But in January 2023, I returned to Bramalea GO Station and came away feeling satisfied. Metrolinx has finally built a Bramalea GO Station that works. Now it is time to use the rebuilt station to its full potential.
On Tuesday, October 4, Metrolinx announced a new name for Oshawa GO Station, the eastern terminus of its busy Lakeshore Corridor. In a ten-year agreement with Durham College, a publicly funded post-secondary institution, the station will now be known as “Durham College Oshawa GO.” This was announced on Metrolinx’s Twitter account, Durham College’s social media, and on the GO Transit Lakeshore East Twitter account, which usually advises passengers of train delays and cancellations.
📢 Oshawa GO is now Durham College Oshawa GO!
Customers will start see the new name on the station building itself and on assets throughout our system. pic.twitter.com/dAAvCjOz2e
GO Transit Lakeshore East Train tweet on October 4“Allow us to reintroduce ourselves” – promotional poster at Oshawa Station proclaiming the new “Durham College Oshawa GO” name
Metrolinx, the regional transit agency that operates GO Transit, claims that “the partnership allows us to better serve Durham Region and the GTHA” in its communications, including an informational poster in front of the station building.
The news did not go over well with GO Transit customers and transit users across the Greater Toronto Area; Metrolinx later deleted its tweet after it was “ratioed” — meaning that negative comments and quote-tweets outnumbered the number of positive responses by a large margin. It is easy to understand why the station renaming was not popular.
Firstly, though “Oshawa” remains in the station name, Durham College comes first with the new moniker. Schedules, signs, and maps will be updated to reflect the new name, while announcements by on-board staff and digital schedule information already reflect the new name. VIA Rail, which shares the station with GO Transit, is not a party to the agreement, and will likely continue referring to the station as “Oshawa.”
Specific details of the agreement, such as how much Durham College is paying for the branding agreement, remain confidential.
On GO Transit schedule boards, Oshawa Station now appears as “DC Oshawa GO”
The new policy of naming rights agreements goes against years of Metrolinx policy for naming stations. When planning the Eglinton-Crosstown LRT, it developed five standards for naming stations and stops:
1. Simple. Simple names are easier to remember
2. Logical. Logical names provide a mental link when trip planning: they should be relevant to the area they reside
3. Durable. Names should be relevant as long as the station exists
4. Self-Locating. Names should allow users to mentally locate themselves within the region
5. Unique. A unique name is one that cannot be confused with any other.
“Durham College Oshawa GO” violates most of the above principles. The name is now a mouthful, much like “Vaughan Metropolitan Centre” (another controversial station name that the TTC objected to, but was overruled due to political considerations), and is no longer simple. The agreement only lasts ten years, so it is not durable. As I will explain further, the name is also neither logical, self-locating, nor unique.
Durham College has three campuses. Its main campus is located in the north end of Oshawa, on a site shared with Ontario Tech University. GO Transit has a bus stop there called “Ontario Tech/Durham College” that is served by GO Transit Route 56 on weekdays, and Route 52 on weekends and holidays. The main Oshawa campus is a two hour walk from the GO station, a 25-35 minute GO bus ride, or a 20 minute drive from the station. This was the main reason why transit users were ridiculing the new station name on Twitter.
Durham College’s Whitby Campus is much closer to Oshawa GO Station, in fact, it is less than 500 metres from the Oshawa GO Station parking lot as the crow flies. Oshawa Station is actually right on the border of Oshawa and Whitby, with the “Welcome to Oshawa” signs next to the main GO Transit parking lot. The overflow lot for Oshawa GO is actually in the Town of Whitby.
The “Oshawa: Prepare To Be Amazed” sign marking the city limit sits next to the GO Station parking lot.
However, the Whitby campus is even harder to get to from Oshawa GO than the main Oshawa campus because it is separated by Highway 401. It is a 41 minute walk between the station and the Whitby college campus along Victoria Street (which has no sidewalks along most of its length), Thickson Road, Stellar Drive, and Champlain Avenue, though a footbridge over the highway would reduce the walking time to a more comfortable 15 minutes.
Google Maps directions from Oshawa Station to Durham College Whitby CampusLooking northwest from the Oshawa GO parking lot towards Durham College Whitby Campus, the large grey building above and to the right of the green Thickson Road exit signLooking east on Champlain Boulevard in front of the Whitby campus across Highway 401 towards Oshawa GO Station, which is marked by the tall digital billboard towering over the roadway
The irony is that both major Durham College campuses are better reached from Whitby Station than the newly named “Durham College Oshawa GO.” There are no direct buses to the Whitby Campus from Oshawa Station, but Durham Region Transit (DRT) Route 917 provides regular service from Whitby Station. Furthermore, DRT operates more frequent service on Route 905 between Whitby Station and the Oshawa Campus than GO Transit does from Oshawa Station. Google Transit itself recommends transferring at Whitby to DRT, rather than at Oshawa, because the connections are more convenient. GO Route 56 operates only every hour on weekdays, and Route 52 runs every two hours on weekends and holidays. Meanwhile Route 905 stops in front of the Oshawa campus every 15-30 minutes, 7 days a week.
The connection at Oshawa Station to Durham College’s main Oshawa Campus makes sense only when transferring from a VIA Train, or from GO Transit Route 88 from Peterborough and Clarington.
Excerpt from Durham Region Transit system map, with Oshawa and Whitby stations and both Durham College campus locations highlighted
Therefore, at this point, renaming Oshawa Station to “Durham College Oshawa GO” makes no sense. The new name violates basic wayfinding standards, while Durham College itself is better accessed from a different GO Station. Perhaps Durham College could operate a shuttle service to its campuses from the station, making the co-branding a more plausible.
Though I am critical of the process, I am sympathetic to Metrolinx’s position. I do not believe they were supportive of the province’s decision to rename a major LRT project for a political ally and paid advisor to Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives. I strongly believe there are many within the organization who are not happy about the station renaming agreements either. They must work with a very “hands on” government that is eager to promote new transit projects and benefit their supporters.
GO Transit buses stuck in Downtown Toronto gridlock in July, 2022
While travelling through the Northeastern United States this spring and summer, I found myself feeling lucky to be living in Toronto. Though the New York City Subway and the PATH trains between New Jersey and Manhattan were operating pretty much as I remember them, in other big cities, the mass transit systems were in rough shape. In Washington, underfunding and incompetence led to the long-term withdrawal of over half of its Metro cars. During our visit in April, we were treated to long waits and crowded trains, though at least the system was clean. When we visited Philadelphia in late June, it was clear that the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority (SEPTA) had given up: poor communications, lengthy waits, unsafe subway stations, and general apathy among staff and passengers made my spouse and I resort to driving on our last day there.
