So? They have been there since... off-the-top-of-my-head, 1967? That's 40 years without any off-peak improvements. Despite decades of promises.
So the line has had something for 40 years that no other GO line has....and the rest of the area is supposed to feel bad because the gap in service hasn't gotten any wider? In various forms and models, GO has always been paid for by the taxpayers of, either, the entire GTA or the Province.....yet this massive inequity of service has been allowed to exist.
Why? They are by far the busiest trains. And they've been waiting for promised upgrades for a lot longer than anyone else.
Well, I am not sure they have been waiting for promised upgrades " a lot longer"......probably roughly the same length of time....but it is a bit hard to take when someone complains that the weekend service is not frequent enough when you are served by a line that not only does not have weekend service but if you are not ready to leave the office during the week at 5:30 then you don't have a train home! It is all relative, I'm sure and
I am in no way doubting that upgrades to the Lakeshore service are warranted but I do think there needs to be a far more balanced view of the system.
As for being the busiest trains...well I think that just shows that if you provide decent service levels people will use your service. I had this discussion with a guy at GO probably 7 or 8 years ago. He said (at the time) GO puts far more of its resources into the Lakeshore line because (paraphrase) "that's where our riders are"......being from Brampton, I asked him if GO had any sort of studies that showed people in Oakville (the example I used) are more likely to use transit than people in Brampton.....he answered "no"....so I then asked him if he didn't think that if Brampton had the same service as Oakville that you would generate more ridership from the +/- 350k (at the time) people in Brampton than the +/-120k in Oakville.....he reluctantly agreed but still said they would put more money into the Lakeshore line! If there is regular reliable service with enough frequency that you can get home the same way you went......people on all lines will replicate the ridership numbers of the Lakeshore line (unless you know something about Lakeshore residents that I and GO don't know).
In fact, what that shows is there is more likely to be a greater return by investing in the lines other than Lakeshore. How many new riders will additional service on Lakeshore produce? The other lines, though, could generate significant new ridership (and revenue) by the proposed (long, long promised) increases in service levels.
I hear the trains are pretty full on the Milton line, though!