Waterloo GO bus route recalls old Canada Coach Lines service

Starting April 10 weekday GO Bus service will operate hourly in both directions between Waterloo and Hamilton GO Centre, saving customers travelling between these communities more than an hour in each direction.

In between, the route will serve four post-secondary institutions year-round – University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier, University of Guelph, and McMaster University – and connect to rail services at Guelph Central GO, Hamilton GO Centre and Aldershot GO stations.

Travel opportunities beyond route 17 include connections to communities in Brantford, Cambridge, the Niagara Region, Halton, Peel and Toronto.

The addition of the Guelph-Waterloo bus route effectively re-creates the Hamilton-centered bus  network that existed under the Canada Coach Line banner until more than 30 years ago. The Canada Coach Lines were an important part of the transit history of the greater Hamilton area from the end of the radial era in the early 1930s until the early 1990s. Originally a privately owned bus company connecting Hamilton to Guelph, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Port Dover and Niagara Falls, the CCL bought the HSR from Ontario Hydro in 1946. Oddly enough, shortly after the purchase of the HSR the management of the CCL decided to rearrange the corporate structure, making the HSR the parent company, and the CCL the subsidiary. This structure continued after the City of Hamilton became the owner of the HSR in 1960. The CCL served as a municipally owned intercity bus line until it was sold to Trentway-Wagar in 1993.