Category: Ontario

North by northwest: a short winter jaunt

VIA Train #1 at Hornepayne, Ontario. Normally this stop would be made overnight.

In late January, I went on a short vacation. Many people, given the short days and cold weather, opt for warmer climes. I, on the other hand, decided to travel to the infamously cold city of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Back in November, VIA Rail offered great deals on winter travel as part of its “Black Friday” sale; a berth in a sleeping car from Toronto to Winnipeg cost $271, with meals included. Winter travel by train can be beautiful, and I had fond memories of my February 2014 trip aboard the Algoma Central Railway between Sault Ste. Marie and Hearst.

I planned to spend two nights in Winnipeg, including taking in my first NHL game since the pandemic. The Jets were playing on Friday night against the original Winnipeg Jets, the Utah Hockey Club (which moved to Salt Lake City from Phoenix in 2024). I would then travel back east by bus, with a stopover in Kenora, flying home from Thunder Bay.

Unfortunately, my train from Toronto was delayed by eleven hours, a new record in my rail travel setbacks. The train from Vancouver faced several setbacks due to extreme cold conditions in the Prairies and Northern Ontario, arriving in Toronto over 15 hours late, around 8AM on Wednesday morning. (VIA Rail’s communications were subpar, and though I got two emails advising of a 5:00 PM departure on Wednesday, we did not actually leave until 8:00 PM, about 10 hours late from Toronto.)

Despite the delays, it was a very pleasant train ride across Northern Ontario in the snow. The cooked-to-order meals served aboard the Canadian, as always, were very good, and service was friendly. The lights in the dome car for our section were turned off, allowing passengers to gaze into the wilderness, even at night.

As it turned out, I was able to cancel my first night’s stay in Winnipeg without penalty, which was fortunate as the train arrived at 7AM Friday, nearly 12 hours late. But for me, it was fortunate, as by then, coffee shops were opening up in Downtown Winnipeg. An earlier arrival, had the train made up time, would have forced me to find a 24-hour restaurant to wait at, and there aren’t any in the downtown area.

The monument to the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike; a Corten steel replica of a toppled streetcar across the street from Winnipeg City Hall. It was especially compelling partially buried in snow.

Though I have been to Winnipeg several times before, this was my first time visiting the city in winter. I was pleased to see how the city embraced the short, dark, cold days. Out at The Forks, where the Assiniboine River joins the Red River, there is a lively marketplace located in former railway maintenance and freight buildings behind Union Station. The complex includes a branch of the local McNally-Robinson bookstore chain, restaurants, cafes, art shops, and other local businesses. There are plenty of tables and seating, with water dispensers and plenty of public washrooms. It is one of Canada’s great public spaces.

Inside one of the market buildings in the Forks, a former railway maintenance building

Outside, there were Warming Huts art stations, many of which were very compelling. Ice skaters have a choice of an artificial ice rink, covered by a tent-like canopy, or getting out on to a cleared natural path along the Assiniboine River.

Skaters on the Assiniboine River; warming huts along the ice give skaters a place to sit

One of the Warming Huts, titled “Wrong Turn,” representing a car sinking into an icy river

After 24 hours in Winnipeg, capped by a great hockey game in a lively arena, I made my way west towards Kenora and Thunder Bay. Kasper, which I last rode in 2019, has an early morning departure from Downtown Winnipeg, at the Balmoral bus terminal, stopping at Kenora, Dryden, and Sioux Lookout. Among the six passengers were a First Nations woman and her companion, returning home from a medical visit. Intercity buses are a lifeline. The Kasper bus was a 12-passenger van, and despite the poor winter weather conditions, it was a safe, comfortable, and friendly service.

Snowy conditions on the Trans-Canada Highway headed east from Winnipeg

Taking the morning Kasper trip allowed me to spend a few hours in Kenora, population 15,000. The community on the Lake of the Woods is a popular summer vacation spot; this was my first time visiting Ontario’s most westerly city. Kasper’s Kenora stop is at a McDonalds just east of downtown; this gives passengers a chance to stretch, use the washroom, and grab food.

Kasper Minibus at the Kenora McDonald’s

The walk from the McDonald’s back towards downtown was pleasant. I was greeted by several deer, in their winter coats, comfortable wandering in a residential neighbourhood.

Northern white-tailed deer in their heavy winter coats

Kenora’s downtown is small, but blessed with a solid collection of historic buildings, including the old post office (now city hall), the district courthouse, a two-storey Canadian Pacific railway station (which served VIA until 1990), and the five-story Kenrica Hotel. The hotel has seen better days — the ground floor defaced by an unfortunate 1950s-era streetfront — but it still has good bones.

Kenrica Hotel, on the main corner in Downtown Kenora

South of Downtown Kenora, on the lakefront, a cylindrical hotel, ten storeys high, overlooks Lake of the Woods, with a marina at its base. The hotel’s mid-century modernist form is unusual for Ontario, which makes it stand out even more.

