NOTE: Previous versions of the Ontario and Canada maps are retired; please see the new Canada Intercity Transport Map, launched March 30, 2025. This will now be the only interactive map that I will update.
Since 2020, I have maintained an interactive map of bus and rail services in Ontario. Without a central repository of transit information, my maps have become one of the few comprehensive resources available. I am pleased to keep the resource going, and I appreciate the messages of support, as well as additions and corrections that you submit.
There are a few updates for April 2024:
Middlesex County Connect launched a new route between Dorchester, White Oaks Mall in London, and St. Thomas. This route operates six days a week, with four round trips Mondays through Saturdays.
A new FlixBus route, operating six days a week, now runs between Downtown Toronto, Pearson Airport, and Sudbury, competing with Ontario’s Northland bus service.
Ourbus became the latest company to operate a coach service between Toronto, Kingston, and Ottawa. There are now five coach operators competing on the same route.
Grey Transit Route announced that they will be ending weekend services on most of its routes starting May 1.
Though the gap between London and St. Thomas is now filled, there remains several other parts of the province without intercity transport links, even in Southwestern Ontario. For example, service in Huron and Bruce Counties is limited to a three day/week TOK coach service and a three day/week minibus service between Goderich and Grand Bend. There are still no links from Haldimand County and Six Nations to nearby large urban centres like Brantford, Hamilton, and Toronto.
I plan to update this Ontario map again in July. At that time, I will also update my Canada-wide transportation map to reflect changes in the intercity transport industry.
If you like my maps and you would like to help out with my online mapping and webhosting costs, consider buying me a coffee.Thank you!
A VIA Rail train in Stratford, Ontario. In 1989, there were five trains a day connecting Stratford to Toronto. In 2024, there is only one.
July 2024: Map edited to include one new daily intercity train: Amtrak’s Borealis, an extension of an existing Chicago-Milwaukee train to St. Paul, Minnesota, offering a second daily train on the eastern section of the Empire Builder route.
Unlike in Europe or Asia, the story of passenger rail in North America the last seventy-five years has generally been one of decline. There are exceptions: service on the Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington is frequent and relatively speedy. Commuter rail services have expanded in most major metro areas. And a new privately-owned intercity rail service in Florida offers frequent, dependable, and fast service between Miami and Orlando, with expansion on the way.
The development of new interstate highways, the loss of mail contracts and express freight to trucking, more affordable air travel, and competition from coach operators all contributed to the decline in North America. Though Canada and the United States both established national rail passenger services in the 1970s in an attempt to halt — or at least manage — the disappearance of intercity rail, the two countries had vastly different operating environments. Mexico, which had a nationalized railway network, privatized its assets and wound down intercity rail in 1995; today there is now only a commuter train in Mexico City and a new tourist-focused Tren Maya service in the Yucatan Peninsula.
Canada had only two major railway systems since the 1920s: privately-owned and profitable Canadian Pacific, and government-owned Canadian National. There were only several smaller railways owned by provincial governments and industrial concerns, along with a few American connections such the New York Central (NYC) line through southwestern Ontario, and the Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo Railway, a joint venture of CP and NYC.
In the United States, there were dozens of medium and large railroads, all competing for fewer passengers and depleting natural resources. In the Northeast and Midwest, mergers between one-time rivals like NYC and Pennsylvania Railroad (Penn Central) and the Erie and Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroads (Erie Lackawanna) failed, leading to the creation of federally-backed Conrail. (Today, there are only six Class I railroads in the US, including CN and CP-Kansas City Southern)
In the midst of failing railroads and declining passenger services, Amtrak was formed in 1971 and took over the operation of most remaining intercity trains. (Commuter trains, often subsidized by local or state governments, remained operated by the freight railroads before being absorbed by transit agencies.) Amtrak purchased new rail cars for regional services to replace decrepit rolling stock (Amfleet); eventually new long-distance cars were also acquired one it was clear it would maintain those routes (Superliners)
Amtrak’s “International” in Sarnia, Ontario in 2004, equipped with Superliner coaches
In Canada, VIA Rail started off in 1976 as a passenger rail brand of CN, which, as a Crown corporation, was still committed to passenger services. In 1977, it became a separate agency and in 1978, it took over CP’s remaining rail services. The 1980 map shows what VIA Rail’s system looked like in the early years. VIA did not take over everything; CN and CP retained ownership of commuter trains in the Montreal area, which were not yet assumed by the regional transit agency there. Railways not owned by CN and CP also maintained their own passenger services, usually with government support or direct provincial operation (i.e., GO Transit, Ontario Northland, BC Rail, Algoma Central).
Both Amtrak and VIA saw major funding cuts from federal governments in the first decade of their existence. In the United States, poorly-performing routes such as the Mountaineer (Norfolk-Cincinnati-Chicago), the Floridian (Chicago-Nashville-Miami), the Lone Star (Chicago-Kansas City-Oklahoma City-Houston) and the National Limited (Washington-Columbus-Kansas City) were eliminated between 1977 and 1979; deteriorating track conditions on insolvent host railroads were a contributing factor.
VIA Rail also saw several service cuts after its formation. Though the trains eliminated between 1977 and 1980 were generally marginal services in Western Canada and Northern Ontario and Quebec, 1981 saw more drastic cuts across the country, including the elimination of CN’s transcontinental train through Saskatoon and Edmonton. Though those cuts were partially reversed in 1985, in 1990, nearly half of VIA’s trains were wiped from the timetable, including nearly every train in the Maritime Provinces and the famed Canadian on the CP route from Montreal and Ottawa through Thunder Bay, Regina, Calgary and Banff.
Amtrak, despite its challenges, never saw cuts as drastic as those made to VIA Rail. Unlike VIA, Amtrak enjoys more autonomy from the federal government. Many of its services are funded by state governments rather than the federal government. Powerful senators will lobby to maintain services or add new trains in their state. (Canadian federal politicians generally enjoy less influence and autonomy in our parliamentary system, with power increasingly centralized in the Prime Minister’s Office.)