In Toronto, at least, the subway was still running frequently (with only minor service cuts due to the pandemic), the buses and streetcars as (un)reliable as ever, and despite more anti-social behaviour on some of its surface routes, I almost never felt afraid for my well-being when riding the Rocket, compared to my experience in Philly. GO Transit responded to the pandemic very well. Though it was forced to suspend many of its train and bus trips due to a sudden plunge in ridership, it maintained a basic service level on nearly all of its routes, slowly restoring certain services in 2021 as ridership slowly rebounded. Some corridors, like the Kitchener Line, had more service in the early Fall of 2021 than it did prior to the pandemic. As Metrolinx continued planning and construction of major transit projects like GO Expansion, the Ontario Line, and several LRT corridors, the future looked bright. In Spring 2022, GO Transit introduced a special weekend day pass for $10 per day or $15 per weekend, to help grow ridership.
Unfortunately by late June 2022, GO began to fall apart.
Looking east on the CN mainline from Merritt Street in St. Catharines towards the Welland Canal
The case for reviving Merritton Station
On the morning of Saturday, July 9, a GO Transit train filled with hundreds of passengers heading from Toronto to Niagara Falls, was stuck at St. Catharines when a lift bridge over the Welland Canal was unable to lower the deck to allow trains to pass.
After over an hour of holding at the St. Catharines VIA Station, GO Transit was forced to send the train back to Toronto. In an advisory on Twitter, GO informed customers that they “will need to make their own accommodations” for getting between St. Catharines and Niagara Falls, and would not be sending any shuttle buses.
Until further notice, due to a problem with the Seaway Bridge not coming down, all Niagara Falls train trips must start and finish at St. Catharines GO (VIA station). Any customers looking to make their way to or from Niagara Falls GO, will need to make their own accommodations. pic.twitter.com/E2UmphCy1E
— Lakeshore West Train (@GOtransitLW) July 9, 2022
Needless to say, this left many families disappointed. With GO Transit understandably unable to muster enough buses on a summer weekend to quickly transfer 1500 passengers (which would require at least 25 coaches), the decision not to provide alternate transportation is understandable, if unfortunate.
The summer weekend Toronto-Niagara train service is incredibly popular, especially the Saturday and Sunday morning departures from Union Station, and the evening return trip. Specially-outfitted bicycle coaches allow for dozens of bicycles to be transported by train; Niagara Region is an excellent cycling destination.
Recent fare innovations, including the $10 weekend day pass and a special GO Transit-Niagara Parks package have only contributed to the route’s success. As GO Transit is able to carry 1500 passengers on each train between Toronto and Niagara, it is invaluable not only for supporting the local tourism industry, it provides an alternative to driving on the congested Queen Elizabeth Way.
Unfortunately, the CN Grimsby Subdivision, which runs between Hamilton and Niagara Falls, is hardly ideal for frequent commuter and excursion service. Trains crawl through Hamilton, and much of the line is single-tracked, limiting capacity. Furthermore, trains to and from Niagara must back in to Hamilton’s West Harbour GO Station, which still does not have a direct connecting track to the east.
But the Welland Canal lift bridge is the greatest barrier for providing frequent and reliable rail service to Niagara Falls. During the Great Lakes shipping season, train traffic must yield to the busy St. Lawrence Seaway. Constructing a bridge or a tunnel is difficult and costly as railways are limited to typically no more than a 2% grade, and the freighters require a high clearance (as evident with the nearby QEW Garden City Skyway). Constructing a tunnel is also difficult, as the railway begins climbing the Niagara Escarpment just east of the canal, and would need to climb an even longer distance from canal. (A railway tunnel south of Welland has no such constraints as it is well above the escarpment.)
Looking east towards the Welland Canal lift bridge from Glendale Avenue. The disused CN Thorold Spur disappears into the weeds at right.
As a short-to-medium term measure, Metrolinx should look at constructing a new station at Merritton, located southeast of Downtown St. Catharines and approximately three kilometres east of St. Catharines Station. Until 1961, Merritton was an independent town, an industrial centre served by both the Grand Trunk/CN and the electric Niagara, St. Catharines and Toronto Railway. With amalgamation with St. Catharines, the closure of the passenger railway stations, and the loss of the historic paper and textile mills, Merritt Street has seen better days.
Merritt Street, just south of the CN Railway. The stone building at right is the former town hall.
Merritton’s CN Station was located on the east side of Merritt Street. Passenger service ended by the 1960s, and industrial switching activity between the former NS&T and CN’s Thorold spur line declined, so the building was eventually abandoned. It burned down in 1994, and there is little trace of its existence.
Unlike the active VIA station on the west side of St. Catharines, Merritton is quite close to the Welland Canal and the Niagara Circle Route. Merritt Trail, which follows the original Welland Canal route, is within a short walk from Merritton. It is also much easier for buses arriving from Niagara-On-The-Lake, Thorold, and Niagara Falls to access a station site at Merritton than the awkwardly-located St. Catharines Station, with four to five minutes saved, especially if there were direct access from Glendale Avenue.
St. Catharines VIA/GO Station, off of St. Paul Street West. Awkwardly located for bus access, the station platform is a 25 minute walk to Downtown St. Catharines.
Not too far from Merritton is St. Catharines Museum and Lock 3 Centre, which tells the history of the region and the Welland Canal; a platform provides excellent views of passing ships. Niagara College and the Outlet Collection are also close by, via Glendale Avenue. Whenever there’s a delay or failure at the lift bridge, there are more options at Merritton, especially if a proper bus transfer point is constructed.
Ideally, a grade-separated Welland Canal crossing would become an integral part of a frequent Toronto-Hamilton-Niagara-Bufffalo rail service. In the meantime, a stop at Merritton for GO commuter and excursion trains would provide new transit and cycling connections, while serving passengers in eastern St. Catharines, Niagara-on-the-Lake, and Thorold.
St. Catharines: where the Bruce Trail is at its least Bruce Trail-ish
I travelled to St. Catharines on a lovely July Friday, taking GO Transit’s Route 18K bus from Aldershot Station through Hamilton, along the QEW, and to Brock University in St. Catharines. The university campus is at the top of the Niagara Escarpment, boasting direct connections with the Bruce Trail.
Statue of General Brock at the main university entrance
The walk eastwards towards Merritton from Brock University started out promising. The thick tree cover provided welcome shade, and apart from a rather dangerous crossing of Glenridge Avenue, felt little different than anywhere else on the southern part of the famous trail.
A promising startBeing watched by a young red-tailed hawk
At Tremont Drive, the trail suddenly enters a subdivision, with only the tell-tale white blazers to assure hikers that yes, in fact, this is part of the Bruce Trail.
Bruce Trail blazers are the only hint that this is part of Ontario’s greatest hiking trail
The trail continues to busy Glendale Avenue, and crosses Highway 406 at the interchange. At each traffic light, pedestrians are required to press the “beg button” to get a walk signal, even if one is crossing in the same direction as the through traffic. In most other places, the walk signal comes on automatically in conjunction with the dominant traffic flow.
Though the Bruce Trail also passes through Hamilton, a city nearly four times the size of St. Catharines, the trail there manages to remain separated from traffic and even from the city as a whole, much like Toronto’s ravine park systems.