The Clarion Inn on Lake of the Woods

Many towns and cities in Northern Ontario feature a roadside attraction. Sudbury has the Big Nickel, Wawa has a giant goose, and White River has Winnie-the-Pooh. Kenora’s is a giant sculpture of a muskie fish, called “Husky.”

“Husky the Muskie” – Kenora’s roadside attraction

Ontario Northland operates a bus six days a week between Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, and Sudbury, with operator changes at Thunder Bay and Sault Ste. Marie. Between Kenora and Thunder Bay, the route alternates, with service to Fort Frances and Atikokan three days a week and to Dryden and Ignace the other three days. Passing through Fort Frances (where the bus stopped at a McDonald’s there for a rest break), I finally visited every county, district, and region in Ontario, with Rainy River District being the final one.

Ontario Northland bus in a snow-covered McDonald’s in Fort Frances, Ontario

The Ontario Northland bus driver that day was exceptional; because of a winter storm, Highway 17 was closed near Batchewana Bay; as such, the bus would not continue past Thunder Bay. Though we were nearly an hour late arriving into Thunder Bay due to road conditions, the operator was willing to continue past the Thunder Bay Ontario Northland depot to drop anyone off continuing to the hospital campus. I was also able to get off the bus by my hotel.

The Ontario Northland depot at Thunder Bay is not in a very good location, in an industrial area off Highway 61 near the Thunder Bay airport, without direct local transit connections or adjacent amenities. At least a stop at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (which has local transit and is near Lakehead University) is also provided.

Ontario Northland Thunder Bay depot, located in an industrial area on a road without sidewalks (Google Streetview)

Difficult winter road conditions make travel across the North a challenge; this is why professional and safe bus and train operators are so important for getting around.

February 16, 2025
How a transit authority has become a barrier to active mobility

Metrolinx rendering of the planned new Drury Lane pedestrian overpass in Burlington

On the home page of Metrolinx, the provincial agency tasked with building and operating regional transit in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area and beyond, there is a statement under the heading “Connecting Communities.”

The Greater Golden Horseshoe is growing, and you need to get places. Our transit projects will connect new, established and emerging communities across the Greater Golden Horseshoe.
– Metrolinx

Unfortunately, the very same transit projects and rail corridor upgrades can serve to disconnect, rather than connect, communities. Too often, GO Transit lines are secured without regard to the neighbourhoods they run through, without simple and convenient crossings for pedestrians and cyclists. Where overpasses are provided, they are built in such a way that makes them more difficult than necessary to cross.

A GO Transit train passes under the existing Drury Lane pedestrian overpass

Take the example of the planned replacement of the Drury Lane pedestrian overpass in Burlington, which connects Fairview Avenue to the south and Orpha Street and a postwar residential neighbourhood to the north. With Burlington GO Station only 500 metres to the west, the pedestrian overpass provides a useful connection to GO and Burlington Transit services as well as (the station’s north end is poorly connected to the Orpha Street area, it is primarily a motor vehicle access to a large parking structure). Drury Lane continues south of Fairview Street towards Burlington’s Central Park, the city’s main library branch, and leads towards the waterfront and downtown core. Unlike Brant Street, Fairview Street, or Guelph Line, Drury Lane is relatively quiet, with painted cycle lanes.

The planned new Drury Lane pedestrian overpass in Burlington with lengthy access ramps

The new overpass, replacing the existing 50-year-old structure, will be taller, with longer approach ramps. Metrolinx touts the improved accessibility of the new bridge, even though it will add more time to travel times with an extra ramp segment on each end. No stairs are provided to provide a short-cut for those able to navigate steps.

The new bridge’s increased height will provide additional clearance for the planned electrification of the Lakeshore West rail corridor.

Existing ramps at the north (Orpha Street) end, which requires three full turns to reach the top

A simpler solution would have to build an underpass, which would require a much shorter vertical route for pedestrians and cyclists. Indeed, the rails are on a slight embankment above street level already. A wide, well-lit underpass would improve accessibility; in fact, pedestrian underpasses are provided at nearly all GO rail station where grade separations are required as they provide quicker and easier access between platforms and the station building, parking and bus stops.

Though it has yet to open, the Paton Road connection under the GO Barrie Line in Toronto shows how a wide pedestrian underpass could look.

There are many other opportunities for safe and accessible pedestrian and cycling infrastructure along GO Transit corridors. The best example might be in North York, where the combination of a Metrolinx rail corridor and a twelve-lane Highway 401 make pedestrian and cyclist movement especially difficult and unsafe. At one time, it was easy (though still illegal) to cross the tracks between Floral Parkway, a residential street running east-west from Keele Street to the GO Barrie Line, to Bridgeland Road, an industrial street connecting to Caledonia Road and leading towards Yorkdale Mall.

