Two and a half years ago, I took my first transit trip using an on-demand service, travelling between Port Perry and Cannington in rural Durham Region. It was part of a quest I undertook to visit every city and town hall in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area without a car. In March 2023, I found DRT’s booking service to be an exercise in frustration at first, though I eventually landed on a time that worked.
In September 2026, I wanted to travel to Paris, Ontario, a picturesque town of 15,000 people on the Grand River, and only a 15-minute drive from Brantford. In 2000, the Town of Paris was amalgamated with the rural county that surrounds the City of Brantford.
Though ten VIA trains a day pass through Paris, the closest stop is in Brantford
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Paris was served by a Brantford Transit bus route, which made sense given the short distance between the two communities. This service was discontinued in 1996 due to funding cutbacks to transit province-wide by the Mike Harris-led Progressive Conservatives. With the loss of Greyhound’s once-a-day local bus between London and Toronto in 2018, there was no way to get to Paris without a car or a taxi ride.
In 2019, the county launched Brant e-Ride, which was later branded as Brant Transit. An on-demand transit service, Brant Transit serves the entire municipality. It also allows pick-ups and drop-offs anywhere within Brantford, as long as either the origin or destination is within the county’s boundaries. Rides are $6 one-way, or $4 for adults over 55 and free for children 12 and under.
The ability to travel between Brantford and the surrounding county allows Brant County residents easy access to workplaces, schools, shopping, or medical services in Brantford, as well as connections to GO buses to McMaster University and Aldershot Station, VIA Rail trains, and the weekday Ride Norfolk service to Waterford and Simcoe. The service also allows Brantford residents to get to employment areas in Brant County, such as the Ford and Adidas warehouses by Highway 403 and Rest Acres Road (Highway 24 South).
The current contractor to Brant Transit is Via Transportation, a New York-based mobility software company specializing in on-demand transit and shuttle service platforms. Drivers are hired locally and use Brant Transit-branded minivans and SUVs.
Brant Transit ridership is growing, with over 25,000 rides provided in 2024, up 11% from 2023. The overwhelming majority of rides taken are between Brantford and Brant County, rather than within the municipality, with 57% of passengers using the service to get to and from work and another 24% using it to access health services.
Unlike the 2024 DRT experience, I found the booking system easy to use and it accepted my trip requests within the times I was looking for: a pickup in Brantford around 10AM (plenty of time for me to get there from Toronto either by VIA train or GO train/bus) and a pickup in Paris around 4PM. That would give me plenty of time for a leisurely walk around Paris, enjoy a relaxed lunch, and browse the downtown.
I travelled between the bus terminal in Downtown Brantford and the Paris Wincey Mills building, just off Paris’ main street. The old textile mill, once a Canadian Tire store, was beautifully restored, with a café, market, and brewery on the lower level, and offices on the upper two floors.
Paris Wincey Mills Co. building
The only trouble was the initial pick-up. The app, as well as the text alerts, kept telling me to wait at 73 George Street, the location of the old Brantford Carnegie Library now occupied by Wilfrid Laurier University. However, the tracking app — which appears similar to the Uber or Lyft platforms — showed the that correct location was actually the bus terminal. Luckily, I made it in time to meet the driver.
Information provided to me in the Brant Transit App, with driver’s name (redacted), vehicle info (plate and make), pickup time and location and estimated drop off time
I shared the ride to Paris with one other passenger, who remained on board after I departed. On the return ride, I could see the driver made several stops before picking me up, with a stop en route at one of the warehouses near Highway 403, where two other passengers were waiting, all headed to Brantford.
Screenshot of Brant Transit App showing my route back to Brantford Bus Terminal from Paris with an intermediate stop at a warehouse near Highways 24 and 403
Overall, I was satisfied with my experience. The drivers were friendly, the ride comfortable, and the app easy to use. If Brant Transit on a September Thursday was reflective of on-demand transit in general, the concept would leave a very positive experience for users and municipalities alike.
Furthermore, Paris itself continues to grow, with new residential subdivisions on Rest Acres Road near Highway 403. In the future, Brant County should seriously consider fixed-route services to serve commercial and residential growth in and around Paris, either as part of Brant Transit, contracted to Brantford as before 1996, or both. In the meantime, the on-demand service can continue to provide mobility for the rest of the county, and even within Paris during off-peak times such as evenings and weekends.
I would have benefitted from a fixed-route service for a leisurely visit; once the transit times are booked, the passenger is tied to those times. After three hours in Paris, I had more than enough time to see everything I planned; had there been a bus at 3:30, I would have hopped on that instead of waiting for a 4:35 pickup. Though on-demand transit offers geographical flexibility in a sparsely populated or low demand area, fixed-route, scheduled services provide temporal flexibility that on-demand services can not match.
My bike at Mile 15.7 of the Meaford Subdivision, New Lowell
Just before the new Fall 2026 GO Transit schedules kicked in, I decided to take a ride between Barrie and Collingwood, travelling on Ontario’s newest section of rail trail, an extension of the Barrie-Collingwood trail between Stayner and Angus. My ride on September 3 was pleasant and mostly uneventful, taking my bike to the shores of Lake Huron for the first time. Despite a successful 55 kilometre one-way ride, getting a bus ride back to Barrie, both the trail and the transit connections could be significantly improved.
The Barrie-Collingwood Rail Trail is named for the Barrie-Collingwood Railway (BCRY), a short line freight operation that took over from CN in the 1990s. The route through Barrie and Collingwood was built by the Ontario, Simcoe, and Huron Railway between 1853 and 1855, the province’s first rail line. Soon renaming itself the Northern Railway of Canada, the company expanded to Meaford, Orillia, and Gravenhurst before becoming part of the Grand Trunk Railway network. CN, which took over the Grand Trunk in 1923, ended passenger service to Collingwood in 1960.
After CN threatened abandonment of the railway, the town of Collingwood and the City of Barrie established the Barrie-Collingwood Railway (BCRY) in 1998. BCRY ensured continued rail service to several industries in the area. Though BCRY remains active in the Barrie area, including a spur into Innisfil (a remnant of the CN Beeton Sub), service into Collingwood was discontinued in 2011. The active track now ends at Utopia, east of Angus, where BCRY interchanges with the CPKC mainline. The discontinuance of railway service in western Simcoe County allowed for a rail trail to be developed along the line.
Off the GO train at Allandale Waterfront Station
I started my ride on a Thursday morning, taking the 9:54 Barrie Line train from Union all the way to the end at Allandale Waterfront Station, arriving at 11:37. Unfortunately, the hourly Simcoe County Linx bus to Wasaga Beach — Route 2 — leaves the adjacent Allandale Bus Terminal thirty minutes past the hour, forcing a 50 minute wait to if I wanted to continue by transit. I elected to begin my bike ride here instead.
The new Allandale bus terminal, serving Barrie Transit and Simcoe County Linx
The ride between Allandale and the beginning of the rail trail in Angus is very direct, following Tiffin Street in Barrie to County Road 90. Tiffin Street is mostly a two lane collector road with intermittent painted bike lanes that disappeared approaching signalized intersections to make room for left turn lanes. The bike lane also disappeared before crossing under Highway 400. But since it’s a straight, flat road with a moderate amount of traffic, it was certainly a better experience than my last ride through Barrie earlier this summer.