Glendale Avenue at Highway 406: the lowpoint of the 900 kilometres of Bruce Trail
A partially hidden stairway on Dupont Street leads to the site of the lost CP West Toronto Station
Since 1853, the year that the Ontario, Simcoe & Huron Railway first laid track at the city’s waterfront, Toronto has been criss-crossed by rail corridors. With the exception of the Ontario & Quebec Railway (a subsidiary of Canadian Pacific), every rail line built converged on Toronto’s downtown waterfront, and radiated out across the province, with connections to neighbouring provinces and states. Though Toronto’s first Union Station was built in 1858 by the Grand Trunk Railway (which also hosted two competing railways that the GTR later acquired), there was still a need for smaller stations outside the downtown core.
Outlying stations within the city limits, such as East Toronto (Danforth), Riverdale, and Don Stations in the east, Parkdale, West Toronto, Davenport, and Sunnyside Stations in the west, were particularly important prior to modern dispatch and signalling systems. Station agents at stops outside the city centre were useful to commuters, while the station agent would deliver important messages to train crews entering the congested downtown railyards and passenger facilities. Mail could be collected, delivered, and processed for local residents and businesses. Passengers could purchase tickets without needing to go all the way downtown.
In the early 1900s, Canadian Pacific — tired of delays with constructing a new third Union Station — built a grand station where its original Ontario & Quebec mainline crossed Yonge Street. Though the station was popular with the area’s affluent residents, CP closed the station during the Depression. (Today, it’s a magnificent LCBO flagship store.)
Outside the old City of Toronto, there were staffed passenger stations at Long Branch, Mimico, Scarborough Junction, Port Union, Agincourt, Leaside, Downsview, Weston, and Islington.
By the end of the 1960s, many of these stations were closed. In southern Ontario, mail was being sent by truck instead of rail, sorted in large processing facilities. The loss of the mail contracts spelled the end of many rural passenger rail services. Modern centralized traffic control and wireless communication systems did away for the need for station staff to relay messages and orders to passing trains. Though there were still dozens of passenger trains arriving and departing Union Station, these trains, mostly on the Montreal-Windsor corridor, made fewer stops. In 1967, GO Transit replaced the remaining all-stops commuter service on CN’s line between Hamilton and Toronto; it eventually replaced most of CN’s stations on what are now the Lakeshore, Kitchener, and Stouffville Lines with new station stops or built new facilities at old station sites that better served suburban park-and-ride commuters. GO also added new stations such as Guildwood, Bloor, and Old Cummer.
Within the City of Toronto, there are only four passenger railway station buildings preserved: Union Station, CP North Toronto Station, Mimico Station, and Don Station. Mimico and Don Stations were moved off-site, while only Union Station remains in continuous passenger service. Other stations burned down, were demolished, or were simply left to rot. In a few places, though, old staircases provide clues to these long-lost stations.
Don Station
Don Station was built by CP in 1896 to serve its new branch to Union Station from the Ontario & Quebec mainline at Leaside. Located at Queen Street at the Don River, it was an important waystation for train crews to receive orders before arriving at Union Station or before departing northeastward on the long trestle towards Leaside and Montreal. When Canadian Northern built its mainline through the Don Valley in 1906, it shared the approach tracks with CP and also used Don Station.
Originally, the CP and CNoR tracks crossed Queen Street at grade. After a catastrophic streetcar-train crash further east on Queen Street, the City of Toronto pushed to grade-separate all major road crossings. In 1911, a higher-level bridge was built that spanned the Don River and the railway tracks. Today, it also spans the Don Valley Parkway.
The station closed in 1967 when the Toronto-Peterborough-Havelock train stopped serving Don, and the station building was moved to Todmorden Mills in 1969. In 2008, the station was moved again, to Roundhouse Park. It now hosts passenger trains again; albeit a miniature train operated by the Toronto Railway Museum.
The original wooden stairway from Queen Street that connected to Don Station was removed by the early 1960s and replaced by a metal staircase. The metal structure has since been refurbished and now connects Queen Street with the Lower Don Trail.
Stairway from the Lower Don Trail to Queen Street EastDon Station in 1910, before the higher-level Queen Street bridge was constructed –City of Toronto Archives Fonds 1231, Item 73
Parkdale CN Station
Sealed portal to CN Parkdale Station
Until 1960, every train on the Toronto-Kitchener-London route made a stop at Parkdale, near the corner of Queen and Bathurst Streets. The Queen Street Subway, completed in 1898, was one of the first road-rail grade separations in the city. The underpass allowed streetcars and traffic to avoid the multiple Grand Trunk and Canadian Pacific mainline and service tracks that crossed Queen Street. Both Grand Trunk (later CN) and CP had stations at Parkdale, though the wooden GTR/CN station was located between the tracks and had to be accessed by a stairway from the south side of the Queen Street underpass.
A bricked up archway betrays the old passage to the now-demolished station.
The new Queen Street Subway, 1898. Parkdale CN Station is to the left of this image, but the stairway down to street level is clearly visible. –City of Toronto Archives Fonds 200, Series 376, File 2, Item 1Old streetcars headed to Haileybury, Ontario pass by the CN Parkdale Station on October 14, 1922. The streetcars, which were slated for scrapping, where being sent north to provide shelter after a disastrous forest fire. – City of Toronto Archives Fonds 16, Series 71, Item 1601
West Toronto CP Station
Both CN and CP had stations at West Toronto. The Grand Trunk (later CN) station was located on Old Weston Road near Davenport Road. The CN station closed in the early 1980s and was demolished in 1999 after being left abandoned to the elements and vandals.
The CP station was located to the south, on Old Weston Road just north of Dupont and Dundas Streets. As the town of West Toronto (originally known as Toronto Junction) built up around the junction between CP’s Ontario & Quebec, Credit Valley, and Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railways, the CP station was the pride of the community. The last station on the site, completed in 1911, was a large building in the Tudor style, with a long canopy. The last train to serve West Toronto, CP’s Canadian, departed in 1978, and CP controversially demolished the station under cover of darkness in 1982.
CP West Toronto Station, 1923 – City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1231, Item 1092CP West Toronto Station just prior to demolition in 1982 – City of Toronto Archives, Series 1464, File 597, Item 23
At the south end of the station platform, a stairway led down to the north side of Dupont Street. Though it is fenced off, the stairway is still very much visible just west of the railway underpass. The concrete retaining wall has been brightened up by local graffiti artists.
Fenced-off stairway from the north side of Dupont Street, just east of Dundas Street, leads to the site of the now-demolished CP West Toronto Station
St. Clair Avenue Station
CN St. Clair Avenue Station just prior to its final closure, c. 1983 – City of Toronto Archives, Series 1465, File 597, Item 30
St. Clair Avenue Station was completed in 1931, as part of a grade separation project that finally allowed through streetcar service on St. Clair West. The small brick structure replaced an older station at Davenport Road, which was soon demolished.