Amtrak routes added since 1980 and depicted in the map below include the restoration of previously eliminated services. The Heartland Flyer (Oklahoma City-Fort Worth) is a partial restoration of the Lone Star, while Amtrak Regional service to Roanoke, Virginia, restores part of the cancelled Mountaineer. There are three daily transcontinental trains between Chicago and the West Coast and two between New York, Washington, and Florida. Daily service means these long-distance trains are much more useful for regular and casual travelers than VIA’s remaining long-distance trains.
Over a dozen states contribute to the operation of many daily trains. California goes even further, with a distinct Amtrak California brand with a dedicated fleet owned by that state’s department of transportation. If such a model existed in Canada, one might expect the continuation of services such as Toronto-Peterborough, Montreal-Sherbrooke, or even Calgary-Edmonton.
Bucking the trend: commuter rail
Unlike intercity passenger rail, commuter rail services have expanded in Canada and the United States. In 1980, there were only 11 metropolitan areas with commuter rail services (and in Pittsburgh and Detroit, those would soon disappear). In 2024, there were 23. Though systems in the New York and Chicago areas barely expanded (and in Philadelphia, commuter rail coverage actually shrunk), there was impressive growth in commuter services in the Greater Toronto Area, the San Francisco Bay Area, and in Southern California, to the point that GO Transit and Caltrain are evolving towards becoming true regional rail systems.
Interactive map
An interactive map, linked below, shows what the Amtrak and VIA Rail systems looked like in 1980 and in 2024, along with independent railways and commuter services. The 1980 map includes notable routes (in grey) that were cut since 1976, the year of America’s bicentennial and the Summer Olympics in Montreal. Use the slider to compare the two maps and click on any line for more details on each route.
A Calgary-bound Pacific Western Ebus Coach loads at Red Deer, Alberta
NOTE: Previous versions of the Ontario and Canada maps are retired; please see the new Canada Intercity Transport Map, launched March 30, 2025. This will now be the only interactive map that I will update.
In 2022, I was approached by staff at Infrastructure Canada who were interested in compiling information on intercity bus services across the country. Unfortunately, no repository had existed for a very long time, especially as transit and intercity coach services are primarily under provincial and municipal jurisdiction. Ontario’s provincial government last published a map of intercity carriers in 1990-1991, while Saskatchewan abolished its provincial bus service in 2017. The withering of Greyhound Canada’s once-extensive network left many communities from Ontario west to British Columbia and the Yukon without any service, while new private operators like Ebus and Rider Express filled in to serve the most lucrative routes.
Though the Federal Government operates VIA Rail and oversees air, marine, and long-distance rail transport, for road and city transport, its role has been more limited to helping to fund transit projects and some major road infrastructure improvements. Knowing that, I was excited to learn that there was interest in understanding the state of the country’s rural and intercity transport initiatives. I completed the project for Infrastructure Canada in June 2023, but I have recently updated a version of the map I completed, which I am excited to share.
A simplified methodology of how I completed this map can be found below.
After the last train departed from Orangeville on December 17, 2021, the Orangeville-Brampton Railway (OBRY) became yet another abandoned railway, the last chapter of a once-expansive network of rails that branched out across Midwestern Ontario. Orangeville was the divisional point of Canadian Pacific’s Bruce lines, which served Owen Sound, Walkerton, Teeswater, Fergus and Elora, and dozens of towns and villages en route. By 1995, all of those branches were abandoned by CP, so in 2000, the Town of Orangeville purchased the remaining bit of track to serve local industries, and even launched a scenic excursion train, the Credit Valley Explorer, several years later. For about a decade, the future looked bright.
The Town of Orangeville, which was eager to walk away from the railway it once proudly owned, was quick to tear up the tracks within its boundaries, soon to be replaced by a new multi-use path. In July 2023, the ties are still mostly in place, for now, waiting to be dug up, and while the road crossings are now smooth, signal gantries are still standing on Broadway and Townline Road.
At the old yards and station grounds, the “new” station building, opened in 2007 for the Credit Valley Explorer and an office for OBRY rail crews, is being used as a temporary branch of the Orangeville Public Library, as the main Mill Street location undergoes major renovations.
Warped rails and ties on the old railbed at Townline Road, OrangevilleRailway crossing signal gantries on Townline Road, stripped of their crossbucks and lightsThe “new” Orangeville station, built for the Credit Valley Explorer and an office for OBRY crews; currently used as a temporary location for the Orangeville Public Library
Through Caledon and Brampton, however, the track remains mostly in place, though it has largely been covered by weeds. Near Alton, the Mile 31 signpost remains erect, though nature has completely taken over the right-of-way.
The Region of Peel now owns the corridor, with the promise of a new rail trail, though with the impending disbandment of that upper-tier municipality, it will be up to the Town of Caledon and the Cities of Brampton and Mississauga (and possibly Credit Valley Conservation) to follow through with removing the rails and ties and putting down a new trail.
Mile 31 signpost, north of Alton
In the meantime, the Region of Peel removed the crossings of Highway 136 near Alton. The rusted track simply disappears into the roadbed on either side. The crossing at Mayfield Road at the Brampton/Caledon border has also been removed to allow for widening of that major arterial road. Otherwise, the tracks are still in place, though weeds, debris, and concrete blocks placed at several bridges to deter unauthorized use, have made the rails impassable.
The abandoned OBRY track disappears at Highway 136 (Porterfield Road)The former Highway 136 (Queen Street) crossing in Alton
At several crossings, the crossbucks, lights and bells have been removed, replaced with warnings to plow drivers to raise their blades at the disused tracks.
At Old School Road, the crossbucks are gone; new signs warn snowplow drivers to raise their blades at the abandoned tracks
In Brampton, though, transit buses still stop at the crossings on Queen Street, Bovaird Drive, and Steeles Avenue as if anytime was still train time. The signals protecting the diamond at the busy CN line in Downtown Brampton are still active, 18 months since the last train passed through on the Orangeville line.
