Categories
Maps Toronto Transit

A departure from TTC wayfinding improvements

Despite many recent improvements to TTC design and wayfinding standards, two recent changes miss the mark.

Categories
Politics Toronto Transit

How TIFF lost the plot

504 King Streetcar diverting onto Spadina on Thursday, September 5 For the sixth year in a row, King Street between University and Spadina Avenues was closed for four straight days. This closure was for the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) “Festival Street,” which took place between Thursday September 5 and Sunday September 8. In addition, […]

Categories
Intercity Rail Ontario Travels

Trekking across Northern Ontario

VIA RDC train about to depart Sudbury for White River Last month, I embarked on a journey from Toronto to Thunder Bay, a distance of over 1,300 kilometres. My journey took me nearly three days as I opted to travel by bus and rail, rather than by car or by air. Though I had to […]

Categories
Roads Toronto Walking

The dangers of Don Mills Road

Don Mills Road looking south towards McNicoll Avenue, North York On the afternoon of Tuesday July 16, a woman was struck and killed by the driver of a left-turning waste collection truck as she was crossing the street. The tragedy happened at the corner of Cliffwood Road and Barkwood Crescent, in a quiet North York […]

Categories
Infrastructure Roads Walking

Dysfunction junction: the Union Station malfunction

Looking west to Union Station, August 2019 Last year, the City of Toronto hastily installed Jersey barriers in front of Union Station. This was a response to a tragic criminal act on Yonge Street in North York on April 23, 2018. A single individual drove a rented cargo van down the busy sidewalk, killing 10 […]

Categories
Ontario Parks Politics

The province’s attack on conservation authorities

The Ford government’s attack on Conservation Authorities has nothing to do with fiscal responsibility. It’s about ideology and payback. 

Categories
Canada Intercity Rail Ontario Travels

Passenger trains of Northern Ontario

Southbound Northlander train arriving at Gravenhurst, March 2012 In a few weeks, I will travel from Toronto to Thunder Bay by bus and by train, stopping at cities and towns like Sudbury, Chapleau, White River, Marathon, and Schreiber. I expect to write about the experience and the challenges of getting around Northern Ontario without a […]

Categories
History Toronto Transit

The last run of the Rogers Road Streetcar

Westbound Rogers Road Streetcar at Old Weston Road, 1972. Photograph from Toronto Archives – Fonds 1526, File 72, Item 61 Forty-five years ago today, on Friday, July 19, 1974, the Rogers Road Streetcar made its last run. The route ran from a loop at St. Clair and Oakwood Avenue to Bicknell Loop, located on Rogers […]

Categories
Infrastructure Ontario Transit

Ontario’s new ride: ION LRT opens in Kitchener-Waterloo

On June 21, 2019, Ontario’s first modern light rail transit (LRT) system opened to the public. The launch of ION in Kitchener-Waterloo represents an important milestone for both the region and for the province as a whole: additional light rail systems in Ottawa and Toronto will open in the next few years, while other systems […]

Categories
Cycling Travels

Biking off to Buffalo

Tonawanda Rail Trail Back on Victoria Day weekend, I biked down to Toronto’s Union Station, loaded by wheels onto a GO train, and headed for Niagara. I have biked through Niagara before, and it is a very pleasant place for cycling, with many paved paths, quiet roads, and paved shoulders and bike lanes along many […]