St. Clair Avenue served CN trains between Toronto, Northern Ontario, and Western Canada, though passenger services declined through the 1960s and 1970s. When GO Transit took over the local Barrie train from VIA, it cut the stop at St. Clair Avenue. The station was closed for good when VIA’s Canadian was rerouted from the CN Newmarket Subdivision in 1985. Like other disused passenger stations, the building suffered from neglect, vandalism, and arson, before being demolished by CN in 1999.
The remains of the station platform are still visible from the east side of GO trains on the north side of St. Clair, especially in winter and early spring. From St. Clair Avenue itself, a stairway, partially hidden by greenery, leads up to the old station site.
Abandoned stairway north from St. Clair Avenue West, near Caledonia Road, leads to the site of the CN St. Clair Avenue Station
Exhibition Station
New Grand Trunk Railway Exhibition Station, 1912. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1231, Item 1584
In 1912, the Grand Trunk Railway opened a new station that was intended to see train service for only a few weeks a year. Exhibition Station, constructed at the foot of Dufferin Street, was an anomaly. It had no full-time station agent, but it featured wide platforms and staircases leading up to Exhibition Place’s Dufferin Gates. Special trains during the Canadian National Exhibition would quickly load and offload fairgoers. As CP, through its part-ownership of the Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo Railway, had running rights on the GTR/CN tracks between Union Station and Hamilton, it too, could send trains direct to the CNE.
Exhibition Station remained in use until the early years of GO Transit, when it built a new station farther east in the early 1970s. Upgraded since then, the current Exhibition Station will become a multimodal hub with the construction of the Ontario Line. Meanwhile, the old stairways and platforms remain, though fenced off.
Stairway down to the westbound platform at the old CN Exhibition Station at Dufferin Street
Agincourt CP Station
North side stairway at Brimley Avenue. Note the sign reading “Agincourt” on the underpass structure.
Both CN and CP had stations called Agincourt in North Scarborough, but neither of the historic station buildings remain. The CN station, now the location of Agincourt GO Station, was on Sheppard Avenue East near Kennedy Road, at the centre of the rural settlement. The CP station, originally built in 1884 for its Ontario & Quebec subsidiary, was farther east, located between Sheppard Avenue and Brimley Road. Though the CN station (built in 1871 for the Toronto & Nipissing Railway) was demolished in 1982, the station site remains in active use. Little remains of the CP station.
On the west side of a wide underpass on Brimley north of Sheppard, two fenced-off stairways lead to the north and south side of the CP tracks. In 1960, CP constructed a new freight classification yard in northern Scarborough; as part of that project, it built new underpasses at Sheppard, Brimley, and McCowan Road, and a large overpass for Markham Road. CP replaced the 1884 station with a smaller station building to serve its remaining passenger trains between Toronto, Peterborough, and Havelock. The station building was on the south side of the tracks, with a driveway leading off Sheppard Avenue to the station and a small parking lot, but CP built the stairways on Brimley for walk-up traffic and to provide a safe passage under the tracks between platforms.
Though the rail diesel coach service survived until the 1990 VIA Rail cuts, the station building was demolished in the late 1970s.
On Saturday, my spouse and I decided to take advantage of the GO Transit weekend day pass and take the train to Hamilton for a short excursion. We did some shopping on James Street North in Downtown Hamilton and on Ottawa Street in the city’s east end, where there’s a great cluster of fabric, decor, and antique shops, as well as cafes and restaurants.
The new weekend passes, which cost $10 for one day and $15 for two days, have been a major contributor to GO Transit’s ridership recovery. Though weekend ridership has recovered to 90 percent of pre-pandemic levels (despite lower service levels on many routes), weekday ridership is only half of what it was in 2019.
On our return trip to Toronto, we decided to take the Route 16 express bus, departing from Hamilton GO Centre at 3:30. As the train between Union and Hamilton’s West Harbour Stations runs only every hour, it seemed that the express bus to Union Station would be the fastest and most convenient option. How wrong we were.
A line of GO buses attempting to turn left from Lake Shore Boulevard to Yonge Street
As we were among the first to board the double-decker bus, we had front row seats to Toronto’s Carmageddon.
Despite it being a beautiful afternoon on the long weekend, the ride on Highway 403, the Queen Elizabeth Way, and the Gardiner Expressway was uneventful, with only a few spots where traffic moved slowly. Until the bus got off the York-Bay-Yonge ramp, we were making decent time. That is when we were confronted with a long line of cars and trucks, all trying to turn north on York, Bay, and Yonge Streets.
The new Union Station Bus Terminal, located on the north side of the westbound Lake Shore Boulevard lanes, requires buses coming from the west to turn left on to Yonge Street from eastbound Lake Shore, and then turn left again onto westbound Lakeshore before turning right into the terminal itself.
After finally turning north from eastbound Lake Shore Boulevard, private vehicles, a Rider Express bus, and GO Transit buses attempt to turn left onto a gridlocked westbound Lake Shore Boulevard
But with construction obstructing two westbound lanes of Lake Shore at Bay Street, drivers leaving the first of two Blue Jays games that afternoon (a rare doubleheader hosting the Tampa Bay Rays), and other drivers arriving for the evening Jays game, an Eric Church concert at Scotiabank Arena, along with the usual weekend traffic, traffic could not move, creating literal gridlock. Police or traffic wardens that could monitor and manage the gridlock were nowhere to be seen.
Motorists jam the intersection of Lake Shore Boulevard West and Yonge StreetOne driver expresses his frustration with the traffic
At 5:50, 2 hours and 20 minutes after the bus departed Hamilton GO Centre, we were let out on the curb outside the terminal entrance. In response to the backlog of buses attempting to enter and exit the Union Station terminal, GO cut back the Route 16, meeting the half-hourly Lakeshore West train service at Aldershot Station (one stop short of West Harbour). Several Route 16, 21, and 31 trips were cancelled due to the traffic in the downtown core, requiring some customers in places like Milton and Georgetown to wait an entire hour for the next bus.
After similar gridlock conditions on Sunday, July 3, Route 21 (Milton Corridor) and Route 31 (Kitchener Corridor) buses were rerouted to Port Credit GO, requiring a transfer to trains there.
Route 21 and 31 GO buses will begin and end at Port Credit GO due to heavy traffic into Toronto. Regular LSW train service will run between Port Credit and Union. Click https://t.co/QEMf9GRLsf for more into.
The new terminal’s location is excellent for consolidating all intercity bus and rail services and is much safer than the old Union Station Terminal or the dilapidated Metro Toronto Coach Terminal at Bay and Dundas Streets. Direct, indoor connections can be made with the subway, several hotels, Scotiabank Arena, and to the vast PATH system of underground walkways. Its major failure, however, is the lack of dedicated bus lanes to speed highway coaches in and out of the facility.
On Lake Shore Boulevard. The bus entrance to the Union Station terminal is at right
There is an exceptionally wide sidewalk on the north side of Lake Shore approaching the bus entrance to the terminal, and an extremely short bus lane in front of the terminal’s entrance and exit. It is no wonder why some private coach operators, such as FlixBus and Onex, opt for on-street stops, rather than the terminal used by GO, Megabus, Rider Express, TOK, and Ontario Northland.