When I last passed by the diamond, on July 5, I saw work equipment on the old OBRY right-of-way, so perhaps that, too, is not long for this world.
Looking north to the Brampton diamond; an excavator can be seen just north of the CN mainline
The last train left Timmins Station in 1990. Today, it serves as a bus terminal for local and Ontario Northland buses
Northeastern Ontario got an early Christmas gift from the provincial government on December 15, 2022. On that day, the province announced the purchase of three new trainsets for the restoration of passenger rail service to North Bay, Timmins, and points in between.
Prior to 1990, there were two daily trains between Toronto and Northeastern Ontario: the daytime Northlander, which ran between Toronto, North Bay, and Timmins daily except Saturdays, and the daily overnight Northland, which continued north to Cochrane and Kapuskasing, with a bus connection to Timmins.
The Northland, which was operated with VIA equipment, was cut as part of a devastating slash to VIA’s budget by the federal Progressive Conservative government. Other trains cut in 1990 included the daily train services from Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal to Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, and Vancouver. The remaining train service between Cochrane and Northern Quebec soon followed.
The only train service left in Northern Ontario were remote services still provided by VIA Rail (the local Sudbury-White River RDC train and the transcontinental Canadian, reduced to three days a week and rerouted on the more remote CN mainline), Algoma Central between Sault Ste. Marie and Hearst, the Polar Bear Express/Little Bear service to Moosonee, and the 6 days/week Northlander service between Toronto and Cochrane, which was re-routed from Timmins (though a bus connection at Matheson was maintained).
A railway overpass, completed shortly before its abandonment, crosses Highway 101 (Algonquin Avenue) towards Downtown Timmins, with the station building in the distance. A Timmins Transit bus lays over at the terminal.
With the passenger service gone, the tracks through the urban areas of Timmins were quickly removed. The old railway right-of-way in Schumacher, a mining town just east of Downtown Timmins, became the new route of Highway 101, bypassing the old main street, hastening Schumacher’s decline. The station in Timmins was repurposed as a bus terminal for Ontario Northland and Timmins Transit.
The old route of Highway 101 through Schumacher
In 2012, the Northlander, which used refurbished former GO Transit single-deck railcars, was cut by the provincial Liberal government, citing declining ridership and high subsidies ($400 per passenger). The train also required an auxiliary power unit, as Ontario Northland used only freight locomotives.
The southbound Northlander arriving at Gravenhurst in 2012. The auxiliary power unit is immediately behind the locomotive.
The new trainsets will be the first time in generations that Ontario Northland won’t be using second-hand passenger cars. In the 1970s, Ontario Northland acquired used Trans-Europe Express (TEE) trainsets from Nederlandse Spoorwegen. Though the cars were modern by Canadian standards, the motive power proved unsatisfactory in winter weather and were replaced by older EMD FP7 engines. In 1992, the ageing TEE cars were replaced by the refurbished GO Transit cars.
Like the old TEE trainsets, the new Siemens trainsets will operate in a semi-permanent configuration, with a Siemens Charger locomotive at one end and a combined passenger/control car at the other end, similar to how the new VIA Rail trains will operate. The Siemens Charger locomotives are used by several passenger services in North America, including Amtrak, Brightline, and VIA, while the Siemens Venture cars are very similar to those being delivered to VIA.
The proposed paint scheme, depicted in a government release below, evokes the old TEE paint scheme, with the modern colours used by Ontario Northland.
Rendering of the new Northlander trainsets (Ontario Government press release, 17 December 2022)
The revived Northlander service will operate between Toronto and Timmins, with a rail or bus connection to Cochrane, the southern terminal of the Polar Bear Express train to Moosonee. There will be new train stops north of Toronto at Langstaff GO Station (where there are connections to York Region Transit and frequent GO buses on the Highway 407 corridor) and Gormley, a station site with far less connectivity.
The trouble, however, is the Timmins terminus. Though the new Siemens trainsets are double-ended and will not require a wye to change directions, most of the track in Timmins has been torn up. As explained earlier, the track into downtown has been partially built upon, and the current end of track is 13 kilometres to the east of central Timmins, on Highway 101 in the small community of Porcupine.
Schematic of the proposed Timmins Station and service shedfrom the Updated Business Case.Highway 101 is at bottom left.
This is where the new station is projected to be built.
Looking towards the end of track on Falcon Street, Porcupine
The Porcupine area has local transit service, a Timmins Transit bus that serves Schumacher, South Porcupine, and Porcupine every 30-60 minutes. The proposed station site is about the same driving distance from the city centre as Timmins Airport, which offers direct air service to Pearson and Toronto Island airports.
According to the business case, the estimated annual ridership for the restored rail service by 2041 is 39,220 to 60,110. Assuming a train in each direction, six days a week, this will mean only 63 to 96 passengers per train, the capacity of just two coach buses, at only a marginally faster speed than the existing Ontario Northland motor coach service. A significant benefit of rail over bus is the reliability in winter conditions, certainly important for Northern Ontario, bus without significant investment in the track infrastructure, it is hard to find much in the way of improvements to the intercity network as a whole. Restoration of the Northlander still does not support travel to Sudbury, the largest community in Northeastern Ontario with the most important medical centre in that part of the province.
At least the Northlander will get new, reliable equipment for once that will be easier to maintain and obtain parts for. As it is essentially the same equipment as VIA and Amtrak’s new fleets, should the Northlander fail to meet even the meagre ridership projections in the business case documents, the equipment will certainly find new use elsewhere.
I wish I could be more upbeat about the future of passenger rail in Northern Ontario, an area that deserves reliable, useful intercity transport. The purchase of new rolling equipment is a positive development, but without significant improvements to track speeds, a more convenient Timmins terminus, and a complete transport plan for the entire region that can help build train ridership and support communities elsewhere in Northern Ontario, the renewed Northlander will suffer the same fate as the last iteration.
Correction: the Cochrane-Senneterre train lasted a little bit longer past the 1990 VIA Rail cuts.