Bike lane on Tiffin Street…… That ends before every signalized intersection…… and under Highway 400
Simcoe County 90, a former provincial highway connecting Barrie, Angus, and CFB Borden, was widened from a two-lane road to a five-lane highway, including a centre turn lane. The posted speed limit is 80 km/h. However, there are decent paved shoulders along the entire stretch between the end of Tiffin Street and just before entering Angus. While County Road 90 was not the most pleasant riding experience because of traffic noise, it felt safe enough for a casual, yet confident, cyclist such as myself, and should be the minimum expectation in Ontario for rural cycling routes. But it would not be the place for a family ride.
Paved shoulder on Highway 90 towards Angus
Though I ended up following County Road 90 all the way into Angus, one may choose to turn south onto Essa 5th Line and connect to the beginning of the rail trail there.
Entering the Barrie-Collingwood Rail Trail at Angus. Note the old railway crossing signal box at left.
Once reaching the Barrie-Collingwood Rail Trail, the cyclist is treated to a pristine, shaded corridor all the way to New Lowell. On this section, the crushed gravel surface is well groomed and there are benches at regular intervals. The p-gates at each intersection are just far enough apart to be easily passable at a slow speed, and wayfinding is excellent.
Between Angus and New Lowell, the trail is smooth, straight, and shady
Unfortunately, between New Lowell and Stayner, the trail could use some grooming, with looser gravel that made for a slower and slipperier ride (I am not the first cyclist to complain about this). This was also a much less shaded section of trail, and I felt myself slowly losing energy before a change to stop in town for a break and to refresh my water bottle.
Main Street, StaynerCrossing of Main Street (Highway 26) at Stayner
At Stayner, the trail crosses busy Highway 26 twice: the first time at Main Street, adjacent to the town centre, and again at Airport Road. Both have signalized pedestrian crossings where railway signals once stood. Stayner is also where the trail shifts to being on the old railway right-of-way to being immediately beside it.
West of Stayner, where an older section of rail trail follows the derelict rails towards Collingwood
The older section of trail between Stayner and Collingwood was constructed as part of a watermain project connecting Clearview Township (which includes Stayner) with Georgian Bay at Collingwood in the mid 2010s, not long after the last train left Collingwood. It appears that, at the time, there was thought to retaining the railway should it ever be required again; notably old rail bridges at Stayner and Batteaux have not been converted for trail use. However, the intact rails have been completely overgrown with vegetation and most crossings have been removed or paved over. With the track completely gone between Angus and Stayner, there’s almost no chance rail service of any kind will ever return to the 170-year-old corridor.
The section of trail between Stayner and Poplar Sideroad — Collingwood’s town limit) is smooth and straight except for a short detour on country road at Batteaux. However, there are no benches or rest areas along this 10 kilometre stretch. But once within Collingwood, the trail becomes part of the town’s recreational network, which connects the entire community. At the very end is the reconstructed Collingwood Station, which replaced an older building erected by the Northern Railway of Canada (the successor to the pioneering Ontario, Simcoe and Huron) and is home to a local museum.
Replica Northern Railway station, CollingwoodPlaque commemorating the history of the Ontario, Simcoe, and Huron / Northern Railway Co. in Collingwood
I had just enough time to get a snack and beverage before getting the 6:00 PM Simcoe County Linx bus to Wasaga Beach and then to the 6:30 PM bus back to Barrie, the last trip of the day.
Simcoe County Linx bus (Aug. 2021 photo). All Simcoe County buses are equipped with bike racks.
Needed improvements
This ride from Barrie to Collingwood, through mostly pleasant, highlights the need for improvements to both transit and trail access in Simcoe County, though many of these suggestions should not be particularly challenging to implement.
The first issue is Simcoe County Linx’s schedules, which are not timed to meet arriving GO trains at Allandale, nor do they facilitate weekend excursions. Though there is a Flixbus route between Toronto, Barrie, Collingwood, and Owen Sound, it only operates five days a week outside of the busy summer period, where it ran twice daily in 2026.
Simcoe County is to be commended for expanding hourly public transit throughout the county (with two more routes planned). But except for the short Route 4 between Collingwood and Wasaga Beach, there is no evening, weekend, or holiday service. The 6:30 PM departure of Route 2 from Allandale Waterfront is too early for most rush hour trains to arrive; the last possible connection is a tight 4 minutes between the arrival of the 4:38 PM train departure from Union Station which is scheduled to get into Allandale at 6:26. A recommended 7:30 PM departure, would give enough time for two additional evening trains to arrive.
Furthermore, there are no connections from Allandale Station north on Routes 1 and 3, which serve Midland and Orillia; they depart from Georgian College/Royal Victoria Hospital on the north end of Barrie and require paying an additional Barrie Transit fare. Allandale Waterfront could function as a hub serving all of Simcoe County and points beyond (including Muskoka and Grey County) but there are missing links and a need for schedule and fare integration between GO, Simcoe County, and Barrie Transit.
Though there is the occasional call for restoring passenger rail to Collingwood to serve the area’s resorts and the year-round population, the rail corridor is pretty much lost. Buses, connecting with GO trains from Toronto, can certainly fill the need of serving visitors to Wasaga Beach, Collingwood, and cottage country, as long as the connections are easy and the buses take passengers where they want to go. This requires GO, Simcoe County, the local municipalities and the resort operators to work together.
As for the trail, there are a few things Simcoe County and the City of Barrie can do to improve cycling in the region. Though wayfinding along the trails themselves is very good, there’s nothing to guide cyclists between them. Cycling routes can be better posted, with wide paved shoulders prioritized on roads like Veteran’s Drive/5th Sideroad, between Tottenham and Beeton, and to the south end of the North Simcoe trail towards Penetanguishene.
Long term, a better off-road cycling facility could connect Angus and Barrie (and the North Simcoe Rail Trail) without having to use a busy highway, paralleling the still-active BCRY corridor.
Finally, the condition of the county’s rail trails should be monitored and maintained for safe and comfortable cycling conditions, with attention paid to the trail surface and providing ample rest areas.
With some key transit and road improvements, Simcoe County has the potential for being Ontario’s rail trail capital, providing a safe, sustainable, and active tourism option that will benefit locals and visitors alike.
Quinte Transit bus stopped at the Belleville Bus Terminal, August 2026
Last month, I visited two beautiful towns in Eastern Ontario: Picton, in Prince Edward County, and Almonte, in Lanark County. Both communities have populations of just over 5,000 (though Almonte, within Ottawa’s commutershed, is growing), and both have wonderful downtowns full of independent stores, restaurants, and great public spaces. But you can only get to one of them without a car.
It was pretty easy to get to Picton from Downtown Toronto on a Thursday morning. Flixbus offers a direct seasonal service from Pearson Airport and Union Station Bus Terminal, stopping at Scarborough Town Centre, Whitby, and Trenton, and in Wellington, Bloomfield, and Picton in Prince Edward County. The County (which is actually a single-tier municipality) has become a popular tourism area, with visitors attracted by local wineries, art galleries, resorts, and the famous Sandbanks Provincial Park on Lake Ontario, so having alternative modes of transport to get to and around the area is welcome.
