GO Transit is launching its summer excursion trains to Niagara this month and announcing Barrie weekend service for a second year starting in late June.

The idea is to make it easy to escape the city or to get downtown to enjoy Toronto's summer weekend events, including this year's Pan Am Games.

Niagara weekend service will begin its fourth season May 15 to 18, the long weekend, and then Friday, Saturday, Sunday and holidays from July 3 to Sept. 7. There will also be trains for the Oct. 9 to 11 Thanksgiving long weekend.

Each Niagara trip will have two bike coaches allowing riders to lock up their wheels and ride the train unencumbered. For non-cyclists, GO offers connecting buses from the St. Catharines to Niagara-on-the-Lake. There will be one train on Fridays and three departures Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.

The Barrie weekend schedule won't be posted until later this month, according to Metrolinx spokeswoman Anne Marie Aikins. Those schedules are being tweaked to make sure the trains are attracting riders in both directions. It's the second year GO has run summer weekend trips to Barrie.

Trains will run four times daily on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, stopping at every station between Allandale in Barrie and Union Station in Toronto from June 27 to Sept. 7.

“Trains are doing well getting people from Barrie because people come to all the things Toronto has to offer. This summer there will be lots of reasons to use it for the Pan Ams. But the outgoing trains are often not very full at all. We need more bums in seats coming from Toronto," she said.

The Allandale station is an easy walk to that city's waterfront with a swimmable, sandy beach and easy proximity to festivals and events, such as Kempenfest. One of Ontario's largest arts, crafts and antique fairs, it runs July 31 to Aug. 3. Taking the train means visitors don't need to worry about finding a hard-to-come-by parking spot, she said.

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