A Red Arrow coach lays over at a Harvey’s restaurant in Kingston on the way to Ottawa
On December 7, I took a trip out to Kingston to ride the newest coach operator to arrive in Ontario: Red Arrow. A division of Pacific Western, Red Arrow is the latest carrier to stake a claim to the busy Toronto-Kingston-Ottawa route, which is now served by five private companies.
Between Toronto and Ottawa, five intercity coach carriers–Megabus, Rider Express, Flixbus, Book-A-Ride, and Red Arrow–compete for the same passengers, along with VIA Rail and three airlines (Air Canada, WestJet, and Porter).
There is also fierce competition for the Toronto-London route. Passengers have the choice of taking Megabus, Rider Express, Onex, Flixbus, Book-A-Ride, VIA Rail, or a very slow weekday-only GO train. Along with VIA, Flixbus also continues west, to Windsor (where the Tunnel Bus connection to Detroit has finally been restored). The Toronto-St. Catharines-Niagara route is also served by multiple bus and rail services.
Red Arrow coach seating
Despite new intercity coach players like Red Arrow (which provides a high-end coach service, with comfortable seating in a 2+1 arrangement, along with complimentary soft drinks and light snacks) and Book-A-Ride (which operates like a charter airline, with schedules that change frequently based on demand), many other routes still have limited or no service. Flixbus quietly dropped its Kitchener-Hamilton-Niagara route earlier this year, eliminating service on a corridor that once had frequent Canada Coach Lines buses; that route had been sold in 1990 to Trentway-Wagar/Coach Canada. Flixbus also ended service to Guelph, instead concentrating on its other corridors. Early next year, Megabus will end its route between Toronto, Buffalo, Philadelphia, and Washington DC.
The deregulation of motor coach services within the Province of Ontario may have made some sense. The old bargain of providing exclusive franchises for busy, profitable routes made sense when operators would use those cash cows to help subsidize less-trafficked rural services. But as Greyhound, Stagecoach, and other large companies bought up smaller carriers (such as Gray Coach, Canada Coach Lines, and PMCL) in the 1980s and 1990s, they were allowed to slowly abandon the smaller routes. Greyhound itself divested most of its network before disappearing altogether. As the franchising scheme didn’t work, there was no point keeping it.
But now, there’s the absurd situation where there are up to 25 daily buses and trains between Toronto and Ottawa (see table below). In contrast, there is not a single daily bus service connecting Hamilton and Kitchener-Waterloo–two urban centres of over 500,000 people each, just an hour apart, with three large universities (Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier, and McMaster) and two major colleges (Conestoga and Mohawk) between them.
Available trips from Toronto to Ottawa, December 2022, with times for Kingston and Peterborough. Bus and rail tips to Montreal via Kingston are not included. A PDF version can be found here.
Elsewhere, where GO Transit and government-subsidized regional connections have filled gaps, the services are often slower and less direct than the old coach bus service. PMCL used to operate daily bus service between Owen Sound and Toronto via Collingwood and Barrie. Today, the same trip is possible via Grey Transit Route, Colltrans, Simcoe County Linx, and GO Transit, but the trip will take the better part of a day. Meanwhile, other gaps remain. Elgin County (Aylmer and St. Thomas) and Haldimand County (Caledonia, Dunnville, Hagersville, and Jarvis) are left without any outside connections.
Such is the state of the intercity transportation network (if you can call it that) in Ontario.
Though I enjoyed the trip on Red Arrow to Kingston (especially as I took advantage of a special $25 fare), I wondered how well the service will do here in Ontario. Its base price is over $100 one-way to Ottawa, more expensive than other coach operators and priced more like VIA Rail, which itself is slightly faster (as long as CN freight trains do not get in the way). Red Arrow uses the same locations in Ottawa (the VIA Rail Station itself) and Toronto (Union Station Bus Terminal) as the train. Red Arrow does well in Alberta, where there is no useful passenger rail service (Pacific Western also offers a no-frills coach bus service on the same Calgary-Edmonton route).
The latest version of my interactive intercity transit map is below:
On Tuesday, October 4, Metrolinx announced a new name for Oshawa GO Station, the eastern terminus of its busy Lakeshore Corridor. In a ten-year agreement with Durham College, a publicly funded post-secondary institution, the station will now be known as “Durham College Oshawa GO.” This was announced on Metrolinx’s Twitter account, Durham College’s social media, and on the GO Transit Lakeshore East Twitter account, which usually advises passengers of train delays and cancellations.
📢 Oshawa GO is now Durham College Oshawa GO!
Customers will start see the new name on the station building itself and on assets throughout our system. pic.twitter.com/dAAvCjOz2e
GO Transit Lakeshore East Train tweet on October 4“Allow us to reintroduce ourselves” – promotional poster at Oshawa Station proclaiming the new “Durham College Oshawa GO” name
Metrolinx, the regional transit agency that operates GO Transit, claims that “the partnership allows us to better serve Durham Region and the GTHA” in its communications, including an informational poster in front of the station building.
The news did not go over well with GO Transit customers and transit users across the Greater Toronto Area; Metrolinx later deleted its tweet after it was “ratioed” — meaning that negative comments and quote-tweets outnumbered the number of positive responses by a large margin. It is easy to understand why the station renaming was not popular.
Firstly, though “Oshawa” remains in the station name, Durham College comes first with the new moniker. Schedules, signs, and maps will be updated to reflect the new name, while announcements by on-board staff and digital schedule information already reflect the new name. VIA Rail, which shares the station with GO Transit, is not a party to the agreement, and will likely continue referring to the station as “Oshawa.”
Specific details of the agreement, such as how much Durham College is paying for the branding agreement, remain confidential.