Toronto’s shortest and least-effective bus lane, in front of the Union Station Bus Terminal. Note the sign reading “be patient – drive with care” above.
A dedicated bus lane for the entire distance between Yonge and Bay Streets would undoubtedly improve operations. A dedicated left turn lane from Yonge to westbound Lakeshore would also allow easier access to the terminal from the west, where the majority of GO and intercity coach buses arrive from. Similar dedicated left turn lanes at Queen Street and Central Park Drive in Brampton allow Brampton Transit buses to quickly enter and exit the Bramalea Terminal. Better traffic management, including police enforcement, would help ensure a clear path for transit and coach buses.
The gridlock continued west of Bay Street, as motorists lined up to get to the Gardiner Expressway or go west on Lake Shore Boulevard
GO Transit’s reaction, to reroute buses to the already-crowded Lakeshore West Train, is not a sustainable solution, though it is the only effective tool it has at the moment. Though Route 16 passengers are not taken far out of their way with a transfer at Aldershot GO, the detour is more onerous for some Route 21 and all Route 31 passengers forced to backtrack to Port Credit GO for a forced transfer there.
Stouffville and Barrie Corridor passengers were spared the hassles with the return of weekend train service earlier this year. Unfortunately, Canadian Pacific’s control of almost the entirety of the Milton Corridor precludes midday, evening, and weekend train service, but there’s an opportunity to finally bring limited weekend train service to the Kitchener Corridor. GO Transit already offers an hourly midday and evening weekday train service to Mount Pleasant Station in Brampton, despite CN’s control of the corridor west of Bramalea Station.
Track improvements completed nearly 20 years ago (an additional track between Bramalea and Mount Pleasant and a second platform at Brampton GO Station) provides the capacity for hourly GO trains and CN’s freight operations. Weekend Route 30 bus service between Kitchener and Bramalea can provide a reasonable and reliable bus link until corridor improvements, such as new passing tracks, are completed between Georgetown and Kitchener.
As I was sitting in traffic for an hour, I found myself aggravated once again by Blue Jays CEO Mark Shapiro lobbying the city to end the Sunday closure of Lake Shore Boulevard West to allow for the city’s (much-diminished) Active TO program. In a letter addressed to Mayor John Tory, General Manager of Transportation Services Barbara Gray, and the city clerk, Shapiro argued that “removing one of the only ways into and out of the downtown core would be extremely challenging to our fans” claiming that “on the days when Active TO has been in effect on Lake Shore, our local fans have experienced significant transit delays because traffic is grinded to a halt on all downtown routes.” (It is worth noting that the Toronto Blue Jays baseball club is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The mayor of Toronto, a former Rogers executive, remains involved with the Rogers family trust.)
The Lake Shore closure allowed cyclists and runners to bypass the overcrowded Martin Goodman Trail along Toronto’s Western Beaches, on a section of roadway paralleled by GO Transit’s Lakeshore Corridor. The traffic congestion last weekend was completely unrelated to ActiveTO (which is now suspended on Lake Shore Boulevard, partly due to Shaprio’s lobbying) and transit riders, who make up a large percentage of the Blue Jays’ fanbase, were left in the mess that motorists made.
Flixbus is one of many intercity coach operators in Ontario right now
With university and college campuses reopening for in-class instruction, white-collar workers slowly returning to the office, and pandemic restrictions receding, there are more intercity transport options in Ontario than at any time prior to March 2020.
New operators, including Germany’s Flixbus, have arrived in Ontario (with routes between Toronto, Guelph/Kitchener, Niagara, and Ottawa), while Greyhound, which pulled out of Canada two years ago, restarted cross-border runs from Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. In Southern Ontario, intercommunity bus and van operations continued through the pandemic, with notable service improvements in Simcoe and Grey Counties, new routes in Eastern Ontario, as well as the expansion of “on-demand” services in rural communities and smaller urban centres, including parts of Niagara Region, as the regional government there slowly assumes responsibility for all municipal transit services.
Despite these advances, there are still many gaps in Ontario that need to be filled. The deregulation of Ontario’s motor coach industry has opened the highways up to more operators, but they are all chasing the same customers, rather than attracting new riders.
For getting between Toronto and Ottawa, passengers have a plethora of choices. They may fly — the fastest, but most expensive option — on Air Canada, WestJet or Porter. They may choose VIA Rail, which is comfortable, but slower. Or they may choose to book a ticket on a Megabus, Rider Express, or Flixbus coach, the slowest, cheapest, and least frequent option. (As of May 2022, only Megabus will begin operating daily buses between Toronto and Ottawa.)
Between London and Toronto, passengers can choose between a four-hour GO Transit train ride that departs at 5:33 AM, one of several daily VIA trains (approximately 2 hours), one of three daily Onex buses (2 hours, 35 minutes) or one of three daily non-stop Megabus trips (2 hours, 10 minutes).
Not all bus operators serve the same locations, either, creating new disconnections. In Toronto, GO Transit, Megabus, Rider Express TOK Coach, and Greyhound USA use the new Union Station Bus Terminal, which is directly connected to VIA and GO trains at Union Station and the TTC subway and streetcar system.
Flixbus stops at a curbside layby on York Street south of the Gardiner Expressway
To save on terminal fees, Onex stops beside the Royal York Hotel on York Street, across the street from Union Station, sharing the layby with the Toronto Island Airport shuttle. Flixbus uses a different coach bus layby on York Street south of the Gardiner Expressway, in the Harbourfront area. Neither curbside stop is marked for either company. Though Ontario Northland still sends some buses downtown to Union Station, some of its buses to and from Sudbury and North Bay now terminate at the Yorkdale Bus Terminal in North York.
The layby next to Royal York Hotel serves the Toronto Island Airport shuttle (which has a sign) and Onex bus (which has no bus stop sign)
In Ottawa, Ontario Northland and Orleans Express use the VIA Rail station (which is on the O-Train LRT system), while Megabus terminates at the St. Laurent O-Train station. Autobus Maheux and Flixbus use curbside stops in Downtown Ottawa. The London-Toronto Megabus route bypasses Downtown London on its route from Western University, while Onex Bus and VIA Rail stop right downtown, along with Strathroy-Caradoc’s intercommunity route.
Another issue is that apart from the Toronto-Kitchener-London, Toronto-Niagara, Toronto-Kingston-Ottawa, Toronto-Kingston-Montreal and Ottawa-Montreal corridors, there is still little choice in price, operator, or schedule.
Rider Express suspended service to Windsor last year, so that the three or four VIA rail trains to London and Toronto (or a flight from Windsor airport) are the only option available for anyone travelling without a car. (Transit Windsor’s Tunnel Bus to Detroit remains suspended, despite the continued loosening of border crossing restrictions.) Peterborough, once a major destination for Greyhound Canada on its Toronto-Ottawa corridor, now only has a nearly two-hour-long GO bus connection to Oshawa GO Station.
