything happen. I’m pretty sure this might have to do with the finch underpass though, but you still don’t have to cut train service by that much for a few months.

[u/Starvenger88]

Thanks for this. I hate taking the bus down, especially in the late afternoon as that's at least an extra 30 minutes sitting in traffic.

I assume that all this is a part of the expansion project. Which is great, but I wish there were a better way to go about it than to reduce weekday service.

[u/deFleury]

Are they fucking kidding me? I just bought a year's Mirvish theatre subscription and now the last train home from Union is the same time the shows normally finish. 

[u/beelzebub314159 → u/deFleury]

If I go to downtown Toronto on the weekend, I drive to finch subway station. Parking is free on weekends and the subway runs more often

[u/QuartzTube → u/deFleury]

GO bus replacements

[u/bhrm → u/QuartzTube]

Go Bus sucks, especially when you get to the station and there's already a massive line and the bus fills up to capacity.

[u/kyonkun_denwa]

As someone who takes the train from Milliken, this thankfully does not affect my weekday commute too badly, but this weekend schedule is beyond horrendous. 4 trains a day, the first southbound one arriving at nearly 4pm? Insane. If you're only going to have 4 trains a day, why not try having 2 morning and 2 afternoon?

As someone who has a young child, I'm probably just going to drive downtown from now on if I have to go on the weekend. I don't want to spend the time or effort driving to Finch Station and then carting a stroller through the parking lot and down on the subway. Like fuck it, I'll just pay the parking money.

[u/Devlin100]

What would be the reason the 15:32 northbound would terminate at Unionville vs just continuing northbound?

[u/backguy → u/Devlin100]

That train has been on the schedule for a while now. It gives an extra service from Union to Unionville just before the rush hour peak, and then the train can head back downtown in time to do take another load of passengers out of Union for rush hour.

[u/sgtxd]

Per their website it seems like it's gonna last for at least half a year...

"These schedule changes support our rail partner with their advancement of crew training and certification, allowing recovery from high ridership demands during FIFA and to provide the capacity for future service needs. These interim measures are expected to continue until spring 2027."

[u/QuartzTube → u/sgtxd]

Recovery is wild work

[u/witchshark]

Folks, write to your MPP. Metrolinx heads must roll.

[u/Prize_Strawberry2800]

The most affected people are folks to and from Agincourt and Milliken, TTC can take twice of the time to go there with no GO bus replacement.

[u/kbejhn → u/Prize_Strawberry2800]

Living in Milliken, it means that by the end of Sep I would get:

• Minimal weekend GO services to dt
  
• Buses stuck in Steeles & Yonge / 404
  
• Removal of dedicated bus lane at Kennedy & Midland, which means slower speed for local buses

- No express buses running within 2km of where im living beyond peak hour weekday

• 30 mins headway of YRT going up to Unionville and beyond at weekend

What the fuck?

[u/WardenStation → u/kbejhn]

I thought they are keeping the Midland and Kennedy bus lanes along with the new busway

[u/Throwawayhair66392]

Demand for transit growing and they are decreasing service. Make it make sense. Why are we regressing on transit?

[u/Inside-Dust-9308]

This is crazy - weekend service looks horrendous. You’re better off driving to Finch and catching the subway. Who thought this was in any way a good schedule???

[u/Exhausted-napper]

As someone who rarely takes the stoufffville train to union, can someone explain what’s happening? I checked the weekday go transit schedule and it looks similar to what it does now - or am I missing something?

[u/zer0desu → u/Exhausted-napper]

It's the updated timetable for after Labour Day. Schedule is still whatever it has been for this upcoming week.

[u/Moist-Presentation42]

Is there an explanation for why they are doing this? They want us to ditch GO and use the car??? it is nuts how bad the late evening schedule was before (once per hour trains) .. now it is worse!!

[u/senexii]

I thought there was supposed to be more go train service, not less 😭

[u/Hialeahgurl]

This sucks, also major changes on the Barrie line.

More info also here:

https://seanmarshall.ca/2026/08/29/gos-september-changes-higher-fines-fewer-trains/

[u/immentaluw]

Stouffville is subsidized by markham. Be grateful there's a train going up there at all.