Categories
Toronto Transit

The TTC needs customer buy-in, not a campaign of scolding its passengers

Imagine any retail store welcoming its customers the way the Toronto Transit Commission does these days. This week, at least two TTC streetcars were wrapped with messages promoting the transit agency’s new aggressive anti-fare evasion campaign. Any passenger caught by fare inspectors or special constables without a valid fare is subject to a fine of […]

Categories
Infrastructure Roads Transit Walking

Viva Rapidways: hurry up and wait

A broken system When York Region Transit was formed in 2001, it promised great things for the large, growing suburban region north of Toronto. It amalgamated four local transit systems, and took over local services provided by GO Transit, and extended service to outlying communities, including Stouffville, King City, and Holland Landing. In 2005, YRT […]

Categories
Ontario Toronto Transit

Disappearing GO-TTC fare discount a major blow to regional transit in Toronto

Updated January 22, 2020 The TTC-GO fare discount will officially come to an end on Tuesday March 31, 2020, with the TTC and Metrolinx unable to come to agreement to keep the fare subsidy going without provincial support. As I argue below, this is a major blow to any hopes for an integrated regional transit […]

Categories
Ontario Transit

A patchwork of new intercity connections in Ontario

RideNorfolk buses at Norfolk County Hall, Simcoe Over the last three years, I wrote about the gaps in intercity rail and coach services in Ontario, and how some companies were working to fill them. In Northern Ontario, Ontario Northland and Kasper Transportation worked to fill the void left by Greyhound’s departure from Western Canada, with […]

Categories
Ontario Toronto Transit

Unfair GO fares on the Highway 407 Corridor

Since 1967, GO Transit’s primary focus has been its commuter rail lines radiating from Downtown Toronto, sometimes to the detriment of other transit needs in the Greater Golden Horseshoe, with bus routes complementing and supplementing that rail network. But twenty years ago, the regional transit service launched a new bus route that connected York University […]

Categories
Toronto Transit

A farewell to Toronto’s CLRV streetcars

The CLRV streetcars were the first transit vehicles I remember riding. Though the new streetcars are larger, fully accessible, and air conditioned, I will miss the CLRVs.

Categories
Ontario Transit

Going for a ride on the Bolton Bus

Caledon, a town of 66,000 located northwest of Toronto, is known for charming villages, fall colours, and horse farms. Its most popular landmarks include the waterfall at Forks of the Credit Provincial Park, the unique Cheltenham Badlands, and the vast Albion Hills Conservation Area. Much of the municipality lies within Niagara Escarpment and Greenbelt protected […]

Categories
Brampton Roads Transit Walking

Why transit users shouldn’t beg to cross the street

If Brampton wants to continue Brampton Transit’s success, it can start by removing beg buttons at all Zum stops to start, as well as any other transfer point. There’s nothing worse than waiting four minutes to safely cross the street to watch your bus pass by.

Categories
Transit Travels Urban Planning

Goin’ to Kansas City

Kansas City might not be at the top of many urbanists’ travel lists, it has a wonderfully restored Union Station, one of America’s few useful streetcar lines, and the world’s first shopping plaza. It’s worth a visit.

Categories
Maps Toronto Transit

A review of GO Transit’s fare structure

Since 2015, GO Transit’s fare structure has improved. However, fares continue to rise faster than the rate of inflation, and there are serious fare discrepancies across the network.