Unbranded Flixbus unloading in disused parking lot near Downtown Picton
As Flixbus does not operate its own buses — it partners with local coach operators — the buses do not have a consistent look. The bus on my August 20 trip, operated by Eastern Charter Inc., was a plain grey coach bus, but it was a comfortable ride. The last stop, in an unused parking lot off Picton Main Street, is across the street from a McDonald’s but is also a short walk to the downtown area. The parking lot, once used by a now-demolished church, is large enough to turn the bus around for the return trip.
Picton Main Street
Downtown Picton itself is very walkable, with regular pedestrian crossings and beautifully maintained sidewalks and street furniture. Even though there are larger retailers just outside the town centre, most storefronts are occupied by clothing stores, antique dealers, financial services, and craft shops, there is also a large independent bookseller, complete with attached cafe. Though many businesses are geared towards tourists and more affluent residents, it is not exclusively the case. The public library, a renovated and expanded Carnegie building, serves the entire community well. Discount chain Giant Tiger also thrives in the downtown area. The Regent Theatre, one of Ontario’s oldest continuously-operating theatres, has been hosting concerts, shows, and first-run movies since 1931.
Regent Theatre, which also contains a tourism information desk, is open between showsThe Carnegie Library on Picton’s Main Street, with a small playground out frontThe sidewalks full of life and room for street trees, benches, and outdoor store displays.
Prince Edward County also offers on-demand transit service within the municipality and a weekday fixed-route service between Picton, Bloomfield, and Belleville operated by Trenton-based Quinte Transit. During the summer and early fall, additional fixed-route services operate between Belleville, Wellington, and Picton, sponsored by local wineries and tourist attractions. Bus stops are well marked, with current schedules posted at each point.
County Transit bus stop at the Fairgrounds (Crystal Palace)
At Downtown Belleville, there are connections to Belleville Transit, which serves the VIA Rail Station and the Megabus/Flixbus stops near Highway 401 and to Quinte Transit’s Trenton service at Loyalist College. There also used to be a connection at the downtown terminal for Deseronto and Napanee, but sadly it disappeared last year.
Prince Edward County does a fine job running and marketing a transit service geared to both its residents and to visitors. It should be a model for other communities in Southern Ontario and elsewhere.
Almonte: Nowhere to go
Dr. James Nasmith Square, Almonte. The old post office on the right is home to a great Italian restaurant, fittingly named Il Postino.
Almonte, less than an hour’s drive from Downtown Ottawa, is another charming and busy town, full of independent shops and restaurants in heritage buildings. On a busy summer weekend, parking can be hard to find. The town, part of the municipality of Mississippi Mills, is also growing, with new residential development to the east of the historic downtown. It has just about everything that Picton has, except for a transit link.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, there was a weekday commuter bus that would shuttle workers from Almonte and Carleton Place to Ottawa and back, making several stops along the OC Transpo bus network. Though Flixbus has restored the lost Greyhound route along Highway 7 between Toronto, Peterborough, and Ottawa with stops in Carleton Place and Perth (and with a schedule that accommodates commuters), these coach buses stop at gas stations along Highway 7 and don’t serve the communities very well, unlike the commuter-centric buses operated by smaller companies like 417 Coach and Thom Transport.
As the federal government is mandating full in-office shifts again, and as towns like Almonte and Perth become popular day trip destinations, it’s time for places like Lanark County to follow Prince Edward’s lead.
You’ll see fewer trains on the Lakeshore West, Stouffville, and Barrie Lines in September
GO Transit passengers might be in for a shock after Labour Day as new schedules and new penalties come into effect. On several rail corridors, off-peak trains are being cancelled and replaced with buses, while the fines for not paying a GO Transit fare are increasing — by over 450% for a first-time offense.
During the evening of Friday, August 28 — just five days before the Labour Day long weekend — GO Transit quietly released its new schedules for the Fall 2026 period. Typically, schedule changes include the restoration of extra bus trips on the Highway 407 Corridor (which serves several college and university campuses), as well as bus routes to Guelph, Kitchener-Waterloo, St. Catharines, and Peterborough. The fall schedule change often brings certain service improvements and schedule adjustments to reflect demand and operating changes. But the changes for September 2026 are mostly cuts to rail services.
There is one new bus route, Route 43 between Mount Pleasant GO Station in Brampton and McMaster University in Hamilton, via Meadowvale and Highway 407, running mainly in the peak direction, Mondays through Fridays.
New Route 43 between Mount Pleasant and McMaster (PDF Schedule)
But on the Barrie Line, there will be one less weekday round trip between Allandale Waterfront and Union Station: the southbound 21:10 trip and the northbound 22:01 trip disappear, along with the 20:54 northbound to Aurora. Those runs will be replaced with buses. But the southbound 21:10 train from Allandale took 1 hour and 42 minutes, arriving at Union at 22:52. The replacement bus, including a transfer at Aurora, takes nearly three hours, with no access to washrooms and no direct access to Downsview Park Station.
On weekends and holidays, the first southbound train from Allandale Waterfront will now be at 14:05, the last train will be two hours later, at 16:05. From Union Station, the first northbound train will be at 16:54, to Aurora only. The old Table 65 schedule has six round trips to Barrie on weekends, with hourly service to and from Aurora.
There will be similar cuts to the train schedule on the Stouffville Line, where there will be no train service until after 3PM on weekends and holidays. The 23:00 and midnight trains from Union on weekdays are gone, as are the evening inbound trains. There will be replacement buses, but those are often stuck in traffic on the Don Valley Parkway and Highway 404. On the Lakeshore West line, the 15-minute weekend afternoon service between Union and Oakville is gone and the Niagara train service extension on weekdays is down to just one peak-direction train.
Though there is no notice of changes yet on the GO Transit homepage, it did post a partial explanation on X.
GO Transit post on X, citing seasonal adjustments, which some rail trips temporarily replaced by buses
GO Transit says the rail trips replaced by buses are to “support our rail partner with their advancement of crew training and certification, maintain reliable service, and create opportunities to advance important infrastructure work…” What this is actually saying is that Alstom, which has a contract to operate and maintain the trains, has a crew shortage and a backlog of staff training. While GO Transit buses are operated and maintained by GO Transit employees, its trains are not. As Metrolinx is reliant on the contractor to staff the trains, it needs to reduce the number of shifts to ensure the remaining trains are fully staffed.
There’s no word on when train service can be restored, never mind improved, to meet demand. This can be traced back to the botched partnership with ONxpress that would have seen the Deutsche Bahn subsidiary take over GO rail operations and expansion.
The late announcement of these service changes is a symptom of the culture of secrecy at Metrolinx. The reason for the service cuts goes even deeper.
Because GO Transit’s rail service operates on a strict proof-of-payment system, it can sometimes be possible to forget to tap on or off at stations, which have no fare gates unlike the TTC subway and underground light rail stations. Often, Presto farecard validators are positioned in awkward areas, away from platform access points. Under the old policy, the first-time $35 fine and the second-time $50 fine were similar to penalty fares levied in the United Kingdom, acknowledging that mistakes happen. A failure to tap should not automatically result in a first-time fine four times higher than not paying for street parking in Toronto ($50).
At the very least, Presto validation (tap) machines should always be easy to spot and easy to access, reducing the number of honest mistakes. It should also follow that the penalty for not paying a transit fare should be treated as the equivalent for not paying for parking especially in an open system without fare gates.