On GO Transit schedule boards, Oshawa Station now appears as “DC Oshawa GO”
The new policy of naming rights agreements goes against years of Metrolinx policy for naming stations. When planning the Eglinton-Crosstown LRT, it developed five standards for naming stations and stops:
1. Simple. Simple names are easier to remember
2. Logical. Logical names provide a mental link when trip planning: they should be relevant to the area they reside
3. Durable. Names should be relevant as long as the station exists
4. Self-Locating. Names should allow users to mentally locate themselves within the region
5. Unique. A unique name is one that cannot be confused with any other.
“Durham College Oshawa GO” violates most of the above principles. The name is now a mouthful, much like “Vaughan Metropolitan Centre” (another controversial station name that the TTC objected to, but was overruled due to political considerations), and is no longer simple. The agreement only lasts ten years, so it is not durable. As I will explain further, the name is also neither logical, self-locating, nor unique.
Durham College has three campuses. Its main campus is located in the north end of Oshawa, on a site shared with Ontario Tech University. GO Transit has a bus stop there called “Ontario Tech/Durham College” that is served by GO Transit Route 56 on weekdays, and Route 52 on weekends and holidays. The main Oshawa campus is a two hour walk from the GO station, a 25-35 minute GO bus ride, or a 20 minute drive from the station. This was the main reason why transit users were ridiculing the new station name on Twitter.
Durham College’s Whitby Campus is much closer to Oshawa GO Station, in fact, it is less than 500 metres from the Oshawa GO Station parking lot as the crow flies. Oshawa Station is actually right on the border of Oshawa and Whitby, with the “Welcome to Oshawa” signs next to the main GO Transit parking lot. The overflow lot for Oshawa GO is actually in the Town of Whitby.
The “Oshawa: Prepare To Be Amazed” sign marking the city limit sits next to the GO Station parking lot.
However, the Whitby campus is even harder to get to from Oshawa GO than the main Oshawa campus because it is separated by Highway 401. It is a 41 minute walk between the station and the Whitby college campus along Victoria Street (which has no sidewalks along most of its length), Thickson Road, Stellar Drive, and Champlain Avenue, though a footbridge over the highway would reduce the walking time to a more comfortable 15 minutes.
Google Maps directions from Oshawa Station to Durham College Whitby CampusLooking northwest from the Oshawa GO parking lot towards Durham College Whitby Campus, the large grey building above and to the right of the green Thickson Road exit signLooking east on Champlain Boulevard in front of the Whitby campus across Highway 401 towards Oshawa GO Station, which is marked by the tall digital billboard towering over the roadway
The irony is that both major Durham College campuses are better reached from Whitby Station than the newly named “Durham College Oshawa GO.” There are no direct buses to the Whitby Campus from Oshawa Station, but Durham Region Transit (DRT) Route 917 provides regular service from Whitby Station. Furthermore, DRT operates more frequent service on Route 905 between Whitby Station and the Oshawa Campus than GO Transit does from Oshawa Station. Google Transit itself recommends transferring at Whitby to DRT, rather than at Oshawa, because the connections are more convenient. GO Route 56 operates only every hour on weekdays, and Route 52 runs every two hours on weekends and holidays. Meanwhile Route 905 stops in front of the Oshawa campus every 15-30 minutes, 7 days a week.
The connection at Oshawa Station to Durham College’s main Oshawa Campus makes sense only when transferring from a VIA Train, or from GO Transit Route 88 from Peterborough and Clarington.
Excerpt from Durham Region Transit system map, with Oshawa and Whitby stations and both Durham College campus locations highlighted
Therefore, at this point, renaming Oshawa Station to “Durham College Oshawa GO” makes no sense. The new name violates basic wayfinding standards, while Durham College itself is better accessed from a different GO Station. Perhaps Durham College could operate a shuttle service to its campuses from the station, making the co-branding a more plausible.
Though I am critical of the process, I am sympathetic to Metrolinx’s position. I do not believe they were supportive of the province’s decision to rename a major LRT project for a political ally and paid advisor to Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives. I strongly believe there are many within the organization who are not happy about the station renaming agreements either. They must work with a very “hands on” government that is eager to promote new transit projects and benefit their supporters.
A partially hidden stairway on Dupont Street leads to the site of the lost CP West Toronto Station
Since 1853, the year that the Ontario, Simcoe & Huron Railway first laid track at the city’s waterfront, Toronto has been criss-crossed by rail corridors. With the exception of the Ontario & Quebec Railway (a subsidiary of Canadian Pacific), every rail line built converged on Toronto’s downtown waterfront, and radiated out across the province, with connections to neighbouring provinces and states. Though Toronto’s first Union Station was built in 1858 by the Grand Trunk Railway (which also hosted two competing railways that the GTR later acquired), there was still a need for smaller stations outside the downtown core.
Outlying stations within the city limits, such as East Toronto (Danforth), Riverdale, and Don Stations in the east, Parkdale, West Toronto, Davenport, and Sunnyside Stations in the west, were particularly important prior to modern dispatch and signalling systems. Station agents at stops outside the city centre were useful to commuters, while the station agent would deliver important messages to train crews entering the congested downtown railyards and passenger facilities. Mail could be collected, delivered, and processed for local residents and businesses. Passengers could purchase tickets without needing to go all the way downtown.
In the early 1900s, Canadian Pacific — tired of delays with constructing a new third Union Station — built a grand station where its original Ontario & Quebec mainline crossed Yonge Street. Though the station was popular with the area’s affluent residents, CP closed the station during the Depression. (Today, it’s a magnificent LCBO flagship store.)
Outside the old City of Toronto, there were staffed passenger stations at Long Branch, Mimico, Scarborough Junction, Port Union, Agincourt, Leaside, Downsview, Weston, and Islington.
By the end of the 1960s, many of these stations were closed. In southern Ontario, mail was being sent by truck instead of rail, sorted in large processing facilities. The loss of the mail contracts spelled the end of many rural passenger rail services. Modern centralized traffic control and wireless communication systems did away for the need for station staff to relay messages and orders to passing trains. Though there were still dozens of passenger trains arriving and departing Union Station, these trains, mostly on the Montreal-Windsor corridor, made fewer stops. In 1967, GO Transit replaced the remaining all-stops commuter service on CN’s line between Hamilton and Toronto; it eventually replaced most of CN’s stations on what are now the Lakeshore, Kitchener, and Stouffville Lines with new station stops or built new facilities at old station sites that better served suburban park-and-ride commuters. GO also added new stations such as Guildwood, Bloor, and Old Cummer.
