Categories
About me Cycling Toronto

How Sean got his bike back

On Saturday August 19, while my spouse and I were paying a visit to the renewed AKG Art Gallery in Buffalo, a thief broke into our building and made off with my bicycle. The well-equipped thief broke into our building’s front entrance using a pry bar, and then used a heavy-duty bolt cutter to cut […]

Categories
Maps Toronto Transit

Line 3: struck from the maps

Line 3 – the Scarborough RT – is gone from the TTC’s maps. But what’s left on is even more puzzling.

Categories
Infrastructure Transit Travels

Automatic for the people: Riding Montreal’s new REM

North America’s newest rapid transit service, the Réseau express métropolitain (REM), opened on Monday, July 31, 2023 after a weekend of free public rides. I took my first ride several weeks later, on August 22, 2023. The five stop, 16.6-kilometre line between Central Station and Autoroute 30 in Brossard, is the first of four phases […]

Categories
Brampton Intercity Rail Ontario

Lost in the weeds: OBRY, 18 months later

A return to the abandoned Orangeville-Brampton Railway, 18 months after the last train left Orangeville

Categories
Cycling Infrastructure Parks Travels Walking

Chicago’s 606: an urban rail trail

Chicago shows how to build a great multiuse path in an urban setting

Categories
Election Maps Politics Toronto

Mapping the 2023 mayoral byelection

Last week Monday, I was at Spacing’s election night party at a pub in the Annex, watching the results of the election roll in after 8PM. Public polls consistently saw former Toronto city councillor and NDP MP Olivia Chow leading an especially crowded race of 102 candidates for mayor. It was the most exciting election […]

Categories
Development Infrastructure Toronto Transit

Toronto’s saddest subway stop

Islington Station, opened in 1968 as part of a major expansion of the Toronto subway system into Etobicoke and Scarborough, is now literally falling apart. At platform level, Islington looks little different than most stations on the Bloor-Danforth Line with the faded wall tile, coated with a layer of brake dust. Upstairs, on the concourse […]

Categories
Roads Transit

GO’s gaping gap, gone

My experiences riding the new GO Transit Route 17, and thoughts on improving Route 21

Categories
Brampton Infrastructure Transit

Brampton LRT: a second chance to get it right

Brampton City Council will once again consider extending the Hurontario LRT north into downtown. Will they hold out for a tunnel? Or succeed in getting it built?

Categories
Ontario Toronto Transit

Reviewing GO Transit’s big April changes

On Saturday, April 8, GO Transit will introduce big changes to its rail and bus services. Brampton and Waterloo Region will see the biggest benefits, while a major gap in Ontario’s intercity bus network will finally get filled. However, major construction work on the Barrie and Stouffville Lines will require the bustitution of most trains […]