Categories
History Intercity Rail Ontario

The world’s smallest Union Station

Ontario’s other Union Station is a charming reminder of a once-proud electric railway in Southwestern Ontario

Categories
Intercity Rail Ontario Transit

Mapping Ontario’s transit connections

Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, several new inter-community transit services launched in Ontario during the last few months.

Every interurban transit connection in Ontario is included in an interactive map, which I will update regularly.

Categories
Ontario Transit

Why Durham Region is going the microtransit route during the pandemic – and what it means for other transit systems

Previously on this site, I expressed my skepticism about Durham Region’s commitment to improving transit service. But in the five years since, the region east of Toronto has done exactly that by creating a route grid along major corridors, fusing together a network from four separate municipal systems. While the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has seen […]

Categories
Infrastructure Ontario Roads

Highway 401 revisited

In Woodstock, an unexpected tribute to Ontario artist Jack Chambers

Categories
Brampton Ontario Transit Travels

Stranded at Bramalea GO: Metrolinx’s missed connections

While Metrolinx continues to build expensive new parking spaces, those who walk, bike, or take the bus to its stations can be made to feel like an afterthought. Especially when a connecting bus trip leaves without you, with the next bus not scheduled for two hours.

Categories
Ontario Toronto Travels

Signs of the times in Northwestern Toronto

Idled rental cars and drive-through COVID testing in north Etobicoke

Categories
Brampton Cycling Infrastructure Ontario Roads Walking

Room to share: How cities can make physical distancing work

For my latest TVO article, I spoke with Councillor Shawn Menard in Ottawa, Councillor Rowena Santos in Brampton, and Ryerson University epidemiologist Anne Harris about how cities in Ontario are reallocating road space for pedestrians and cyclists during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, or why they may be hesitant to do so. In Brampton, five kilometres […]

Categories
Ontario Toronto Transit

A sudden drop in transit usage across the Toronto Region

Last week, I wrote about how several TTC routes were facing overcrowding, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, and a severe drop in system-wide ridership since early March. I shared this analysis on Spacing’s website, and Ben Spurr at the Toronto Star reported more about the story this week. Though detailed ridership data is not freely accessible, […]

Categories
Ontario Politics Toronto Transit Walking

The consequences of losing the GO-TTC discount

When the Toronto subway system was extended by six stops to York University and Vaughan, it marked the first time the TTC’s rapid transit system extended beyond the city’s boundaries. But it also exposed a major failing of the Golden Horseshoe’s transit structure: the complete lack of fare integration. In 2017, the provincial government announced […]

Categories
History Infrastructure Maps Ontario Roads

One hundred years of Ontario’s provincial highways

On February 26, 1920, Ontario’s provincial highway network was born. That year, 16 highways were established across southern Ontario, between the Ottawa and Detroit Rivers. These highways, previously maintained by townships and counties, connected the province’s largest cities and provided important links to Quebec and the United States. In 1925, these highways were assigned numbers […]