By the late 2000s, new fencing was put up to prevent pedestrian crossings here; this was further upgraded with reinforced chainlink fences, and more recently, a noise wall. Metrolinx knew this was a popular place to cross, but instead of providing a safe route (either a signalized and gated at-grade crossing, an overpass, or an underpass), it worked only to harden its property.

The highly-secured Bridgeland Road/Floral Parkway crossing in 2013

The Bridgeland/Floral crossing in January 2025, with a noise barrier completely blocking Floral Parkway from the tracks

As new high-density residential development is nearing completion at Dufferin and Bridgeland on the site of an old Holiday Inn, as well as mixed-use development planned at Yorkdale Mall and a major hospital at Keele and Highway 401, there is even more of a need for sustainable, safe, active transport. The walk between Floral Parkway and Bridgeland Road is 49 minutes; the Highway 401 interchanges at Keele and Dufferin are also unsafe to navigate by foot or bicycle; fast moving traffic and narrow sidewalks make them unpleasant as well.

There are many other opportunities for improved active transport connections where railways and highways impose major barriers. There are a few good initiatives, such as new multiuse path connections in Mississauga’s Port Credit neighbourhood across the QEW and Credit River; a partnership between the Ministry of Transportation, the City of Mississauga, and the Region of Peel.

We need local and provincial officials to push for safe and accessible access across transit corridors and major highways for all users, but especially pedestrians and cyclists who are typically overlooked when these projects are planned and built.

Though transit construction is very beneficial for the region’s growth, it is still frustrating when an agency tasked with “[connecting] new, established and emerging communities across the Greater Golden Horseshoe” fails to connect the communities its transit projects run through.

February 8, 2025
Crossride of death: how an Ajax girl was killed riding her bike

Memorial for 13-year-old Kirsty, who was struck and killed while riding a bicycle in Ajax on November 7

January 13, 2025 update: A 44-year-old woman was charged by Durham Regional Police with careless driving causing death, over two months after this tragic collision.

On Thursday, November 7, at approximately 7:35 AM, a 13-year-old girl was struck and killed by the driver of a Hyundai Santa Fe (a midsized crossover SUV) at Rossland Road and Stevensgate Drive. The girl was riding a bicycle in a marked crossride, a crossing designated for both pedestrians and cyclists along a multiuse path, when she was struck and pinned beneath the vehicle.

Multiuse paths (MUPs) are typically found in parks, particularly along waterbodies such as lakes, rivers, and creeks such as Lake Ontario or the Don River. They are shared by all sorts of people, including walkers, runners, cyclists, dog-walkers, rollerbladers, and wheelchair users, often coming into conflict on busy, narrow sections such as the Martin Goodman Trail or the Lower Don Trail.

In the suburbs surrounding Toronto (and in a few locations within the city, such as on Lake Shore Boulevard East and Eglinton Avenue West), MUPs are a popular form of cycling infrastructure along busier roads with higher speed limits. Older boulevard MUPs required cyclists to stop and dismount at road crossings (though these instructions were usually ignored). Newer and upgraded MUPs allow cyclists to ride across intersecting roadways, at marked crossrides. Signage advises motorists to watch for cyclists and advises cyclists to slow and watch for motorists and to yield to pedestrians. At signalized intersections, most new MUPs include dedicated bicycle signals.

It was at one of these new crossrides that Kirsty was struck and killed. Though no official police press release or any follow-up news articles provided the girl’s name, that name was clearly visible at the makeshift memorial next to where she was killed.

Crossride at Stevensgate Drive, where a driver pulled out ahead into the crossride without stopping at the stop sign/stop line first.

Rossland Road was recently widened from two to four through lanes; a new multiuse path was built on the north side of the roadway, complete with crossrides and cyclist signals. Rossland Road is very much a road. There are no houses fronting onto the roadway, while the few driveways on Rossland provide access only to church and commercial plaza parking lots.

Rossland Road in Ajax has two lanes in each direction, with a concrete median in between. The speed limit on Rossland is 60 km/h.

Stevensgate Drive, which leads north from Rossland Road, is a quiet residential street with about two dozen homes and an evangelical church. A stop sign controls traffic at Rossland Road. Though Stevensgate connects to a large subdivision to the north, there are several other streets with signalized intersections that also provide access to the community.

Motorists take wide turns pulling into Stevensgate Drive

When Kirsty was struck, it was by the southbound Santa Fe driver who would have passed a stop sign and a clearly painted stop line before entering the crossride. A CP24 news report clearly showed the vehicle being towed onto Rossland Road from the southbound direction. At 7:35 AM, it was daylight.

Screenshot from CP24 report

Drivers rolling through stop signs are a common occurrence, even though the law clearly states that a full and complete stop at the stop sign and painted stop line is required before proceeding. Had the driver done so, this tragedy most likely would have been prevented.

Looking west along the multiuse path, towards Ravenscroft Road

Two days later, on Saturday, November 9, I visited the scene. I noted the roadside memorial next to the stop sign facing Stevensgate Drive. While I was there, several people stopped to visit the memorial; at least two people left flowers and cards of sympathy.