Gaps that I wrote about several years ago still remain on the map, which are only more evident as new intercommunity services start up and new carriers emerge. The City of St. Thomas and Elgin County remain the most visible of these gaps; St. Thomas is the only urban transit system in Ontario completely disconnected to any other community, despite its short distance to London. Haldimand County, despite its proximity to Brantford and Hamilton has also chosen to remain off the map. While neighbouring Perth, Lambton, Middlesex, and Grey Counties have developed useful transit connections, Huron and Bruce Counties have very limited links to the rest of the province.
Finally, the gaps between Hamilton and Brantford to the south and Guelph and Kitchener-Waterloo to the north remain to be filled despite the growing population and multiple post-secondary institutions in each urban area. Though the Hamilton-Guelph-Kitchener triangle should be a natural expansion for GO Transit, it has yet to announce its intentions. Meanwhile, no private coach operator has filled this obvious need.
The labour-backed Link the Watershed proposal would connect Guelph, Kitchener, Cambridge, and Brantford, but that plan requires the support of local government, but it still leaves the Hamilton corridor wide open.
As more students return to school full time, and more workers return to the office, the need for reliable and attractive transportation options across Ontario will only continue to grow. As housing prices to continue to increase higher than the already-high inflation rate, intercity transport will be one way to ensure students can stay at home while going to school, and workers don’t have to move or endure long and expensive highway commuting.
Hopefully by autumn, these gaps will finally close for good.
The Metrolinx parking lot at Elizabeth and Railroad Street is nearly complete
Over the last few years, I have followed the purchase and demolition of over a dozen houses in Downtown Brampton, in the block bounded by George, Nelson, Elizabeth, and Railroad Streets. Metrolinx, the provincial transit planning and operating agency, acquired the block for a new surface parking lot for the neighbouring GO Transit station.
At first, the parking lot was intended to replace parking spaces lost due to construction of a new post-secondary education campus — a joint venture between Ryerson University and Sheridan College — on the main GO Station lands. Though the provincial government pulled funding for the campus in the fall of 2018, Metrolinx continued work on the parking lot, completing the demolition, clearing the land, and building the parking area.
Now, it is possible that the parking lot will never open.
At the Brampton City Council meeting on January 26, 2022, councillors considered a request by Rogers for two Minister’s Zoning Orders (MZOs) in order for it to relocate its existing Brampton offices at 8200 Dixie Road in Bramalea to a new build in Downtown Brampton. The particular property Rogers looks to acquire for its new campus is the same one Metrolinx acquired, cleared, and partly constructed its new parking lot.
Part of the existing Rogers campus at 8200 Dixie Road
The property at 8200 Dixie Road was built in the 1963 as a Northern Electric (later Northern Telecom) plant, which produced switchboards and other telecommunications equipment. In 1995, the plant closed, and the building was refurbished to become the headquarters for Nortel Networks. In 2005, during Nortel’s infamous fall into bankruptcy, the property was sold to Rogers, which uses it today for its business operations and technical offices, with 3,000 workers stationed there.
Rogers is interested in the downtown site for several reasons. The new campus would be adjacent to several transit links, including the GO Transit Kitchener Line, with links to Downtown Toronto (where Rogers has its head office) and the Kitchener-Waterloo technology hub. In its submission to the city, Rogers also notes the proposed LRT extension into Downtown Brampton (now in the design phase, either as a tunnel or a surface route) and planned bus improvements. Though it is served by Brampton Transit, the 8200 Dixie Road site is almost entirely dependent on its employees driving to work.
The new Rogers downtown site would support Brampton’s goals of becoming a cybersecurity centre of excellence and landing a major postsecondary education campus — Ryerson University continues to be interested in expanding in Brampton and the University of Guelph has expressed interest in relocating its Humber College presence to Brampton to better serve its student base.
There are also several development proposals for Downtown Brampton. The City of Brampton is still planning to build a new Centre for Innovation to support education and business development. The new facility, located adjacent to the downtown transit terminal, will include a new central library. New highrise developments will bring thousands of new residential units to downtown Brampton, walkable to local businesses, the GO station, and Rogers’ planned new campus.
Map of Metrolinx/Rogers lands in Downtown Brampton, with surrounding active development plans
The new office campus — proposed to be 200,000 to 500,000 square feet — would have a smaller footprint than the Dixie Road site. By relocating its offices, Rogers would then be free to sell or redevelop the old Nortel lands for housing and new industrial uses, likely for warehousing and logistics. The development of the old land would certainly finance the new property.
Proposed redevelopment of the Rogers lands at 8200 Dixie Road, with mixed residential development on the east side, towards Balmoral Drive, and new industrial uses on the west side.
Rogers wanted municipal support for the MZOs so it could move quickly towards designing its new office complex. In response to a question from council, Rogers indicated that it had already been talking with Metrolinx about purchasing the land, and that Metrolinx itself was supportive. Mayor Patrick Brown indicated that he has been speaking with Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster, and that Metrolinx would submit its own letter of support.
MZOs have a controversial reputation. In Ontario, the Minister of Municipal Affairs has the authority to issue a zoning order over any property that overrides the normal zoning process. Traditionally, MZOs have been used infrequently, often in an emergency situation (such as after a disaster, such as the collapse of the Algo Centre Mall in Elliot Lake), or to fast track the construction of a major employer or housing development, typically issued at the request of the municipality.
The Doug Ford-led Progressive Conservative government have issued MZOs much more frequently, often for projects with significant opposition. This included the site of a proposed Amazon warehouse on the Pickering/Ajax border, which was strongly opposed by environmentalists and Ajax politicians, yet supported by Pickering officials. Meanwhile, a MZO requested by the City of Toronto, for an affordable housing project in North York, has yet to be issued. (It is worth noting that the project is in a PC-held riding, represented by Associate Minister of Transportation Stan Cho.)
But, in this case, with a unanimous vote of endorsement from Brampton City Council, with support from Metrolinx and local business groups the new Rogers relocation should prove to be less contentious than other recent MZOs.
There are still a few questions that will have to be answered in due time:
Will Metrolinx be able to provide all-day, two-way GO train service to Downtown Brampton by the time Rogers is ready to relocate its Brampton operations? Right now, the Kitchener Line is constrained through Brampton as it uses a busy CN freight corridor. A third track and platform at Downtown Brampton will be needed to support commuters arriving from Toronto in the morning. Though the planned new transit hub at Main and Nelson Streets will support this expansion, work has yet to begin on that project, including a temporary bus facility as the old terminal and office building above is demolished.
Will Brampton agree on the Main Street LRT extension, whether it will be in a tunnel or at-grade in Downtown Brampton? If so, will it be able to secure funding from the province and the federal government? As transit access is key for Rogers’ proposal, and for potential new educational instructions, closure on this long-running matter is important.
How many workers will be on site at Rogers’ new complex? Though 200,000 square feet will be enough space for about 1,000 employees, which is just one-third of its Brampton workforce. Perhaps Rogers is looking towards a hybrid model of work, where employees are on site only part-time.