Located in a marshy area, Kingston Station is unnecessarily isolated from the rest of the city
Kingston, Ontario, is the largest city between the Greater Toronto Area, Ottawa, and Montreal. With Queen’s University, Royal Military College, and St. Lawrence College, Kingston is a major trip generator for VIA Rail, and has one of the busiest stations on the Quebec-Windsor corridor. It is also one of the most isolated intercity rail stations in Southern Ontario. Kingston’s geography and earlier decisions made by CN are largely to blame, but the future of VIA’s existing rail services is largely dependant on the fate of Kingston Station.
The VIA Rail station, off John Counter Boulevard, was constructed by CN in 1974 to replace a 1850s-era railway station on Montreal Street. The station has a ticket counter, washrooms, a ticket counter, and a small business class lounge, and two platforms. The south platform is connected to the station by way of a tunnel, with elevators, stairs and escalators providing access. Renovations in the early 2000s added a peaked roof and a tower displaying the VIA Rail logo to the minimalist CN station.
But the station is in an isolated location, located in a marshy area; the nearest businesses are a furniture store, a funeral home and a used car dealership. Despite this, Kingston Transit does a satisfactory job connecting the station to the downtown and post-secondary institutions, but the bus stop is unsheltered and a short walk away from the station building.
The two-track arrangement at Kingston Station does not suit CN or VIA particularly well. Both tracks are on the mainline, meaning that they are shared by VIA and freight. Delays to either CN or VIA causes congestion, one of several causes of train delays, contributing to VIA’s poor on-time performance. It also limits VIA’s flexibility in offering early morning or late evening trains that originate or terminate at Kingston or local all-stop service in conjunction with through express services. Newer VIA stations in Belleville and Cobourg have three platforms; the Belleville station tracks allow VIA trains to bypass the CN yard to the north.
The two-platform Kingston Station
The reasons for the Kingston station’s relative isolation compared to other mid-sized centres like London or Brantford, partly goes back to the 1850s, when the Grand Trunk Railway, which built the Toronto-Montreal mainline, routed its tracks away from Kingston’s urban centre. As the historic downtown sits at the mouth of the wide Cataraqui River, the Grand Trunk sought a narrower crossing further inland. To compensate, it built a spur into Downtown Kingston to serve local passengers and freight service; eventually a streetcar line ran to the main Montreal Street station and the city grew north to meet the railway.
In the 1970s, Canadian National, the successor to the Grand Trunk, was in the midst of modernizing its core infrastructure to focus on long-distance freight and container shipping. It rerouted its mainline north of Kingston on a shallower curve while eliminating several at-grade crossings. As CN continued to operate passenger rail on the corridor, it had to build a new station to replace the old Montreal Street location. The new Kingston Station had plenty of parking along with a passenger pick-up/drop-off loop, easily accessible to Princess Street and the new subdivisions in Kingston Township.
CN had the same principles in mind when it built new stations after the Second World War in Oshawa, Saskatoon, and Ste-Foy, outside of Québec City. Ease of rail operation and access to parking were bigger considerations than having a downtown station accessible by foot or public transit.
Trees grow around the stone ruins of the 1850s Kingston GTR StationA similar view eight years earlier, in 2018
Today, the original GTR station lies in ruins, fenced off, and partially hidden by trees that have grown around it. The roof is long-gone, as are the additional station buildings such as the express freight and restaurant structures. With the vacant railway lands sitting abandoned for decades, this part of Montreal Street looks rough.
Montreal Street near the old station. The old railway telegraph lines at left betray the old railway route
An opportunity for a new station
Happily, there’s an ideal place for a larger Kingston Station between the old Montreal Street and the newer John Counter Road site that could serve as a proper multimodal hub while being somewhat more convenient to Downtown Kingston and Queen’s University: Division Street. I alluded to this in an earlier post, but after a recent visit, it appears that this is an excellent opportunity.
Looking west from Division Street over the CN mainline. The wooded area immediately to the north (right side) offers plenty of room for a new intermodal station.
The CN mainline passes under a long overpass at Division Street that was built in the 1970s not only to cross the CN line but also a Canadian Pacific-owned branch line that once ran between Kingston’s waterfront and Renfrew, near the Ottawa River. The additional room allocated for the now-abandoned CP branch could easily fit two VIA-exclusive tracks, separate from through CN freight trains. This would allow VIA trains to sit overnight, and provide early-morning service to Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa leaving on schedule. If the Alto HSR takes over the bulk of the through passenger traffic, Kingston will have an excellent regional hub that will serve Eastern Ontario rail passengers far better than the status quo, with more reliable schedules and the opportunity for late night arrivals.
Looking north from the Division Street railway overpass towards Highway 401.
Another advantage of the Division Street site is the proximity to Highway 401. This would allow intercity and regional buses to easily exit and enter the intermodal station. As Division Street continues south towards Downtown Kingston and Queen’s University and is already a major Kingston Transit corridor (with direct and regular service on Routes 1, 2, and 701/702 express, as well as other nearby routes), it’s a logical focal point that can consolidate the various intercity bus stops.
Back in June, Alto announced that federal transport minister Steven MacKinnon directed the consortium to “…develop a plan to assess a southern route option between Peterborough and Ottawa that includes a potential stop in Kingston that would interconnect with VIA Rail services, subject to technical feasibility and project requirements.”
Previous conceptual maps showed the proposed southern alignment located far from Kingston’s urban area, with the closest potential station locations in sparsely-populated South Frontenac Township near the communities of Verona, Sydenham, or Perth Road, at least 20-30 minutes north of Kingston’s urban area by car. If Alto were to serve Kingston properly, it would have to swing much further south, adding to construction costs and through travel times. A spur line into Kingston might make more sense, then, just as the Grand Trunk did 170 years ago.
The time savings to Montreal, Toronto, and Ottawa with a high speed line from Kingston might be better provided with a new conventional railway station and more flexible, reliable service to meet the needs of communities like Kingston, Belleville, and Brockville, rather than forcing Alto farther south. Division Street offers that opportunity.
A Simcoe County Linx bus with my bicycle on the rack at Bradford GO Station
Within Southern Ontario, there are some excellent places to go for a bike ride, without needing a car to hit the trails or quiet country roads. GO Transit’s bus and rail network extends all the way to places like Hamilton, Niagara Falls, Peterborough, Brantford, and Kitchener, where great cycling routes can be found. One can make a one-way trip and get a bus or train back, and there are routes of many possible lengths, levels of difficulty, and comfort levels.
A while back, I wrote about a ride between Georgetown and Newmarket following the Caledon Trailway from Terra Cotta to Tottenham, then following country roads east to the Nokiidaa Trail between Holland Landing and Newmarket. A decade later, I decided to try to finish riding the former CN Beeton Subdivision to Barrie’s waterfront.
Between Tottenham and Beeton, the Allandale Sub still sees train service
As the section of the former CN branch line between Tottenham — where I was on a previous ride — and Beeton remains in use by the South Simcoe Railway steam train operation, I started the ride in Beeton, at the north end of the remaining track. Beeton is also a stop on Simcoe County Linx’s Route 5 between Bradford GO Station and Alliston, which runs every hour during weekday daytime hours, making it an easy place to get to without a car.