While there, I mounted a small digital camera on the trunk of a car parked on the west side of Stevensgate, about 75 metres north of the intersection, in a legal parking spot. The camera, mounted on a mini-tripod, was mostly inconspicuous. Within 25 minutes, five motorists improperly stopped after the stop line and into the crossride; two properly stopped before creeping up to make their turn. Two drivers also made fast, wide right turns into Stevensgate during that time. The edited video below shows motorists’ actions during that 25 minutes

Video taken on Saturday, November 9 showing motorists driving south on
Stevensgate Drive towards Rossland Road (3 minutes, 7 seconds)

While taking photographs and recording the videos, a resident, who lived a few houses north of the intersection, came to talk to me, and asked if I knew the girl. I explained why I was there, and we had a short, but good chat, about the collision and road safety. He noted that it is hard to see traffic from the stop line, and that he has to pull forward before turning. But he agreed that the stop line was there for a reason, and that drivers often rush to get onto Rossland.

Police enforcement is not necessarily the answer. There are too many intersections to watch, and the careless driving behaviours exhibited are normalized. In Toronto, it is cyclists on quiet streets and in public parks who are typically targeted at stop signs, not motorists, even though cyclists are the more vulnerable road users.

In Washington DC, there are stop sign cameras mounted at specific locations, though there are only about a dozen of those throughout the city at any given time. These could provide a useful tool for targeted automated enforcement on Ontario’s roads to reinforce proper driving behaviour.

A pole-mounted camera faces an all-way stop in Washington DC

Intersections should also be redesigned to improve the visibility of pedestrians and cyclists at crosswalks and crossrides and act to slow down motorists; raised sidewalks and path crossings would act as a speed hump as well as enhance visibility. A concrete island or short median at the stop sign would force motorists to approach the stop at a slower speed and prevent wide turns on to and off the intersecting street. A quick and inexpensive (though less-effective) solution could be to place wide knock-down bollards with supplemental crossing and stop sign messages in the middle of the roadway at each stop bar and crosswalk/crossride. Though this is best as a short-term measure.

A wide knock-down bollard designed to provide additional visibility to a crosswalk
(Milton, Ontario, via Google Streetview)

As the provincial government vindictively overrides municipalities’ ability to provide safer on-road cycling infrastructure, off-street infrastructure, such as MUPs, will remain an important tool for promoting active transportation, especially in suburban areas and high-traffic neighbourhoods. Though boulevard MUPs provide separation from traffic in most cases, they are particularly hazardous at intersections, especially when motorists are distracted, aggressive, or just merely careless. There is much more that can and should be done to make them safer for all road users.

November 25, 2024
From Hamilton to Haldimand: a new transit link fills a major gap
Southern Ontario Transit minibus in Dunnville, October 2024

Earlier in October, I got to meet Rae Rivard, owner-operator of Southern Ontario Transit (SOT), a new intercity transit operator currently serving Hamilton and Haldimand County. The route, which launched on September 16th, offers three weekday round trips between Downtown Hamilton and Dunnville, serving the communities of Caledonia, Hagersville, and Cayuga.

Haldimand County, along with the neighbouring Six Nations and Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation reserves, remained unserved by intercity or local bus services since the early 2000s; in 1990, United Trails operated a daily bus between Port Dover, Hagersville, Caledonia, and Hamilton. Cayuga and Dunnville were served by a Greyhound route on Highway 3 between Niagara and London. More recently, as Niagara Region was building a regional transit service and Norfolk County successfully applied for provincial funding for a new service between Simcoe and Brantford, Haldimand County refused to take part. Enter SOT.

SOT, which charges a $10 one-way fare, operates without the support of the municipal government, and is unable to put up bus stop signs or actively promote its service at municipal facilities such as libraries or community centres. For this reason, ridership remains low, despite growing populations in Caledonia and Hagersville and convenient links to Hamilton Airport, Mohawk College, St. Joseph’s Hospital, and to GO Transit and HSR services.

Rivard will tell you that “the primary challenge we face today is slow uptake. Due to a number of limitations and challenges currently out of our control, the number of regular and new riders trends up every week, but not as fast as we need to cover expenses…. Many of the limitations we are dealing with right now can easily be addressed at no expense, but these choices are out of our control.”

Rivard reached out to businesses and social service organizations, but was turned away, adding that “the entire operation has been entirely funded out of me and my wife’s savings, and we are really struggling to keep up with expenses at this rate.”

Without approved bus stop locations with curb access, SOT is not able to provide fully-accessible service, though it already has a wheelchair-accessible vehicle. The lack of physical bus stops and publicity has made it difficult to attract riders, though while riding with Rivard on a beautiful October afternoon, it was clear that a demand exists as several residents came up to the minibus to find out more information.