Finally, it is interesting how Metrolinx, a public agency, was determined to assemble land and build a new parking lot, only to see that land sold to a large private company. However, having major employers located adjacent to regional transit hubs is a good thing, especially as it represents a shift away from GO’s traditional model of transporting commuters to Union Station in the morning and back to the suburbs in the afternoon.
For Downtown Brampton, Rogers’ plans for relocating to the urban core is a badly-needed shot in the arm. Locating a major employer to the core will support existing and new businesses. After many attempts to revitalize downtown, this latest plan might be the catalyst that changes everything.
On the morning of Thursday, August 19, I departed Toronto’s Union Station. My destination: Union Station. I set out to travel the longest distance possible by local and regional transportation services, taking advantage of several new routes set up by local and county governments to fill the gaps left by traditional intercity coach operators.
The round trip from Union Station required two trains and seven buses, operating on five separate transportation agencies. In some cases, the transfers were smooth and reliable; in Owen Sound, I waited several hours between connecting trips. For a casual traveler like myself, this was not a problem, but for more frequent commuters, the patchwork of various schedules and fares is not ideal.
I left Union Station on a westbound Kitchener Line train at 7:34 AM on Thursday, August 19. I returned to Union Station at 9:34 PM Friday evening, staying in Meaford overnight. I made time for short visits to Owen Sound, Meaford, Collingwood, and Barrie, with short stopovers in Guelph and at the Blue Mountain resort.
The following is a travelogue of sorts, concluding with a few conclusions on how parts of this trip can be made better for future passengers.
Thursday: Toronto to Owen Sound and Meaford
Intending to catch the morning GOST (Guelph-Owen Sound Transportation) minibus from downtown Guelph, I boarded the first westbound Kitchener Line train at Union Station at 7:34 AM. The train only goes as far as Bramalea Station, requiring a transfer to a bus to continue westward. Happily, the train arrived at Bramalea on time, so there was no problem taking the connecting bus that departs at 8:18 AM. (I had bad luck on a previous trip through Bramalea.)
The connecting bus from Bramalea to Guelph is a slow, local service, winding its way through Brampton, Georgetown, Acton, and rural Wellington County before arriving at Downtown Guelph at 10:13. Through GO Transit’s buses are comfortable, they lack lavatories, so a two-hour trip may be difficult on some passengers’ bladders. Though the 7:34 train to Bramalea connects to an express bus via Highways 407 and 401 to Kitchener, anyone headed to Guelph gets to ride the scenic route.
Though an express bus would be welcome, I noted the importance of the local GO bus for workers living in Brampton getting to jobs in Halton Hills, and residents in Acton and Rockwood commuting to Guelph. There is a need for both services.
At least I got a spot at the front of the double decker bus and was able to enjoy the ride.
This first leg on GO Transit between Toronto and Guelph cost $14.06, deducted from my Presto card.
Brampton Transit used to operate a double-decker bus. GO Transit has brought them back to the Flower City. Due to a construction project on Highway 7 in Rockwood, the double-decker bus took a scenic, yet unexpected detour on country roads. This must have turned some heads.
At Downtown Guelph, I had just under 20 minutes to use a washroom and have a quick coffee before switching to the GOST minibus. GOST serves the Guelph Central Station bus terminal, with easy connections to GO buses and trains and most Guelph Transit services.
A GOST minibus waiting for departure at Guelph Central Station
The GOST minibus service operates two round trips, seven days a week, between Guelph and Owen Sound, with stops in Elora, Fergus, Arthur, Mount Forest, Durham, Williamsford, and Chatsworth. Except for Fergus, all stops are located in or near each town’s commercial centre. The service is funded by Owen Sound and a provincial grant, and operated by London-based Voyago (which operates several other rural services in Western Ontario).
Until the mid 2000s, Greyhound ran buses six days a week between Toronto and Owen Sound via Highway 10 through Brampton and Orangeville or via Highway 6 through Guelph and Mount Forest, each route on alternating days. Gray Coach, the TTC-owned predecessor to Greyhound, ran several daily trips. The twice-daily GOST bus is a significant improvement over Greyhound’s schedule in its waning years.
On this Thursday midday northbound trip, there were two passengers going all the way up to Owen Sound, one getting off in Elora, one disembarking at Mount Forest, and one passenger who boarded at Williamsford for Owen Sound. The fare from Guelph to Owen Sound is $20 cash, with cheaper fares to ride shorter distances.
I arrived in Owen Sound a few minutes before 1:00 PM, with several hours to spend before my next ride to Meaford. Owen Sound, population 26,000, has an interesting history as a Great Lakes port and railhead for both the Canadian Pacific and Grand Trunk/Canadian National Railways. The maritime traffic and local industry gave Owen Sound a reputation as a hard drinking town; it became one of the first municipalities in Ontario to go “dry” in 1906. It remained that way until 1973.
With the construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway and the decline of branch lines across Ontario, the city declined as a port and both railways were torn up in the late 1990s. However, both stations remain standing – the Grand Trunk Station on the west side of the harbour is now a local museum, while the modernist CP station, built after the Second World War, is now a brewpub.
With a lovely downtown, harbour, parks, and heritage neighbourhoods to wander through, Owen Sound was worth a three-and-a-half stopover.
Owen Sound Marine and Rail Museum, the former Grand Trunk/CN StationMudtown Station, the old CP Station in Owen SoundPlaque commemorating “Damnation Corners” where taverns once stood on all four corners. One block to the east was “Salvation Corners” where four Protestant churches still stand.
I decided to stay in Meaford overnight. Though I could get as far east as Wasaga Beach via Grey Transit Route, Colltrans, and Simcoe County Linx, I would not have been able to continue my trip back to Toronto that night, missing the last Linx bus from Wasaga Beach to Barrie by one hour.
Meaford had cheaper accommodations than Owen Sound or Collingwood, and by staying there overnight, it gave me plenty of time in Meaford and Collingwood the next day. Before Greyhound Canada suspended operations in April 2020, there was one daily bus between Toronto, Barrie, Collingwood, and Owen Sound. PMCL, which Greyhound purchased in the 1990s, used to run several buses a day on that route.
I departed Owen Sound on a pre-booked GTR minibus at 4:30 PM, which cost $5 for the trip into Meaford. As I was the only one on that departure, the driver was kind enough to drop me off right by my motel. There are six daily trips between Owen Sound and Meaford, with four of those trips offering a timed connection or direct run to Blue Mountain Resort, GTR’s eastern terminus.
GTR minibus at Owen Sound Terminal (October 2020)
Meaford itself is a charming little town, with several good restaurants, and a lovely harbour. Meaford is the western terminus of the Georgian Trail to Collingwood, one of Ontario’s first rail trails. As GTR minivans and Simcoe Linx and Colltrans buses all have bike racks, Meaford would make for a nice cycling trip.
Meaford Hall, with the old fire station behindTerminus of the Georgian Trail, which continues to Collingwood, with connections beyond
Friday: Meaford to Collingwood and Toronto
The next morning, I departed Meaford on GTR Route 4 at 8:46AM, and arrived at Blue Mountain Village just after 9:30, another $5 pre-booked trip. The popular resort is also served by Colltrans’ Blue Mountain Link route to Downtown Collingwood, with connections to local buses and the Simcoe County Linx Route 4 to Wasaga Beach.