Downtown Beeton, with a Simcoe County Linx bus stop in the foreground
At Beeton, the SSR track comes to an end and the rail trail picks back up for a short bit. Unfortunately, there is no easy, safe cycling connection between Tottenham and Beeton; County Road 10 is a busy road without paved shoulders, and 4th Line, which leads east from Tottenham towards a quieter alternative route, is narrow, poorly maintained, and hilly, unsuitable for a casual cyclist or walker. Hence, the decision to skip the Tottenham-Beeton section.
The SSR crossing in Beeton
From Beeton’s Main Street, either Dayfoot or Centre Street provide quiet, low-traffic routes north to Line 9 (Lily Street) to a section of trail as far as Line 10. From there, pedestrians and cyclists must detour to 10th Side Road for 1.5 kilometres at Allimil due to a missing bridge over a small stream and a potato processing plant partly on the old right of way. Allimil was also once known as Beeton Junction as this was where a branch line split off the busier Hamilton-Allandale route to serve Alliston, Creemore, and Collingwood. That other branch line’s right-of-way, unfortunately, was not preserved.
10th Sideroad is relatively busy, and there are no paved shoulders, but the traffic I encountered was generally respectful. That said, I was grateful to get back on the trail.
10th Sideroad, New Tecumseth, where pedestrians and cyclists using the rail trail must divert north of BeetonRe-entering the Trans-Canada Trail at 10th Sideroad. The quality of the ride between here and Innisfil was quite good.Note the Trans Canada Trail marker on the p-gate.
From this point as far as 5th Sideroad in Innisfil (and just south of Barrie), the trail is in great shape, with a consistent smooth gravel surface. The section between Allimil and Cookstown only opened less than a decade ago; where one property owner on Line 13 took over the old railbed, the trail properly detours around the farm without any hassle. A replacement bridge over Cookstown Creek is accompanied by photographs of the old wooden bridge.
A new rail trail bridge installed in 2021. Nearby, an interpretive plaque displays images of the former structure this replaced.
Southern Simcoe County is famous for vegetable production, including the Holland Marsh and the potato fields of New Tecumseh, Adjala-Tosorontio, and West Gwillimbury. The trail runs right through these lands, revealing how Ontarians get much of their food. Along the route, I spotted several dozen farm workers sporting nón lá to protect themselves from the sun while tending to leafy vegetables.
Farm workers tending to vegetables near the rail trailWhy did the turkey cross the trail?
At Cookstown and at Thornton, signalized active transportation crossings allow pedestrians and cyclists to easily get across busy roadways. Benches and shade are plentiful, and there were a few pleasant surprises as well. If the trip from Beeton to Barrie had only the short diversion at Allimil, this would be an easy 40-45 kilometre ride. But then I encountered a very stressful ride into Barrie itself.
Northeast of Thornton towards Barrie, where old railway telegraph poles betray the trail’s former use
At 10th Sideroad, near the Georgian Downs Racetrack and Casino, the trail came to a sudden end, with no direction on how to continue onwards. The trailhead features a large parking lot, which makes it clear what type of recreational trail user is expected here.
5th Side Road in Innisfil, at the end of the Cookstown-Thornton trail, part of the Trans Canada Trail
5th Side Road is a terribly busy traffic corridor as it parallels nearby Highway 400 and turns into Veterans Drive as it crosses into the City of Barrie. It’s a two lane road, with rough gravel shoulders, which means either dealing with heavy traffic while taking the lane (not recommended), riding in the grit, or walking the bike. At one point, I had to opt for the latter, coming up a hill on the Veterans Drive section in Barrie. The video below shows the conditions on this portion.
Video showing conditions on 5th Side Road in Innisfil and Veterans Drive in Barrie, part of the signed Trans Canada Trail
Ironically, 5th Side Road and Veterans Drive are part of the designated Trans Canada Trail, along with the Caledon Trailway (along with the Tottenham extension) and the Beeton-Innisfil route. I spotted several TCT signs along 5th Side Road and Veterans Drive despite the dangerous conditions present.
Finally, at Salem Road, Veterans Drive widens from two narrow lanes to an urban four-lane road, complete with painted bike lanes. At this point, I could comfortably ride, following Veterans Road and crossing Highway 400 on the Harvie Road overpass, a much safer ride than the official TCT route via Mapleview Drive. From there, it was an easy downhill ride into Allandale and to Barrie’s waterfront. I had dinner in Downtown Barrie, then took the evening GO train back to Toronto.
The mandatory city name sign on the downtown waterfront means I made it to Barrie
As I found out the hard way, once again, the Trans Canada Trail remains more of an aspiration than a reality. As much of the trail remains incomplete, the online map shows many yellow sections, which indicate on-road sections, usually without any cycling infrastructure. Furthermore, there are many sections that can not be walked or biked at all, but requires a kayak, canoe, or other watercraft, even in Southern Ontario, where active transportation infrastructure is dependant on municipal and provincial initiatives to build those quality, multiuse trails.
Excerpt from the Trans Canada Trail online map showing Simcoe County. Yellow indicates on-road portions of trail; green represents off-road portions (i.e., rail trails and park paths) and the blue section on Lake Couchiching north of Orillia tells you to pack a kayak to use that section.
Biidaasaige Park at Ookwemin Minising, Saturday, July 25 2026
During the late evening of Friday, July 24, the federal government announced that it would not proceed with a proposal to expand the Toronto Island Airport (officially Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport) to accommodate additional traffic and commercial jet aircraft. This secretive plan, developed by the Toronto Port Authority and Neuport Aviation, was championed by Doug Ford’s provincial government, which did all it could to push it though. The province moved to expropriate the City of Toronto’s lands on and surrounding the airport and forced it to give up its say in a tripartite agreement that governs the airport operations. It also invoked new powers under Bill 5 to declare it a “special economic zone” to get around environmental regulations and required consultations.
The federal government, headed by Mark Carney, did not object, with the minister of transportation, Steven MacKinnon, expressing that government’s interest in the plan. The province claimed the airport expansion could contribute up to $8.5 billion annually to the economy by 2050, with passenger traffic quintupling from two million to ten million travellers. The east-west runway would have to be extended westward by 900 metres, adjacent to Ontario Place. The expanded marine exclusion zone would disrupt recreational activity in the Toronto Harbour and Lake Ontario and especially impact Hanlan’s Point.
Map by Waterfront For All showing concept of runway expansion required for jet traffic, with runway extending west by 900 metres, along with larger safety zones, marine exclusion zones, and approach lights. (Source of map)
As part of what seemed to be a window-dressing exercise, Transport Canada opened up an online public survey in June to gather feedback, though the survey questions were written with a pro-expansion slant, touting “economic benefits for Canada” in the preamble. This was despite the lack of previous public input or even a detailed business case open to scrutiny and reasoned debate. It seemed as if the fix was in.
But to much surprise and relief, citing the overwhelmingly negative survey responses (of 87,000 responses, 87 percent opposed airport expansion; 80 percent of the total responses were from within the City of Toronto), the federal government kiboshed the expansion plan, allowing only already approved minor extensions for safety improvements. Perhaps the Liberals were worried about upcoming byelections (including one in Beaches-East York) or maybe enough Toronto MPs felt the pressure from their constituents spoke up. But it was the right thing to do, given the expected effects on noise, air, and water pollution, traffic and land constraints at the main airport entrance off Queen’s Quay, and the impact on Waterfront Toronto’s inspiring Ookwemin Minising project on the eastern harbourfront.