My hope is that word spreads about this unique and essential operation and that the local communities provide the needed support to make this service work. If this initial route succeeds, SOT would like to expand service in Haldimand and take on other gaps in the Ontario network.

At the Hamilton terminus, at Main Street and MacNab, across from the HSR terminal

A new version of my Ontario Intercity Transport Map is now available

I updated my Ontario Intercity Transport Map to add Southern Ontario Transit’s route. Commuter Connect in Northumberland County ended service not long after VIA Rail finally resumed its early morning train from Kingston to Toronto. East Zorra-Tavistock Transit in Oxford County did not last long either, and service there has ended.

Added to the map:
- Southern Ontario Transit between Hamilton, Caledonia, and Dunnville
- Red Arrow’s daily Toronto-Western University express, which replaces its Toronto-Niagara Falls run
- A new daily Flixbus route between Toronto, Hamilton, and St. Thomas
- A new OnexBus route between London, Goderich, and Port Elgin, operating Friday through Monday
- OnexBus’s London-Pearson Airport-Brampton route, which operates several trips a day
- Ourbus’s Toronto-Ottawa route
- Kasper’s daily Winnipeg-Kenora-Sioux Lookout service
- Revisions to on-demand services in Niagara Region
- Some revised routings and service levels across the province
Removed from the map:
- Commuter Connect in Northumberland County
- East Zorra-Tavistock Transit
- Kasper’s on-demand service to Red Lake/Balmerton
Though it is good to see Bruce County — particularly rapidly growing Saugeen Shores — get another link, that part of Ontario is still poorly served; there should be daily services between larger Bruce County communities like Saugeen Shores, Kincardine, and Walkerton at least to Owen Sound and Hanover. Lindsay is also left without any intercity services, after TOK ended service from Toronto to Haliburton last year. where a Peterborough-Lindsay-Pontypool service, perhaps extending to Durham College/Ontario Tech University in Oshawa could prove to be a very useful route.

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October 26, 2024
Deadcatting: Doug Ford’s big dig

We need a Highway 401 Tunnel like we need a dead cat on the dining room table

On Wednesday, September 25, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, along with transportation minister Pradmeet Sarkaria, announced that the provincial government would fund a feasibility study on building a new highway tunnel under Highway 401 from Peel Region to Durham Region, along with an unspecified new transit facility.

Earlier this week, Doug Ford exclaimed that those living in homeless encampments and anyone else without housing who he thought could work should “get off their a-s-s and start working like everyone else.” The day before that, we learned that Ford’s Progressive Conservative government would prohibit new bicycle infrastructure if it took road space away from motorists.

The old Doug Ford — the angry bull-in-a-china-shop we remember from 2018-2019 — is back, and it is clear that governing, in fact, has not changed him. After six years, and a rumoured early provincial election, Doug Ford will need to run on something, because there’s little to show for his promises of getting housing built, transit projects completed, and hospitals fixed. An RCMP investigation continues to look at the government’s Greenbelt land swaps, and it is rare for provincial or federal governments in Canada to get elected with a majority three times in a row. So here we are.

But after three straight days of political red meat policy announcements, the strategy has become clear: Doug Ford is “deadcatting.” Dead cat theory, popularized during the leadership of former London mayor and British prime minister Boris Johnson, is the practice of suddenly throwing down an outrageous policy or statement to divert attention away from an unpleasant topic. The shocked audience is suddenly compelled to talk about the metaphorical dead cat thrown on the table. In the United States in recent weeks, dead cats have become less metaphorical, with baseless and racist accusations against Haitian migrants in Ohio spread by Donald Trump, vice-presidential candidate J.D. Vance, and far-right commentators.

The strategy is thought to come from Lynton Crosby, an Australian conservative strategist who worked on Johnson’s mayoral and UK Conservative leadership campaigns, as well as Canada’s Conservative Party in 2015.

There is no way a Highway 401 tunnel will be built. Not only would it be the longest road tunnel in the world, but the long on-ramps and off-ramps required to access a deep-bore urban highway tunnel will make it completely infeasible. The proposal also completely ignores the problem of induced demand, and it won’t solve the problem of where the traffic goes when it gets off that additional highway. For these reasons, it was especially disappointing to see the Toronto and Region Board of Trade (TRBoT) endorse the idea.

TRBoT post on September 25, 2024

There are things that can help alleviate traffic. One is ensuring that transit projects are completed, funded, and maintained. That doesn’t just mean building and completing projects like the Crosstown LRT and the Ontario Line, it’s also making sure the system remains in excellent condition to avoid problems like the persistent slow orders in the Toronto Subway. It also means making the best use of existing infrastructure, like Highway 407, for goods movement. Highway 407 passes by every major freight yard in Greater Toronto, but trucks clog Highway 401, Highway 7, and Steeles Avenue instead because of the high tolls. And it means active transportation improvements, like bike lanes and multi-use paths.

What we don’t need are more dead cats to distract us from the real problems.

