The Ontario government has just given something very valuable to Cambridge — even if it wasn't the present at the top of the city's wish list.

For years Cambridge has asked, prayed and hoped for just one GO train running from the city to Milton, then back again each day of the week. But when Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca came calling at the Ainslie Street Transit Terminal last week, there wasn't a train to be found in his bag of goodies. Instead he brought buses — 12 new GO buses that will travel between the two cities each weekday starting in September.

Critics might point out a bus is neither as comfortable, convenient nor reliable as a train, particularly when that bus has to make most of its journey on a Highway 401 that is too often either annoyingly slow or maddeningly stopped.

Meanwhile, some Cambridge residents, knowing how long their city has waited for even a single, daily GO train, might resent Del Duca's announcement, especially when they know their northern neighbours in Kitchener have been served by GO trains for years.

Such disappointment, however, would be misplaced. The city is getting a vastly improved commuter connection to Milton — and from there GO train service into Toronto. In real numbers, this means 60 new GO buses in addition to the 20 currently running between the Ainslie Street terminal and Milton each week.

This is a huge commitment of government resources. This is real progress, too. It offers far more options to the more than 5,000 Cambridge residents who commute to the Toronto area each day. If the enhanced bus service builds ridership — and if those 60 new buses are even partially filled, it will certainly do this — Cambridge's case for GO train service will be irrefutable. The demand for GO trains will exist. It will be up to the province to satisfy that need.

Nor will these new buses benefit Cambridge alone. Getting people out of their cars and onto 60 more buses each week will reduce highway congestion — a boon to all of the 401's hard-pressed commuters.

But beyond this, the new buses mean better connections within a part of Ontario being promoted as the Toronto-Waterloo Region corridor. Municipal leaders in both communities say this region could become a global player in high-tech innovation comparable to, perhaps someday even rivalling, Silicon Valley, the famous tech cluster spread between San Francisco and San Jose.

Whether or not this happens depends on a lot of things, and a lot of federal and provincial government decisions. What will make or break the Toronto-Waterloo Region corridor, however, will be the attention paid by those governments to transportation infrastructure. Of course, the highway network must be improved. More commuter buses will help, too. But fast, all-day, two-way commuter trains running between Waterloo Region and Toronto are essential if the dream of the corridor is to become a reality.

Let's hope Cambridge's new GO buses drive us in this direction.