Statement from federal transport minister Steven MacKinnon
Visiting the new western section of Biidassiage Park on Saturday – the morning after the federal announcement, was especially sweet. Waterfront Toronto has shown time and time again that it has the expertise and capacity for building quality public spaces on this city’s waterfront, along with guiding new residential and commercial development to go along with it. Egrets, killdeer, ducks, cormorants, and herons have already made this space home. Public art, play structures, and homages to the industrial past anchored by a huge shipping crane come together in a place that has some of the best views of the downtown skyline. To the northeast, a new highrise community is being planned that will be fully integrated with the completed public spaces; the envisioned community would find itself compromised by the approaches required for larger jet aircraft.
The Q400s taking off overhead were loud enough; even smaller commercial jets will require lower approaches over Toronto Harbour
After spending some time in this amazing space, part of a larger re-naturalization and flood control project at the bottom of the Don River, one could imagine larger jet aircraft landing every few minutes and how much it would effect these lands; the Q400s were loud enough, especially when reverse thrusting upon landing; noise carries a long way upon the flat water in the sheltered harbour. As most downtown residents don’t have access to Muskoka lakefront cottages, these sorts of spaces are critical for a thriving city and healthy living.
Sadly, the backlash from the federal government’s decision not to support the provincial plan came harsh from the province and from politically powerful business groups and at least one Canadian tech billionaire. Ontario Transport Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria claimed the federal government conceded to “fringe groups” in rejecting the Ford government’s jet ambitions. The province, claiming there was a quid pro quo in which it would support the Alto high speed rail project if the province backed the island airport expansion, is now letting its rural Eastern Ontario caucus members openly oppose the rail plan.
The Toronto Region Board of Trade also came out against the federal government’s decision, with chair Giles Gherson calling the airport a “hugely valuable as a business asset” and worried that without the runway expansion, the airport is on “borrowed time.” No facts or figures were cited in his lament to local news media; they were also absent in an op-ed published in March 2026. It is doubtful, that a regional airport with limited destinations makes-or-breaks business decisions whether to locate to Toronto, especially when there is now a frequent airport rail link to Pearson that will eventually be electrified and expanded. Any capacity lost with a potential closure of the island airport can be easily absorbed at Pearson or other facilities, such as Hamilton International or Waterloo Regional airports.
On Elon Musk’s toxic social media site, Shopify co-founder and CEO Tobias Lütke had a bit of a breakdown. He called the overwhelming opposition “retired, unemployed, unemployable and useful idiots [sic].” As a billionaire, Lütke doesn’t have to fly commercial, but can travel by private jet. Perhaps he, and other members of the business elite were upset that their personal jets would continue to have to use Pearson. The same weekend, Lütke backed the idea that voting rights should be tied to income.
Tobias Lütke on X on July 25
One could argue that the airport backers are so upset because they saw this push as the best chance to finally expand the island airport for jet traffic, after two previous fights in 2003 and 2014. There was a pro-business premier with a vindictive streak against the City of Toronto, a banker prime minister whose economic polices have promoted oil and gas and AI development and looking for “nation-building” industrial projects to support, and a well-intentioned but very conciliatory mayor.
That window is now closed. I doubt this ends the decades-long debate on the airport’s future, but it does provide some relief, even some mild satisfaction that the very small percentage of people who are used to getting everything they want from government can still sometimes lose.
On June 30, 2026, the Toronto Starfeatured a story about the City of Oshawa’s “lofty plan” to build a new urban aerial gondola system above Simcoe Street, that community’s main north-south corridor. While the technology is novel, it is a fundamentally bad idea for what the regional government proposes it for. Simcoe Street is currently served by the busiest bus route in Durham Region – Route 901 Pulse – as well as several GO Transit buses (routes 52, 56, and 92).
Gondolas have their place in the urban transit toolbox and they have several advantages. They can be inexpensive to build, as they require minimal right-of-way acquisition and do not require tunnelling. They are adept for climbing steep hills and can offer very frequent service with low operating costs. Gondolas can operate in all sorts of weather conditions, from tropical cities to mountain ski resorts. Modern gondola or cable lift operations allow each car to slow or stop at each station to allow passengers to comfortably board and alight, unlike older, traditional ski lifts. The technology is popular in Latin American cities such as Medellín, Colombia (where the Metrocable system feeds that city’s metro), and La Paz, Bolivia, where a network of Mi Teleférico lines makes up the backbone of the transit service.
But in those hilly cities in developing countries, the gondolas cover short distances (only between two and five stations per line) and have limited capacity (Mexico City’s Mexicable line has an hourly capacity of just 3,000 per hour). In the United States, the only transit-based aerial cable cars are the Roosevelt Island Tramway in New York and the Portland Aerial Tram, which charges a very high $9 round-trip fare to the general public. In Canada, the most serious gondola proposal would connect Simon Fraser University with the Skytrain in Burnaby, BC and be part of the Translink network. That proposal – though stalled – is logical as it involves just two stations and allows passengers to easily access the university campus located at the top of Burnaby Mountain, reducing the number of buses that have to climb that long, winding access road.
In contrast, the idea of a gondola running over Simcoe Street in Oshawa makes very little sense, and it seems that the concept will not get beyond a consultant’s report. There are far more reasonable alternatives that merit a closer look, including simple painted bus lanes and other “BRT-lite” measures that can benefit both Durham Region Transit (DRT) and GO Transit passengers.
Oshawa’s transit past and future
Simcoe Street, Oshawa’s backbone, has always been the key to Oshawa’s development as an industrial centre; its future opportunities also line the corridor; good transit is essential.
Established as a small village at the crossroads of Kingston Road and Simcoe Street (an early “colonialization road” that connected Lake Ontario with Lake Scugog), Oshawa grew as an industrial centre starting in the 1870s, when Robert McLaughlin’s carriage works moved to expanded facilities in Oshawa to be nearer the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) and Oshawa Harbour. As more industries followed, a streetcar line, the first component of the Oshawa Railway Company (OR) was built on Simcoe Street in 1895 to connect the burgeoning downtown with the GTR station and harbour to the south. The original Simcoe Street line was built with several freight spurs to allow shippers direct rail access to their properties. Residents could take the streetcar down to Lakeview Park to relax or to beat the summer heat.
As industry grew (the McLaughlin Carriage Works moved into automobile manufacturing starting in 1907, eventually becoming the founding component of General Motors Canada) OR built a new freight-only electric line east of Simcoe Street with direct freight yard connections with the GTR. When the Canadian Pacific and Canadian Northern Railways built new lines through the Oshawa area, the OR connected with those as well. The incomplete Toronto Eastern Railway, a failed interurban line along Kingston Road, provided some use to OR as it provided access to several customers along the TER’s completed section of track.
Though buses replaced passenger service on the single-track Simcoe Street streetcar line in 1940, OR’s freight operations remained busy until the 1960s, with the last electric locomotive withdrawn in 1964. Oshawa’s bus service was taken over by Durham Region Transit in 2006.