September 25, 2024
A bus to St. Thomas, finally

Middlesex County Connect and “Local Motion” buses at St. Thomas, June 2024

On Saturday, June 15, I took a trip that was not possible for over a decade: I went to St. Thomas, Ontario, without a car. This was possible because of one of several new intercity transit links that opened this year in Ontario, and I have updated my interactive map accordingly.
(more…)

June 24, 2024
Ontario intercity updates for April 2024
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.

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April 12, 2024
Can on-demand transit meet your demand?

Durham Region Transit On Demand sedan

Earlier in March, as part of my quest to visit every town, city, and regional government office in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) without a car, I took my first on-demand transit rides in a decade. This was necessary to visit Brock Township’s municipal offices, located in the village of Cannington, north of Port Perry. (I will discuss more about this project in the coming weeks.)

Brock Township’s municipal offices, at right, sits in the heart of the village of Cannington

Brock Township is the GTHA’s most rural and least populated municipality, home to just over 12,000. Until April 2023, GO Transit ran a daily bus service between Whitby GO Station, Port Perry, Cannington, and Beaverton (Brock’s largest community), but was cancelled after a ridership review. (GO has quietly cancelled several other bus routes that don’t cross county or regional boundaries in the last decade.) However, Durham Region Transit (DRT) offered an alternative: on demand transit.

On-demand transit is not a new idea. In the 1970s, GO Transit operated experimental dial-a-bus services in suburban parts of Toronto, offering door-to-door service to and from the nearest subway station or a designated transfer point to frequent fixed-route bus services. In Bramalea, Chinguacousy Township operated Bramalea Dial-a-Bus, which brought residents to local employers, schools, and Bramalea City Centre. The service was replaced by fixed-route services when Brampton Transit was established shortly after amalgamation, merging the dial-a-bus operation and a privately contracted transit service in the old town of Brampton.

Still image from “People on the GO,” a 1973 film by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation and Communications. Bramalea’s Dial-a-Bus’ pink “lazy-b” logo was adopted by the successor transit agency, Brampton Transit during its first decade.

“Trans-Cab” services continue to be used in outlying areas of communities such as Hamilton, Peterborough, and Sudbury, where transit agencies partner with local taxi companies to allow transit riders to begin or end their journey outside of urban or regional fixed-route areas, often at a premium fare.

My first on-demand transit experience was taking Oakville Transit’s “zone bus” service in 2005. At the time, there was no fixed-route Sunday bus service in Oakville, but there were four zones for which you could call and request a ride, with a bus picking you up at the nearest bus stop. If your destination was in a different zone, you would transfer to another bus at Oakville GO Station. Today, Oakville offers on-demand service during late evenings from the Oakville GO Station and in new and outlying subdivisions where there are no nearby scheduled services.

My other previous on-demand transit experience was in Winter and early Spring 2012, after I suffered a broken knee cap and had to rely on Toronto’s Wheel-Trans paratransit system. Though I was fortunate to be able to get around using Wheel-Trans during a temporary disability, it was often a frustrating experience trying to book trips, especially for social or leisure purposes. I quickly came to prefer the conventional system and used it as much as I could while recovering from that injury.

A common message while trying to book rides on DRT On-Demand

In 2024, there are over a dozen transit agencies providing on-demand transit services in Ontario and Quebec, either as standalone operations or in conjunction with fixed-route systems. You can find them in my interactive transport maps.

Modern on-demand services, though they are typically accessed by mobile apps these days, present some of the same challenges, including cumbersome booking processes as well as high demand and limited availability for next-day and same-day trips.

DRT offers on-demand transit trips for customers with disabilities (who are eligible for door-to-door service anywhere in the region), rural areas, and in designated urban areas (where pickups and drop offs are made at signed bus stops).

DRT rural services, showing the rural on-demand service area and transfer points to fixed-route services (including GO buses at Downtown Uxbridge, Brock/407 and Clarington North)

As Brock Township was the most distant and most difficult town hall in the GTHA to reach by public transport, I tried to book for the first day of my visits: Monday, March 11. After downloading the DRT app and inputting my information (name, email address, mobile phone number) I tried to book a return trip from Port Perry (which has a scheduled route connecting it to Uxbridge, Oshawa, and Whitby) the day before.

At one point, I was able to get an outbound trip around 12:00 PM, but I could not get a return trip after multiple attempts. After failed attempts to book each ride, the app would go back to the beginning, requiring the user to input most of the same information multiple times. I gave up and went to northern York Region instead. After midnight, early Monday morning, when one could book trips for the following day, I tried again and managed to get a return trip that met my needs for Tuesday the 12th.

Unable to book a return trip from Cannington to Port Perry for Monday, March 11, 2024

Once I booked my trip, the rest of the experience was smooth. I got a text reminder of my upcoming trips, and on the app, I could track my upcoming ride, much like Uber or Lyft, with the driver’s name, vehicle description, and location. Each time, I paid with my Presto card, with DRT charging the same fare for on-demand as for conventional bus service. Drivers were professional and friendly. I was the only passenger for both trips, though they are often shared, and minibuses — such as accessible paratransit vehicles — are used for passengers with disabilities or larger groups.

