Item 2017-04-10-07 - CN commuter celebrates first anniversary

"All aboard! That was heard one year ago on April 1 as Canadian National Railways opened up its commuter service between Bradford and Toronto.
The first anniversary was yesterday [April 3rd, 1975].
"Initially there were 95 commuters using the service in both directions," said spokesman Morris Simms of CN. "Currently 190 commuters are using the train in both directions."
The train leaves Bradford at 7:11 a.m. arriving at Union Station at 8:20 a.m. The return train leaves Unions at 5:15 p.m. and arrives in Bradford at 6:27 p.m.
There is a double fare system in effect for the commuter train. The single fare one way is $2.10. A flash card good for one month can be purchased for $52. This lowers the cost to about $1.25 pert trip.
The strike of the Toronto Transit Commission last year increased the daily number of people taking the train.
"The strike increased the passengers to about 582 going to Toronto during the day and 563 returnin," added Simms.
The number of coaches was increased from two to nine but now the train has four coaches with a seating capacity of about 240. During the strike 20 people were taking the train from Bradford each day.
The number of people using the service has doubled over the year and about 10 people are now using the train.
"The use is varying," stated the CN spokesman, "it is slow but is increasing." "