Free bus and train rides on New Year’s Eve will get people to and from parties in Mississauga

New Year’s Eve party-goers and others in Mississauga riding the buses and trains on Tuesday night — and into the wee hours the following morning — can do so for free, transit officials say.

Additionally, extended New Year’s Eve/New Year’s Day service is also being offered on MiWay buses as well as GO Transit trains and buses. Also, free rides are available to customers on Tuesday night who use the UP Express trains, which run between Toronto Pearson Airport in Mississauga and Union Station in downtown Toronto.

Officials at MiWay, Mississauga’s public transit provider, say people can ride city buses on all routes for free on New Year’s Eve between 7 p.m. and 4 a.m. the following morning.

On New Year’s Day, MiWay will run on a regular Sunday schedule.

Among the MiWay routes offering extended service until 4 a.m. on Jan. 1 are:

• 1 Dundas
• 2 Hurontario
• 3 Bloor
• 5 Dixie
• 7 Airport
• 10 Bristol
• 11 Westwood
• 13 Glen Erin
• 17 Hurontario
• 23 Lakeshore
• 26 Burnhamthorpe
• 61 Mavis
• 66 McLaughlin

Meanwhile, Metrolinx, the provincial agency that operates GO Transit, says free rides will be offered on all GO trains and buses in addition UP Express trains on New Year’s Eve. The free service runs from 7 p.m. on Dec. 31 until 8 a.m. the following morning.

Additionally on New Year’s Eve and into the early hours the following morning, GO Transit will run extra late-evening trips into Union Station in Toronto as well as a number of special trains departing Union Station after midnight to get people home to areas west, east and north of Toronto.

Those service enhancements, heading west from Toronto, include:

• Lakeshore West line (stopping in west Toronto, Mississauga, Oakville, Burlington and Hamilton) — there will be additional trips arriving and departing regularly at Union Station throughout Dec. 31
• Milton line (Toronto, Mississauga and Milton) — there will be additional late-night trips departing Union Station on Dec. 31, with the last train departing Union Station at 2:55 a.m.

Customers are also encouraged to visit gotransit.com to plan their trips and check schedules in advance.

Looking ahead to next week, changes are coming as of Jan. 6 to nine MiWay bus routes in order to better serve the system’s riders, transit officials say.

The schedule adjustments to the various routes are intended to “improve service reliability as traffic and ridership patterns continue to evolve throughout the city,” officials at MiWay said in their latest update.

Effective Jan. 6, schedule adjustments will be made on the following bus routes:

• 1 Dundas (weekday, Saturday and Sunday)
• 17 Hurontario (weekday)
• 18 Derry (weekday)
• 20 Rathburn (weekday)
• 39 Britannia (weekday, Saturday and Sunday)
• 42 Derry (weekday, Saturday and Sunday)
• 71 Sheridan (weekday)
• 73 Kamato (weekday)
• 101 Dundas Express (weekday and Saturday)

Transit officials say additional schedule adjustments can be expected down the road, as needed, “to ensure services remain responsive to customer needs.”

MiWay’s next planned service changes are scheduled for Feb. 24.

For more details, visit MiWay online.