Notice of pickup

I learned that the service could be quite busy and the app sometimes problematic — there is also a toll-free number that passengers can call, and that sometimes the telephone agent would be able to find matching rides that the app would not show.

I was lucky that my trip was discretionary, but I could see how on-demand transit can be difficult and/or frustrating to use.

Though DRT has restored most urban bus routes (many were suspended during pandemic-related restrictions), it still struggles to meet demand on its busiest corridors, especially those serving colleges and universities in Oshawa, Whitby, and Scarborough. A fire in one of DRT’s garages last summer hasn’t helped either. As a result, some urban areas in Ajax, Pickering, Whitby, and Bowmanville still have on-demand areas where fixed-route services have yet to be restored.

On-demand transit has its place, especially in rural and outlying suburban areas, or during times of low demand. If done right, it provides affordable mobility to people who might otherwise go without, and as an alternative to driving a car or paying an expensive taxi fare for those with travel options. Durham Region has done a good job covering the entire region with fixed-route and on-demand services, especially at night, where the urban south enjoys 24-hour transit access.

DRT overnight services, which includes two scheduled buses and five on-demand zones in the urbanized part of the region.

Despite Durham’s efforts, on-demand services can be costly to operate, less flexible for prospective passengers, and be frustrating to use, though they can cover much larger areas than line haul routes. Scheduled, fixed-route buses offer predictable, simple, and often faster service than point-to-point bespoke services. On-demand transit has its place, but it is only one tool in a vast toolbox of mobility solutions. This was true in the 1970s and remains true today.

March 18, 2024
Another bus to London

Intercity Bus minibus on York Street at Royal York Hotel, February 13, 2024

In late 2023, yet another intercity bus operator started serving the busy Toronto-London corridor, operating between Toronto and London. With the rather unimaginative name of “Intercity Bus,” this new company operates up to four trips a day between Toronto and London. It has since added a route between London and Sarnia; it also plans to run the much-needed link between London and St. Thomas.

There are now five bus companies on the Toronto-London route: Intercity Bus, Onex Bus, Trailways, and Megabus (in a partnership with local coach operator Badder Bus). Those five companies compete with VIA Rail, which operates up to six daily trips between the two cities, with up to 28 round trips daily between them.

Onex Bus departing Downtown Toronto, photo kindly provided by Chris Whitfield

VIA Rail remains the fastest and most comfortable option, with full-service staffed stations in Downtown London and Downtown Toronto, but its fares are typically the most expensive. The private coach companies offer cheaper fares, and several of them directly serve Western University and/or Fanshawe College. Megabus has partnered with Trailways; its booking website includes both the Toronto-London-Detroit Trailways trips and the Toronto-London trips operated by Badder Bus. Otherwise, one must go to the individual companies’ websites to figure out the complete schedule and where each service stops at.

The schedule below, saved as a PDF, includes all regular weekday trips between Toronto and London along with intermediate stops.

Complete schedule showing all regular weekday trips between Toronto and London

In Toronto, Flixbus, Trailways and Megabus/Badder call at the Union Station Bus Terminal, where connections can be made to other Flixbus and Megabus services, along with GO Transit and VIA Rail in the adjacent railway hub. Onex and Intercity Bus make use of a curbside stop on York Street next to the Royal York Hotel, which is shared with the Toronto Island Airport shuttle. These three stops are all within a few minutes’ walk from each other. Some Flixbus runs to London begin and end in Scarborough, and many buses also make a stop at Pearson Airport.

In London, every bus carrier makes a curbside stop at Western University, the terminus of all bus trips from Toronto except Trailways, which continues to Windsor and Detroit. All carriers except Badder/Megabus also serve Downtown London. However, each has a different stopping location, with Flixbus and Trailways opting for a curbside stop on York Street near CitiPlaza (London’s downtown mall), and Onex utilizing the driveway at the VIA Rail station.

Curbside stops are convenient for bus operators, as they’re easy to pull up to and depart from, there’s no rent, staffing, or maintenance costs. With smartphones and online ticketing, there is no need for a ticket agent, and passengers can be notified by text and/or email of any delays or changes. But curbside stops have no shelter and no washrooms.

Interestingly, Intercity Bus has taken over the old Greyhound terminal in Downtown London. At its peak, London’s terminal had dozens of daily departures to cities and towns all over Southwestern Ontario, serving multiple carriers at a time when intercity carriers acted more like a unified network.

The old London Greyhound terminal

The terminal offers seating, washrooms, and is staffed by an agent, a rarity in the post-Greyhound world. The washrooms are especially essential if — as on my recent trip — the bus does not have an on-board lavatory. These new smaller carriers save fuel and labour costs by operating smaller vehicles and matching capacity with demand. They often operate older coaches and minibuses.