Within the City of Toronto, there are only four passenger railway station buildings preserved: Union Station, CP North Toronto Station, Mimico Station, and Don Station. Mimico and Don Stations were moved off-site, while only Union Station remains in continuous passenger service. Other stations burned down, were demolished, or were simply left to rot. In a few places, though, old staircases provide clues to these long-lost stations.
Don Station
Don Station was built by CP in 1896 to serve its new branch to Union Station from the Ontario & Quebec mainline at Leaside. Located at Queen Street at the Don River, it was an important waystation for train crews to receive orders before arriving at Union Station or before departing northeastward on the long trestle towards Leaside and Montreal. When Canadian Northern built its mainline through the Don Valley in 1906, it shared the approach tracks with CP and also used Don Station.
Originally, the CP and CNoR tracks crossed Queen Street at grade. After a catastrophic streetcar-train crash further east on Queen Street, the City of Toronto pushed to grade-separate all major road crossings. In 1911, a higher-level bridge was built that spanned the Don River and the railway tracks. Today, it also spans the Don Valley Parkway.
The station closed in 1967 when the Toronto-Peterborough-Havelock train stopped serving Don, and the station building was moved to Todmorden Mills in 1969. In 2008, the station was moved again, to Roundhouse Park. It now hosts passenger trains again; albeit a miniature train operated by the Toronto Railway Museum.
The original wooden stairway from Queen Street that connected to Don Station was removed by the early 1960s and replaced by a metal staircase. The metal structure has since been refurbished and now connects Queen Street with the Lower Don Trail.
Stairway from the Lower Don Trail to Queen Street EastDon Station in 1910, before the higher-level Queen Street bridge was constructed –City of Toronto Archives Fonds 1231, Item 73
Parkdale CN Station
Sealed portal to CN Parkdale Station
Until 1960, every train on the Toronto-Kitchener-London route made a stop at Parkdale, near the corner of Queen and Bathurst Streets. The Queen Street Subway, completed in 1898, was one of the first road-rail grade separations in the city. The underpass allowed streetcars and traffic to avoid the multiple Grand Trunk and Canadian Pacific mainline and service tracks that crossed Queen Street. Both Grand Trunk (later CN) and CP had stations at Parkdale, though the wooden GTR/CN station was located between the tracks and had to be accessed by a stairway from the south side of the Queen Street underpass.
A bricked up archway betrays the old passage to the now-demolished station.
The new Queen Street Subway, 1898. Parkdale CN Station is to the left of this image, but the stairway down to street level is clearly visible. –City of Toronto Archives Fonds 200, Series 376, File 2, Item 1Old streetcars headed to Haileybury, Ontario pass by the CN Parkdale Station on October 14, 1922. The streetcars, which were slated for scrapping, where being sent north to provide shelter after a disastrous forest fire. – City of Toronto Archives Fonds 16, Series 71, Item 1601
West Toronto CP Station
Both CN and CP had stations at West Toronto. The Grand Trunk (later CN) station was located on Old Weston Road near Davenport Road. The CN station closed in the early 1980s and was demolished in 1999 after being left abandoned to the elements and vandals.
The CP station was located to the south, on Old Weston Road just north of Dupont and Dundas Streets. As the town of West Toronto (originally known as Toronto Junction) built up around the junction between CP’s Ontario & Quebec, Credit Valley, and Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railways, the CP station was the pride of the community. The last station on the site, completed in 1911, was a large building in the Tudor style, with a long canopy. The last train to serve West Toronto, CP’s Canadian, departed in 1978, and CP controversially demolished the station under cover of darkness in 1982.
CP West Toronto Station, 1923 – City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1231, Item 1092CP West Toronto Station just prior to demolition in 1982 – City of Toronto Archives, Series 1464, File 597, Item 23
At the south end of the station platform, a stairway led down to the north side of Dupont Street. Though it is fenced off, the stairway is still very much visible just west of the railway underpass. The concrete retaining wall has been brightened up by local graffiti artists.
Fenced-off stairway from the north side of Dupont Street, just east of Dundas Street, leads to the site of the now-demolished CP West Toronto Station
St. Clair Avenue Station
CN St. Clair Avenue Station just prior to its final closure, c. 1983 – City of Toronto Archives, Series 1465, File 597, Item 30
St. Clair Avenue Station was completed in 1931, as part of a grade separation project that finally allowed through streetcar service on St. Clair West. The small brick structure replaced an older station at Davenport Road, which was soon demolished.
St. Clair Avenue served CN trains between Toronto, Northern Ontario, and Western Canada, though passenger services declined through the 1960s and 1970s. When GO Transit took over the local Barrie train from VIA, it cut the stop at St. Clair Avenue. The station was closed for good when VIA’s Canadian was rerouted from the CN Newmarket Subdivision in 1985. Like other disused passenger stations, the building suffered from neglect, vandalism, and arson, before being demolished by CN in 1999.
The remains of the station platform are still visible from the east side of GO trains on the north side of St. Clair, especially in winter and early spring. From St. Clair Avenue itself, a stairway, partially hidden by greenery, leads up to the old station site.
Abandoned stairway north from St. Clair Avenue West, near Caledonia Road, leads to the site of the CN St. Clair Avenue Station
Exhibition Station
New Grand Trunk Railway Exhibition Station, 1912. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1231, Item 1584
In 1912, the Grand Trunk Railway opened a new station that was intended to see train service for only a few weeks a year. Exhibition Station, constructed at the foot of Dufferin Street, was an anomaly. It had no full-time station agent, but it featured wide platforms and staircases leading up to Exhibition Place’s Dufferin Gates. Special trains during the Canadian National Exhibition would quickly load and offload fairgoers. As CP, through its part-ownership of the Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo Railway, had running rights on the GTR/CN tracks between Union Station and Hamilton, it too, could send trains direct to the CNE.
