Metrolinx marks International Transit Driver Appreciation Day
Meet the unsung heroes of your daily GO Transit and UP Express ride.
Mar 18, 2019
We know what drives you.
While using our GO and UP Express vehicles, you’re studying on the way to class, checking theatre tickets to make sure you won’t be late, destressing before work unfolds for another day and double-checking the zipper on your carry-on before arriving at Toronto Pearson International for the trip you’ve been counting down to.
But do you know who drives you?
Who regularly gets you to the places you need to go?
Monday March 18 is international Transit Driver Appreciation Day – a time to acknowledge the women and men who are at the controls while you ride with us.
They are the highly trained staff who keep you safe and on schedule.
And largely, they do this work quietly and efficiently and without public applause.
But on this day, we wanted to feature just a few of their faces. They are captured in the frames below.
You may not spend a great deal of your day thinking about our talented Metrolinx staff – as well as those working for Bombardier, which is contracted to run our GO trains – but they spend their entire shift considering you.
So even beyond Transit Driver Appreciation Day, perhaps take a second to – as you pass by, heading to wherever we’re taking you – say a quick ‘thanks’ to those who will get you there.
Vanessa has been riding the rails of the GO network for the past seven years. She has been both a GO conductor and a Customer Service Ambassador. You can often find Vanessa assisting customers on the Barrie line.
Josh is a relatively rookie conductor. Today was his first shift as a fully certified GO Conductor. He’s worked for Bombardier Transportation for a year and a half, first as a Customer Service Ambassador.
Will Bennett has worked for Bombardier Transportation for the last two and a half years – but just recently became an UP Express conductor.
Chris Carson has worked for Bombardier Transportation for the past 11 years. For nine of those 11 years, Chris has been riding the rails of the Lakeshore Lines as a Customer Service Ambassador.
Italo Ferrera has been driving GO Buses for that last five years, with the majority of that time spent behind the wheel of the route 16 Hamilton Express bus.