Inside the Intercity Bus terminal

I recently took Intercity Bus from Toronto to London to try out Ontario’s newest carrier. Though the 12:10 departure from Toronto was on a minibus similar to those used by rural transit operators (there were only 10 passengers on that Tuesday afternoon run), the ride was comfortable enough, with cloth bucket seats. It was a fast trip: it skipped stops in Woodstock and Fanshawe College, and the driver made very good time on Highway 401, at times exceeding the posted speed limit by 25 or 30 kilometres per hour. Even with a stop for fuel (the driver asked if it was okay), we arrived 15 minutes early at the London terminal.

At its peak in the 1980s, there were over two dozen daily departures from the London bus terminal. There were frequent Greyhound routes to Toronto via Kitchener and via Brantford and Hamilton as well as to Chatham, Windsor, and Detroit; there were also daily Greyhound routes to Niagara Falls via St. Thomas, Simcoe, and Welland and to Strathroy, Sarnia and into Michigan. Regional coach operators also ran from the Greyhound terminal to Stratford, Goderich, Rodney, Walkerton, Leamington, and Port Stanley. Today, there are just four — three to Toronto and one to Sarnia.

Detail from 1990-1991 Ontario Intercity Transportation Guide, showing bus routes from London to points throughout Southwestern Ontario

My hope for the next year is for more stability in the intercity bus industry, perhaps even mergers between some of the smaller players. Onex and Intercity Bus, which compete on the Toronto-London route and offer a similar service, could be beneficial, especially if it results in a network of routes radiating out of London, starting with Intercity Bus’s London-Sarnia service, its planned St. Thomas route, and Onex’s London-Stratford-Kitchener run.

I updated my map of Ontario’s intercity transport services for March 2024, including the new Onex Bus and Intercity Bus routes in Southwestern Ontario. There are new services in East Zorra-Tavistock, connecting to Stratford and Woodstock, and in North Grenville. Unfortunately, Lindsay and Haliburton lost their TOK coach service, Prescott & Russell ended its on-demand service, and gaps remain in Bruce, Elgin, and Haldimand Counties.

Updated Ontario Intercity Map

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March 6, 2024
Heavy interference in a light rail transit project

Banner promoting “The Hazel McCallion Line” on Hurontario Street in Brampton, January 2024

Previously on this website, I wrote about the renaming of two GO Transit stations: Oshawa and Brampton. I explained why renaming transit infrastructure is problematic, especially when they violate wayfinding standards, which call for simple, accurate, unique, and self-locating names.

Both GO Transit stations were renamed by provincial agency Metrolinx, on behalf of the provincial government. Metrolinx operates GO Transit buses and trains, the UP Express airport link, administers the Presto fare payment system, and oversees the construction of new rapid transit projects in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. The Hurontario LRT, which is currently under construction between Port Credit GO Station in Mississauga and Steeles Avenue in Brampton, is just one of many transit projects managed by Metrolinx.

On February 14, 2022, at Cooksville GO Station, Premier Doug Ford, then Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney, then Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie, and Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster joined former Mississauga mayor Hazel McCallion announcing the name change from the Hurontario LRT to the Hazel McCallion LRT. The occasion also marked McCallion’s 101st birthday.

Hazel McCallion with Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster, February 14, 2022 (Metrolinx photo)

This is the first rapid transit line in North America to be named for a person, contradicting established standards for transit projects.¹ Though McCallion was a formidable and popular mayor whose political career spanned seven decades, she was also very close to the Ford government in the last few years of her life. She also had many other public facilities named in her honour — a senior public school in Mississauga’s Streetsville neighbourhood, the library at University of Toronto’s Mississauga campus, the City of Mississauga’s central public library, a walkway leading to Square One Shopping Centre, and the Mississauga campus of Sheridan College. There is also the Hazel McCallion Auditorium at Mississauga Valley Community Centre and the Hazel McCallion Hall at Vic Johnston Community Centre. There was no need for yet another civic asset to be renamed for her.

In Toronto, most former mayors have just one public asset named for them: David Crombie, Art Eggleton, June Rowlands, and Barbara Hall have parks dedicated in their honour. Mel Lastman — mayor of North York for 24 years before being elected mayor of amalgamated Toronto for another six — and Nathan Phillips have major public squares.² In Mississauga, there was no need to rename yet another piece of civic infrastructure for the same person.

Furthermore, there was no public consultation about the name change — even officials at the cities of Brampton and Mississauga were kept in the dark — while the name itself contravenes Metrolinx’s own naming conventions.

In July, 2023, I submitted an access to information request to Metrolinx, the second time I went through the freedom of information process to find out more about the light rail transit project. There were several delays, and I did not receive my requested documents and communications until late January 2024.

A deep dive into the background of the Hurontario LRT project, the person it is being renamed for, and my findings and impressions follow.
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February 1, 2024