GO Transit refunds $260K to riders under service guarantee

GO Transit has refunded $260,000 to riders under a service guarantee that was implemented late last year, spokesman Malon Edwards told CityNews Thursday.

The fare credit program began in November and compensates commuters for delays lasting longer than 15 minutes.

The refund applies to delays caused by equipment, signal or switch problems; railcar door issues; train traffic; blocked tracks due to freight or VIA trains; construction or maintenance; and CN and CP signal issues, Edwards said.

“From November 2012 to June 2013, our on-time performance was about 95 per cent,” Edwards said, which is an improvement over earlier times.

GO trains were on time 87.6 per cent of the time in 2008 and by 2011 that record had improved to 94 per cent.

When the program launched, GO said about 75 per cent of all delays would be covered by the service guarantee, except those caused by “factors outside our control,” including extreme weather and medical emergencies.

However, during the massive rainstorm on July 8, GO did compensate passengers on a stranded train, crediting $100 to their Presto accounts.

In November, then transportation minister Bob Chiarelli said it was expected that GO would shell out about $1 million a year to provide the fare credits. In eight months, GO has refunded just over a quarter of that amount.