When GM opened a modern assembly complex south of the new Highway 401 in 1950, it slowly abandoned its older plants north and west of the downtown core. Its new property had direct CN and CP rail connections and no longer relied on the OR. Meanwhile, other factories such as A.G. Simpson, Duplate/Pittsburgh Plate Glass, Fittings Limited, Ontario Malleable Iron, and Pedlar People, either closed or stopped relying on rail shipments. The old OR tracks, operated by CN diesels in the last few decades, disappeared in the 1990s, replaced by the Michael Starr multi-use trail north of Highway 401. The last remnant of the Oshawa Railway, a Highway 401 overpass built in the late 1930s, was demolished in 2011.
After OR removed its remaining downtown trackage in the 1960s, a one-way road system was implemented in Downtown Oshawa. Simcoe Street became northbound-only between Brock and Elm Streets with Centre Street taking on southbound traffic. King Street was twinned with Bond Street, which followed the disused Toronto Eastern Railway tracks. This helped to speed traffic through the downtown core.
Many of the older industrial lands saw new uses: Most of the old GM North Plant properties are now home to apartment buildings, the Durham Regional Courthouse, and a big box retail complex anchored by Costco Wholesale. The Pedlar People plant was demolished to become a Zellers-anchored plaza on Simcoe Street South. The Ontario Malleable Iron factory became a Knob Hill Farms supermarket which operated between 1981 and 2000. That plant, now mostly demolished, is to be the site of a new GO Transit station; surrounding property, including the old PPG plant, is designated for future development.
Facade of the old Ontario Malleable Iron factory, later Knob Hill Farms
The construction of Highway 401 and changes to intercity rail also changed Oshawa considerably. As Toronto grew and GM’s influence began to decline, Oshawa became part of the metropolitan commutershed. CN closed the old GTR station off Simcoe Street and built a new modern station between Oshawa and Whitby in 1967, consolidating passenger service for those two communities at a single location with space for commuter parking. Though GO Transit was also established that year, its trains only went as far east as Pickering; GO bus service via Highway 401 and via Highway 2 extended the provincial agency’s reach to Oshawa until 1995, when the Lakeshore East line was fully extended to Oshawa.
Map of Oshawa’s transit past and possible future, highlighting the old Oshawa Railway streetcar and freight tracks, connecting railways, and major Oshawa institutions. The proposed route of the gondola along Simcoe Street is highlighted in green. Click image for full size.
With the decline of General Motors’ Canadian operations along with many of its feeder plants, Oshawa’s economy shifted towards education and government services while becoming more of a Toronto suburb rather than an independent industrial centre. The downtown hockey arena/entertainment venue, which opened as the General Motors Centre, is now named for Tribute Communities, a residential developer. Durham College’s campus, on the north end of the city, has grown and now includes Ontario Tech University. Between the campus and downtown is the main Lakeridge Health campus, which is the largest hospital in Durham Region.
As Oshawa and its postsecondary educations have continued to grow, it is no wonder that Durham Region Transit’s 901 Simcoe Street bus – the successor to the old Oshawa Railway streetcar – is so busy and congested. But a gondola is not the right solution, either.
Why better buses are the answer
Typical traffic on Simcoe Street at Adelaide Avenue, near the famous Parkwood Estate and Lakeridge Hospital
As Metrolinx starts work on the Bowmanville GO Transit expansion – which will extend the Lakeshore East rail corridor into central Oshawa and eastward into Clarington – it is replacing the Simcoe Street bridge over the CPKC tracks, a two-year project that has forced the closure of Oshawa’s main street south of downtown. Most north-south traffic now follows Ritson Road, Park Road, or Stevenson Road. Though traffic is heavier on each of those alternatives (especially on Ritson), Oshawa is coping without experiencing complete gridlock.
Metrolinx construction on the replacement Simcoe Street Bridge
Ideally, when the Simcoe Street bridge reopens in late 2027 or early 2028, two of its lanes could be dedicated to DRT and GO buses. These bus-only lanes can then extend northwards towards Downtown Oshawa, Lakeridge Hospital, and Durham College/Ontario Tech. As some of Oshawa’s most important destinations, such as the Oshawa Centre shopping mall and the Oshawa GO/VIA Rail station, are off Simcoe Street, buses can divert on and off the bus lanes to serve those, and other, trip generators; a gondola would not be able to do so.
As the Bowmanville extension of the Lakeshore East GO service will see limited service (peak-direction train service during rush hours and limited off-peak runs) along with a low-speed diversion from the GO corridor to the CPKC line, many passengers connecting to GO towards Toronto would still choose to transfer at the main GO/VIA station.
As the planned new Oshawa Centre GO Station is located on the old Malleable Iron/Knob Hill site two blocks east of Simcoe Street, a gondola would have to swing over to serve it or force a long walking transfer. Depending on how bus service on Simcoe Street is planned by DRT, buses could either divert to serve it, or a dedicated route could provide that connection.
Furthermore, the former Oshawa Railway lands can be better utilized for active transportation purposes. Though the Michael Starr trail runs all the way from Lviv Boulevard (just north of Highway 401) to Taunton Road, it is treated as a recreational trail, rather than a vital transport link. At most crossings, east-west motor traffic is prioritized over pedestrians and cyclists, with “stop and dismount” signs at many trail crossings. There is also a considerable gap between Bruce Street south of Downtown Oshawa and Adelaide Street to the north, as the OR followed Bruce Street and Ritson Road to serve GM’s north plant.
Creating a high-quality through cycling path using part of the OR/Michael Starr right-of-way and improving the existing bike lanes on Mary Street through Downtown Oshawa and extending it to Durham College/Ontario Tech can divert some DRT passengers between the future GO station, the downtown, the hospital, and the campus, and get at least a few car drivers to switch to active transport modes.
Michael Starr Trail, built on the old OR right-of-way. Note the yellow “stop and dismount” signs.
If built, Oshawa’s 13-kilometre, 16-station gondola line would be the longest urban aerial transit route in the world and while it might allow for the retention of four lanes of traffic on Simcoe Street, land would still be required to build the towers, stations, and maintenance facility. Buildings will still have to be demolished. The gondola’s capacity would be limited. The estimated $1.1 billion spent on gondola towers, stations, and vehicles could be much better spent.
Once better bus and active transportation infrastructure is provided, Oshawa might find that the fears of Simcoe Street gridlock may not come to pass. An expensive median busway is not necessarily the answer either: simple reserved lanes, enhanced bus stops with off-board fare payment and all-door bus boarding, signal priority and queue-jumps at busy intersections could do a lot in the short term. Yes, that would mean inconvenience for drivers, but the Metrolinx construction on Simcoe Street south is already an inconvenience.
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A gigantic school zone speed limit sign on McCowan Road in Scarborough
Months after Doug Ford’s provincial government banned the use of municipal speed enforcement cameras, calling it a “cash grab,” new supersized school speed zone signs are going up across the province. The first ones I encountered are on McCowan Road in Scarborough, near my spouse’s family home.
The signs, placed near St. Ignatius of Loyola Catholic School south of Finch Avenue, are gigantic: nearly 2.5 metres tall, mounted over three metres above the ground, affixed to an extra large wooden pole as the new signs were too big for the standard metal poles used for that purpose. The province delivered 80 signs to the City of Toronto, but with four signs per school zone (two mounted in each direction including advance warning signs), that meant only 20 schools would get these new totems.
The new supersized school zone sign next to an older “community safety zone” sign, affixed to a standard metal sign pole
Before the pro-driver legislation was enacted on November 14, 2025, there was a speed camera placed on McCowan Road adjacent to the elementary school, one of 150 located in the City of Toronto. Under provincial law, municipal speed cameras were only allowed to be installed in specific designated safety zones, namely roadways adjacent to schools, parks, or seniors’ residences, and had to be accompanied with advisory signage.
