Your brain may still be slumbering when you stumble into the GO station in the morning, but your stomach is often wide awake.

Oh sure, you can grab a serviceable coffee and a power bar, maybe even a muffin or sandwich, at one of the 30 Gateway stores or other concessions on the GO system.

But commuters craving a jolt of java from their favourite brand-name outlet typically have to hit a drive-thru on the way to the station.

As they introduce conveniences such as Wi-Fi, GO officials want to broaden the food, drinks and other offerings on the system.

“Our focus when it comes to food and drink is to make those available in the stations so we have been working to expand those efforts,” said Metrolinx spokeswoman Anne Marie Aikins.

There are challenges though.

GO can only lease space to companies that bid in a public tender process. Gateway, the convenience chain that also runs outlets on the TTC, has a five-year lease with GO that extends to 2017.

Even then, other companies may not bid on the business.

Transit is a tiny market for major chains, said Robert Carter, the Toronto-based executive director of NPD Group Canada, a global market research company that tracks what 130,000 Canadians buy at restaurants every day.

“Transit is just so, so tiny in terms of where people are buying their food overall. I think it’s because we have such a high penetration of quick-service restaurants. It’s so available people will actually take their food and then consume it in areas like transit,” he said.

In most cases, the volume of sales for a transit concession compared to another location would be too low, said Carter.

The fast food industry is so competitive and consumer traffic is actually down, so companies must maximize all aspects of their stores, including whether they will get customers throughout the day rather than just concentrated periods.

For now, GO is expanding its food offerings through vending machines. It has installed them at four stations — Burlington, Clarkson, Mount Pleasant and Lisgar — with another four rolling out at Bramalea, Meadowvale, Malton and Cooksville this month. Thirty are scheduled to go in this year so patrons can grab a snack when coffee counters and newsstands aren’t open.

Union Station, the busiest transit hub in Canada, already has Tim Hortons, McDonald’s and other chains. But the assortment will grow when the newYork St. concourse opens later this year.

GO has considered offering beverage service on its trains. But it isn’t practical. “They are moving vehicles. It can be bumpy,” said Aikins.

Nevertheless, transit officials recognize that many of its riders are commuting long distances of an hour or more.

“Some people work, it’s their office away from home, some sleep the entire time, some come and have their breakfast. We just ask people to be courteous,” she said.

It’s up to riders to police themselves if someone offends, say by eating a ripe wedge of Limburger.

In addition to Gateway, the TTC also rents space to some big-name chains. There’s a Tim Hortons in the renovated Pape station, for example.

“It’s really up to retailers. If we have the space and a retailer believes there’s a business case to set up shop we negotiate lease agreements,” said TTC spokesman Brad Ross.

While rider wants are a consideration when the TTC issues a tender, the predominant concern is that the transit system profit by the tenant.

Even if the big brands don’t want to be at transit stations, the offerings on GO and TTC will eventually grow, according to Carter. Canadians love portable food and drinks. If you look at the way gas stations have gone upscale, it’s likely transit concessions will also need to compete.

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“The trend in the overall restaurant industry is upscaling. Their menus are just so much more advanced than they used to be,” said Carter.

While food on the TTC comes with garbage and occasionally discourteous behaviour, it isn’t going to be banned. Legally the TTC can’t prohibit eating and drinking on the system. Some people with conditions such as diabetes need to be able to eat and drink and it would be virtually impossible to enforce a ban.

“Rather than trying to be the nanny state, we ask people to simply be considerate of their fellow passengers and please deposit their garbage in the proper receptacle when they’re finished,” said Ross.

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