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Infrastructure Transit

Province to look at hydrogen-powered GO trains, but it is it simply hot air?

Electrification for GO Transit and UP Express has been proposed for years At GO Transit’s Willowbrook Maintenance Centre in Mimico today, the Ontario Minister of Transportation, Steven Del Duca,  announced the start of the transit project assessment process (TPAP) that will allow GO to move forward with its plans for electrification. GO RER, the $13.5-billion regional […]

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Cycling Parks Toronto Walking

Wandering the Waterfront Trail in Scarborough

At the bottom of the Scarborough Bluffs, west of Bluffer’s Park Lake Ontario, like all five of the Great Lakes, is more a freshwater sea than merely a lake. It’s over three hundred kilometres long, from Hamilton to Kingston, bordering two countries, with several inhabited islands, and features a varied and fascinating landscape. Lake Ontario’s […]

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Transit

The TTC double-charged me again when I used Presto

Happily, Presto’s customer service stepped up. The problem is that the TTC continues to force a 19th- century transfer policy on a 21st-century solution.

Categories
Election Toronto

A call for a progressive Toronto

I created this website two and a half years ago as a repository for the series of maps I created documenting the results of the 2014 municipal election. Unlike many political observers, I focused not just on the mayoral race, but also on each of the 44 council races; I created poll-by-poll maps illustrating how […]

Categories
Intercity Rail Politics Transit

A need for high-speed rail reality (Updated)

With the province moving ahead on high speed rail in Southwestern Ontario, other transportation needs are being ignored

Categories
Infrastructure Transit Urban Planning

GO Transit’s 404 Error?

GO Train at Gormley Station Previously on this blog, I wrote about how new public institutions like hospitals and university campuses are built in isolated, auto-dependent areas without regard to provincial land use policies. In St. Catharines, a new modern hospital on the city’s western outskirts replaced two urban sites, despite available opportunities that would […]

Categories
Politics Toronto Transit

A new low for the Scarborough Subway champion

Note: a version of this article has been cross-posted to Spacing Toronto For 2016’s annual Torontoist Heroes and Villains feature, I nominated Toronto Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker (Ward 38, Scarborough Centre) as villain of the year. (“Pedestrian blaming” won that dubious honour.) But I remain proud of my choice. As I wrote back in December: […]

Categories
Infrastructure Urban Planning

Ontario’s land use scandal: Another greenfield hospital for Niagara

Recently, I discussed the greenfield locations of new hospital and post-secondary institutions in Ontario, focusing on the new St. Catharines Hospital site and the Orillia campus of Lakehead University, but also mentioning the proposed sites of a new hospital for Windsor, and an university campus in Milton. Hospitals and educational institutions are primarily funded by the […]

Categories
Cycling Travels

Cycling the Greater Golden Horseshoe

You never know who you might meet when you ride through Toronto’s ravines Spring is here! One of my favourite things to do is go for a ride, either within town, or on a day trip or an overnight excursion. Toronto’s ravines are a treat; and the further away from Lake Ontario you get, the […]

Categories
History Parks Toronto Walking

Exploring Earl Bales Park

View from the top of the ski hill at Earl Bales Park Last Sunday afternoon, I went for a walk around Earl Bales Park. The large, multiuse green space is located near the corner of Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue in North York; it also descends into the West Don Ravine. It was a delight […]