Between April 2024, when the camera was activated, and July 2025, when the camera was destroyed (one of many vandalized that year), over 19,000 speeding motorists were captured by the photo camera travelling at least 11 km/h over the posted speed limit. This was despite the existing maximum speed, school zone, community safety zone, and municipal speed camera signs on this stretch of road.
Sign warning of a municipal speed camera in Brampton in October 2025
Despite the high number of infractions, the cameras were doing their job; a job that the Toronto Police isn’t motivated — or able — to do. As seasoned municipal watcher Matt Elliot points out, for period between January 1, 2025 through November 14, 2025 (when camera enforcement was forced to end), 628,165 speeding tickets were issued through the automated speed enforcement program. Toronto Police’s “Vision Zero” traffic unit issued just 14,500 tickets.
New city report notes the Toronto Police Vision Zero Enforcement Team handed out about 14,500 speeding tickets in 2025. Might sound like a lot, but well, compare and contrast.
Despite all those tickets issued, the cameras were especially effective at reducing speeding in school zones. A 2025 Toronto Metropolitan University/SickKids Hospital study found that speed enforcement cameras reduced speeding by 45 per cent and reduced speeds by most drivers by more than 10 km/h.
Active police enforcement remains a valuable tool because officers can lay charges that automatic speed cameras can not catch, including distracted, impaired, and dangerous driving. But policing has a dark history of racial profiling and has a pro-motorist “windshield bias,” while speed enforcement and red light cameras do not discriminate.
Furthermore, North American roads are designed for excessive speed and not for the safety of vulnerable road users. We rely on signs to advise motorists of how we expect them to drive, rather than road design that requires attentive and slower driving. Speed cameras were a useful stopgap that worked a lot better than signage.
So, the new supersized signs going up are not a solution to unsafe driving: they are just another mere indication that children, seniors, and all pedestrians and cyclists don’t really matter, especially to politicians like Doug Ford.
A “No ALTO HSR” sign on a property near Marmora, Ontario
There’s a running joke that Canada leads the world in high speed rail studies, but we never follow through with actually building those high speed lines. Comedian Rick Mercer had at least two sketches on his old weekly CBC television show mocking this state of affairs, as the idea goes back to the 1970s.
“VIA Rail: Yesterday’s speeds, today.”
“Canada’s High Speed Rail Study Industry: The future, never!”
In 2026, however, Canada is finally past the high speed rail study phase and appears to be committed to building the seven-station corridor between Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec City, with a consortium selected that is already planning the detailed route. It’s an exciting time as the first phase, between Ottawa and Montreal, should start construction in three years once the exact corridor is decided upon and land acquisition has begun.
High speed rail, if done right, should benefit Eastern Canada as a whole. Fast and frequent train service will divert a lot of the travel in the busy Toronto-Montreal-Ottawa triangle from the air, reducing emissions and allowing existing airports to handle any increases in long-haul demand. Faster and more reliable passenger train service would also take traffic off the highways and boost commerce within the most populated part of the country. If done right, it will also support plans for better transport infrastructure outside the corridor to Southwestern Ontario and provide Canadian expertise for other projects such as in Alberta, which is contemplating its own passenger rail network between Calgary and Banff and north to Edmonton.
Map of potential routings for the Alto high speed line in Ontario
Not unexpectedly, there is opposition from residents and landowners along the route, especially in Eastern Ontario and the area of Quebec just northwest of Montreal. In Hastings County, north of Trenton and Belleville, there are a few dozen “No Alto HSR” signs on lawns and farms in places like Madoc, Marmora, Stirling, and Tweed. In this part of Ontario, between Peterborough and the Rideau Lakes region southwest of Ottawa, there are two broad potential routes: a southerly corridor runs near Campbellford, Stirling, Tweed, and Westport, including through some productive farmland in Northumberland and Hastings Counties. A second route runs north of Highway 7, just north of Madoc and Perth, along the southern fringes of the Canadian Shield.
Though a high speed railway line would be straight and relatively narrow, it would require the acquisition and severance of hundreds of properties. Along the existing CN and CP railway corridors to the south constructed in the 1850s and 1900s, there are frequent public road and private-access level crossings, something that is not possible with modern high speed trains passing at up to 300 kilometres per hour, so farmers whose land is crossed by the new high speed railway corridor may not be able to access parts of their property easily. Furthermore, there are no stops planned between Peterborough and Ottawa, a distance of over 250 kilometres.
In Prescott & Russell Counties in the Lower Ottawa Valley, even the local governments are opposed to Alto crews doing early survey work to determine an optimum route, with county warden Mario Zanth clear on the matter: “This council does not want them on our territory.” For now, Alto surveying is mostly done by way of drones over land where landowners have not granted access.
Once a more specific route is selected, hopefully some of the opposition will fade. Detailed design work and further consultation should also help mitigate concerns. This is especially important west of Ottawa, where there are the two diverging routes.
Despite the rural opposition, Alto should go ahead. Other major infrastructure projects, especially new highways, can be far more disruptive to local land use. But without local community benefits — at least a new freeway has regular access points — it will be harder to get buy-in.
Therefore, this needs to be a matter of “Alto and” than just “Alto” by itself. This means building and maintaining a supporting network of conventional VIA service, intercity and regional buses, and local transit connections. It might also mean adding a few additional stations along the route, in places such as Perth. Adding additional stops doesn’t have to slow down trains at all; Japan’s Shinkansen has three classes of trains, from the super-express Nozomi to the all-stops Kodama. While most passengers would be through Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal travellers, offering additional stops for select trains can make Alto more accessible to more people, especially if it means providing new options to underserved communities.
An express train passes the local Odawara Shinkansen Station in April 2019
If Alto becomes the backbone of a strong, integrated transportation network in Ontario and Quebec, the benefits will go far beyond those in the six cities directly served the planned high speed line, even to those directly bypassed by Alto trains. This integration is commonplace in Japan and Europe.
In Kingston, for example, a new or upgraded VIA station with additional tracks and platforms would allow for early morning departures and late evening arrivals from Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal without having to sit on active CN freight tracks overnight; VIA schedules built around serving cities like Belleville, Kingston, and Drummondville would ensure the existing service remains vital as through passengers switch to the faster line. A new Kingston station near Division Street could integrate rail and bus services, with easy access to Highway 401, with local and regional buses to places like Gananoque. Enhanced bus connections to the rest of the Ottawa Valley from the Ottawa Alto/VIA Station could allow travelers from Pembroke, Arnprior, or Hawkesbury to quickly continue their journeys via train. At Trois-Rivières, there should be seamless connections to places like Shawinigan and Victoriaville. The Canada Intercity Transportation Map on this website shows which communities are unserved or underserved by bus and rail: these include many towns in Southern Ontario and Quebec that are within 100 kilometres of the Alto corridor.
Canada is right to invest in high quality and sustainable transportation infrasturure as a nation-building project, to boost the regional and national economy, and promote environmentally friendly travel options. But focusing only on Alto, without a strategy of leveraging the conventional VIA network and intercity bus connections to feed that network, can only limit the success of high speed rail. The communities in between deserve better.
