The harsh winter has been costly for Metrolinx, forcing it to issue a record $265,000 in refunds last month based on its fledgling GO Transit on-time guarantee.

That’s an increase of 69 per cent over the $156,617 returned to riders in February 2014.

The past two winters have taxed GO's on-time performance, with January delivering a harsher blow last year. GO issued nearly twice as much in refunds at the start of 2014 — $235,600 — than it did this year ($131,822).

GO train riders who are 15 minutes late or more can get a refund if the cause of the delay is deemed to be within GO 's control.

GO doesn't issue refunds when a snowstorm or extreme weather shuts down the region, but it will reimburse customers when the transit agency decides it could have done better, said Metrolinx spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins.

“We can't control the bad weather, but we can control how we cope with it,” she said.

Last month was particularly hard on Milton riders, whose trains travel on CP-owned tracks that don't have the same investment in switch heaters and other winter infrastructure as some Metrolinx-owned sections of the network, she said.

“After a while, that doesn't provide you with any solace when it happens day after day. But at least you do get some compensation for it,” said Aikins.

The agency did not issue refunds when heavy rains flooded much of the city in July 2013, including some tracks that were put out of service. But riders who were actually stranded in flooded trains received $100 each in compensation.

The GO guarantee has cost the transit agency about $2 million since it took effect in November 2012.

“Snow isn't the worst thing to cope with,” said Aikins. “Sometimes it's the type of snow.”

February's sustained extreme cold was accompanied by lighter-weight snowflakes that tend to impede moving parts on the trains, such as doors. Ice and chunks of snow that fall off the underside of trains also gums up track switches.

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Since the refund policy took effect, riders have applied 600,000 times to get their money back. GO provides 69 million rides a year on its buses and trains and collects about $400 million in annual fare revenue.

The highest monthly refund total for warm weather was $113,327, logged last August. Aikins said those refunds involved delays on the busy Lakeshore lines during the Canadian National Exhibition.

GO trains are 94 per cent on-time, on average. But performance has fallen behind during the past two winters. Rush-hour trains in January were on time only 88 per cent of the time, compared with 93 per cent the previous year and 95 per cent in 2012.

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