Exhibition Station remained in use until the early years of GO Transit, when it built a new station farther east in the early 1970s. Upgraded since then, the current Exhibition Station will become a multimodal hub with the construction of the Ontario Line. Meanwhile, the old stairways and platforms remain, though fenced off.
Stairway down to the westbound platform at the old CN Exhibition Station at Dufferin Street
Agincourt CP Station
North side stairway at Brimley Avenue. Note the sign reading “Agincourt” on the underpass structure.
Both CN and CP had stations called Agincourt in North Scarborough, but neither of the historic station buildings remain. The CN station, now the location of Agincourt GO Station, was on Sheppard Avenue East near Kennedy Road, at the centre of the rural settlement. The CP station, originally built in 1884 for its Ontario & Quebec subsidiary, was farther east, located between Sheppard Avenue and Brimley Road. Though the CN station (built in 1871 for the Toronto & Nipissing Railway) was demolished in 1982, the station site remains in active use. Little remains of the CP station.
On the west side of a wide underpass on Brimley north of Sheppard, two fenced-off stairways lead to the north and south side of the CP tracks. In 1960, CP constructed a new freight classification yard in northern Scarborough; as part of that project, it built new underpasses at Sheppard, Brimley, and McCowan Road, and a large overpass for Markham Road. CP replaced the 1884 station with a smaller station building to serve its remaining passenger trains between Toronto, Peterborough, and Havelock. The station building was on the south side of the tracks, with a driveway leading off Sheppard Avenue to the station and a small parking lot, but CP built the stairways on Brimley for walk-up traffic and to provide a safe passage under the tracks between platforms.
Though the rail diesel coach service survived until the 1990 VIA Rail cuts, the station building was demolished in the late 1970s.
On Friday, May 13, I embarked on a day trip through Southwestern Ontario from Downtown Toronto. I wanted to ride more of Ontario’s new intercommunity transit services and try one of the new intercity bus operators that’s filling the vacuum left by Greyhound’s departure. I started my trip at Union Station, spent some time in Kitchener-Waterloo, then continued on to London, returning home that evening.
Between Toronto and Kitchener, there are several options. VIA Rail is the fastest and most comfortable ride, but it now only operates one train a day between Toronto and Kitchener.
GO Transit is the most frequent option, with several weekday trains between Toronto, Brampton, Guelph, and Kitchener, and connecting buses at Bramalea GO Station for Downtown Kitchener and Waterloo. The train and bus trip via Bramalea is just under 2 hours, costing $19.40. (Weekend GO service is much slower, requiring a change of bus at Square One, with a 2 hour, 33 minute ride.)
The traveler might also choose one of the new private carriers. FlixBus has one daily departure at 7:45 AM from Downtown Toronto (on York Street, south of Union Station), with a second 2:15 PM trip departing Thursdays through Sundays. Though FlixBus is the cheapest option — only $14.24 with tax — it is slightly slower than GO Transit’s direct train or its Bramalea bus connection, as it deals with Downtown Toronto traffic and serves Guelph on its way to Kitchener. Onex Bus also stops at Kitchener on its Toronto-London route, but it stops at the Sportsworld Terminal near Highway 401, requiring a change to Grand River Transit’s buses.
Because of the flexibility and convenience, I choose GO Transit, switching from train to bus at Bramalea. Because of continuing construction at Bramalea Station, I had trouble finding the bus stop for the Route 30 to Kitchener and University of Waterloo, but once work is complete on the bus loop, the transfer between modes will be quite easy.
Route 30 is a fast bus route, stopping only at the Meadowvale Business Park in Mississauga, where connections can be made to several other GO Transit bus routes as well as Miway and Brampton Transit. In Kitchener-Waterloo, the GO bus stops at Downtown Kitchener, at Wilfrid Laurier University, and at a new terminal at University of Waterloo. This is in contrast to Route 25 between Square One and University of Waterloo, which exits the highway multiple times to make local stops, and is the only weekend GO service.
The new bus terminal at University of Waterloo, serving local GRT routes, GO Transit, and the ION LRT.
Between Kitchener and London, however, options are much more limited. Though the GO Transit Kitchener Line was recently extended to London, this is limited to one weekday train leaving London at 5:30 AM and returning to London at 8:37 PM. There is just one VIA train between the two cities as well. Onex Bus offers up to five trips daily between Sportsworld and Downtown London.
The other option is PC Connect, a provincially-funded intercommunity service connecting Stratford and St. Marys with Kitchener-Waterloo and London, as well as towns within Perth County with each other. From Conestoga Mall in Waterloo, I took the 2:50 PC Connect trip to Stratford and St. Marys. At St. Marys, I changed to a connecting bus for Masonville Place Mall in London. Each ride cost $12 cash. Service was friendly and on-time.
PC Connect Bus in St. Marys
At London, PC Connect stops on Fanshawe Park Road, adjacent to Masonville Place Mall, but a ten-minute walk from the main LTC bus terminal where connections can be made to Western University and Downtown London. (Huron Shores Area Transit, with service to Exeter and Grand Bend, stops on the north side of Fanshawe Park Road).
With VIA Rail’s service reduced between Windsor, London, and Toronto, the only trip back to Toronto after 5PM (on a Friday, a traditionally busy travel day) was an Onex Bus departure from the downtown VIA Rail station’s parking lot at 9:15 PM to Pearson Airport (the last trip of the evening continues to Bramalea City Centre, rather than Downtown Toronto). The VIA station at least is still open at that hour, with washrooms and an indoor waiting area.
I expected a coach bus, but instead, the 13 people waiting were greeted with a 15-seater van. Though the seats were relatively comfortable given the size of the van, passengers had to sit in tight spaces and there was no on-board lavatory like those on Greyhound or Coach Canada coaches. The one-way fare was $38.
The 15-seat van from London to Pearson Airport
Though the van arrived late in London (helpfully, a text was sent out to passengers), the trip to Pearson was uneventful, though it arrived about 30 minutes later than scheduled. I still had an hour’s TTC ride home to look forward to, instead of a 20 minute walk from Union Station or the old Toronto Coach Terminal.
As a private company operating in the newly deregulated intercity coach market, it made sense for OnexBus to utilize a smaller vehicle to minimize costs (the requirement for online advance booking makes this easier). But it was not up to the standards of legacy carriers such as Ontario Northland or Greyhound.
As more Ontarians travel and as post-secondary institutions return to full on-site learning in September 2022, it will be interesting to see how intercity transit providers and customers adapt to the new normal. I certainly would look forward to taking the train again once VIA returns to its full schedule.
Flixbus is one of many intercity coach operators in Ontario right now
With university and college campuses reopening for in-class instruction, white-collar workers slowly returning to the office, and pandemic restrictions receding, there are more intercity transport options in Ontario than at any time prior to March 2020.
New operators, including Germany’s Flixbus, have arrived in Ontario (with routes between Toronto, Guelph/Kitchener, Niagara, and Ottawa), while Greyhound, which pulled out of Canada two years ago, restarted cross-border runs from Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. In Southern Ontario, intercommunity bus and van operations continued through the pandemic, with notable service improvements in Simcoe and Grey Counties, new routes in Eastern Ontario, as well as the expansion of “on-demand” services in rural communities and smaller urban centres, including parts of Niagara Region, as the regional government there slowly assumes responsibility for all municipal transit services.
Despite these advances, there are still many gaps in Ontario that need to be filled. The deregulation of Ontario’s motor coach industry has opened the highways up to more operators, but they are all chasing the same customers, rather than attracting new riders.
For getting between Toronto and Ottawa, passengers have a plethora of choices. They may fly — the fastest, but most expensive option — on Air Canada, WestJet or Porter. They may choose VIA Rail, which is comfortable, but slower. Or they may choose to book a ticket on a Megabus, Rider Express, or Flixbus coach, the slowest, cheapest, and least frequent option. (As of May 2022, only Megabus will begin operating daily buses between Toronto and Ottawa.)
Between London and Toronto, passengers can choose between a four-hour GO Transit train ride that departs at 5:33 AM, one of several daily VIA trains (approximately 2 hours), one of three daily Onex buses (2 hours, 35 minutes) or one of three daily non-stop Megabus trips (2 hours, 10 minutes).
Not all bus operators serve the same locations, either, creating new disconnections. In Toronto, GO Transit, Megabus, Rider Express TOK Coach, and Greyhound USA use the new Union Station Bus Terminal, which is directly connected to VIA and GO trains at Union Station and the TTC subway and streetcar system.
Flixbus stops at a curbside layby on York Street south of the Gardiner Expressway
To save on terminal fees, Onex stops beside the Royal York Hotel on York Street, across the street from Union Station, sharing the layby with the Toronto Island Airport shuttle. Flixbus uses a different coach bus layby on York Street south of the Gardiner Expressway, in the Harbourfront area. Neither curbside stop is marked for either company. Though Ontario Northland still sends some buses downtown to Union Station, some of its buses to and from Sudbury and North Bay now terminate at the Yorkdale Bus Terminal in North York.
The layby next to Royal York Hotel serves the Toronto Island Airport shuttle (which has a sign) and Onex bus (which has no bus stop sign)
In Ottawa, Ontario Northland and Orleans Express use the VIA Rail station (which is on the O-Train LRT system), while Megabus terminates at the St. Laurent O-Train station. Autobus Maheux and Flixbus use curbside stops in Downtown Ottawa. The London-Toronto Megabus route bypasses Downtown London on its route from Western University, while Onex Bus and VIA Rail stop right downtown, along with Strathroy-Caradoc’s intercommunity route.
Another issue is that apart from the Toronto-Kitchener-London, Toronto-Niagara, Toronto-Kingston-Ottawa, Toronto-Kingston-Montreal and Ottawa-Montreal corridors, there is still little choice in price, operator, or schedule.
Rider Express suspended service to Windsor last year, so that the three or four VIA rail trains to London and Toronto (or a flight from Windsor airport) are the only option available for anyone travelling without a car. (Transit Windsor’s Tunnel Bus to Detroit remains suspended, despite the continued loosening of border crossing restrictions.) Peterborough, once a major destination for Greyhound Canada on its Toronto-Ottawa corridor, now only has a nearly two-hour-long GO bus connection to Oshawa GO Station.
Gaps that I wrote about several years ago still remain on the map, which are only more evident as new intercommunity services start up and new carriers emerge. The City of St. Thomas and Elgin County remain the most visible of these gaps; St. Thomas is the only urban transit system in Ontario completely disconnected to any other community, despite its short distance to London. Haldimand County, despite its proximity to Brantford and Hamilton has also chosen to remain off the map. While neighbouring Perth, Lambton, Middlesex, and Grey Counties have developed useful transit connections, Huron and Bruce Counties have very limited links to the rest of the province.
Finally, the gaps between Hamilton and Brantford to the south and Guelph and Kitchener-Waterloo to the north remain to be filled despite the growing population and multiple post-secondary institutions in each urban area. Though the Hamilton-Guelph-Kitchener triangle should be a natural expansion for GO Transit, it has yet to announce its intentions. Meanwhile, no private coach operator has filled this obvious need.
The labour-backed Link the Watershed proposal would connect Guelph, Kitchener, Cambridge, and Brantford, but that plan requires the support of local government, but it still leaves the Hamilton corridor wide open.
As more students return to school full time, and more workers return to the office, the need for reliable and attractive transportation options across Ontario will only continue to grow. As housing prices to continue to increase higher than the already-high inflation rate, intercity transport will be one way to ensure students can stay at home while going to school, and workers don’t have to move or endure long and expensive highway commuting.
Hopefully by autumn, these gaps will finally close for good.
Sean Marshall 