Approaching Blue Mountain, the driver helpfully asked me if I needed to catch the bus to Collingwood. Though the timetables between GTR Route 4 and Colltrans’ bus don’t permit an easy connection, if I got off at Craigleith, at the bottom of the escarpment, I would be sure to get the onward bus. I declined the offer, because I was curious to see Blue Mountain Village itself, and I needed a coffee.
The Disneyland-like urbanity of Blue Mountain Village
Blue Mountain Village, the heart of the sprawling Blue Mountain resort, contains many shops, restaurants and bars, along with three hotels and timeshare apartment complexes with the architecture and walkways meant to invoke a European ski resort. Cars are not permitted in the internal streets, which gives it a somewhat surreal atmosphere. In the summer, tourists and vacationers are attracted by several golf courses, downhill mountain biking trails, rope courses, spas, nearby beaches, and, of course, the shops.
Having gotten my coffee and my morning walk, I paid my $2 fare and got on the 10:20 bus to Downtown Collingwood.
Colltrans and Simcoe County Linx buses at Downtown Collingwood
Like Owen Sound, Collingwood has a lovely and vibrant downtown core, with its own proud marine and railway history. Collingwood was the terminus of the Ontario Simcoe & Huron Railway, the province’s first rail connection, built in 1853-1854. The OS&H was built as a shortcut between the Upper Great Lakes and Toronto and prospered before merging with several other railways to become part of the massive Grand Trunk system. Sadly, passenger service to Collingwood ended in 1960, and the railway itself is abandoned and partially removed.
Collingwood Town Hall
After a hearty lunch in Downtown Collingwood and walk through the area, I paid another toonie and boarded Simcoe Linx Route 4 to Wasaga Beach.
In the back parking lot of a Loblaws Superstore in the west end of Wasaga Beach, two Simcoe County Linx buses, a Wasaga Beach Transit bus, and a Clearview Transit minibus meet to exchange passengers. The grocery store is distant from the main tourist area and the downtown commercial centre, but at least transfers between buses are easy. The Wasaga Beach Transit bus does pass by most motels, tourist traps, and beach areas. I changed to another Simcoe County Linx bus (Route 2) that passes through Stayner and Angus for Allandale Waterfront GO Station south of Downtown Barrie. The fare between Wasaga Beach and Allandale was $6.00 cash.
At a grocery store parking lot, Simcoe County Linx, Wasaga Beach Transit, and Clearview Township buses meetArrival at Allandale Waterfront GO Station
Allandale Waterfront GO Station, which hosts GO trains and buses and several Barrie Transit routes, is one of two Barrie terminal points for Simcoe County Linx’s buses. Buses to Orillia and Midland terminate at Georgian College and Royal Victoria Hospital in the northeastern corner of Barrie, with a Barrie Transit fare and a 30-minute local bus ride to get from one Linx route to another.
Kempenfelt Bay, Barrie
The ride back to Union Station, which included a bus to Aurora GO and a change to a train the rest of the way. That final trip cost me $13.76 on my Presto card.
In total, I paid $39.06 on Thursday and $28.76 on Friday to complete the round trip between Toronto and Georgian Bay.
Analysis and Conclusions
It is good to see Owen Sound, Grey County, and Simcoe County develop local solutions to replace and improve upon vanished coach services that ran on Highways 6, 10, and 26, better schedules and improved connections will only make their services better.
With limited schedules, particularly on Grey Transit Route and Simcoe County Linx, I could only do this exact trip by leaving Toronto on a Wednesday or Thursday. GTR’s Routes 3 and 4 between Owen Sound, Meaford, and Blue Mountain operates Wednesdays through Sundays. Though transit between Blue Mountain Village and Wasaga Beach runs 7 days a week, the Simcoe Linx bus between Wasaga Beach and Barrie only runs weekdays, with the last buses leaving Allandale GO and Wasaga Beach Superstore at 6:30 PM.
Later service hours and weekend service between Barrie and Wasaga Beach would allow GTHA residents to get to one of the Great Lakes’ great beaches without a car for a weekend getaway, without more congestion on Highways 400 and 26.
In addition, it would be good to see Simcoe County and municipal systems in Collingwood, Wasaga Beach, Barrie, Orillia, and Midland/Penetanguishene develop a coordinated fare structure, as transfers or fare discounts are not provided between each service, except between Linx and Midland/Penetanguishene. Simcoe County Linx already has its own farecard; if that were upgraded it would at least allow frequent riders to benefit from easy fare payments and transfer discounts.
These are relatively simple changes that can further drive ridership growth and improve mobility throughout fast-growing Simcoe County as well as attract more visitors from Toronto and beyond.
The Toronto-Guelph leg of my trip was unnecessarily slow, and will continue to be so until all-day, two way GO service is introduced on the entire Kitchener Corridor, or if express buses are added to the schedule. While all-day GO train service will take several years with several construction projects underway or necessary in Toronto, Brampton, and Guelph to provide the necessary capacity, improved bus service can provide a stopgap for the time being.
Without an express GO bus or competing services such as Greyhound (which used to operate multiple buses between Guelph and Toronto) or a morning VIA Rail train, it can take nearly three hours to get from Toronto to Guelph without a car.
Though GO Transit will introduce significant service improvements starting Labour Day, including new peak-direction express trains on the Kitchener Corridor. Unfortunately, there are no travel time improvements for getting between Toronto and Guelph weekday mornings. Given that there is currently no alternative access between the two cities, there’s a market that GO Transit is clearly missing right now.
On Thursday, August 12, I rode the train to the very end of the Richmond Hill Line to check out GO Transit’s newest station.
In 2017, I made a similar trip to Gormley Station, just to the south of Bloomington GO, soon after that station opened to the public. Four years ago, I was critical of Metrolinx’s failures to support the urban intensification of the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) by building new stations on the Greenbelt, on lands that will not support transit-oriented development.
Though I came away from Gormley Station disappointed, I wanted to see Bloomington Station for myself and give it an honest assessment. I came away with mixed feelings.
Most GO Stations outside the old City of Toronto put free car parking ahead of all other considerations. Some stations, such as Unionville, were even moved to sites where large surface lots could easily be built. Hamilton GO Centre, opened in 1996, was an exception: an urban station that combined a restored heritage building with a large bus terminal. A few other newer stations, such as Mount Pleasant in Brampton and Mount Joy in Markham, still had large surface parking lots, but also had easy walking connections to adjacent neighbourhoods. In Guelph and Kitchener, GO Transit used existing downtown stations instead of suburban stations, and Allandale Waterfront Station is located right across the street from Barrie’s gorgeous Kempenfelt Bay.
Gormley and Bloomington Stations represent a return to GO Transit’s old ways of putting parking ahead of all other considerations, despite Bloomington’s modern design.
Metrolinx, the provincial agency responsible for planning and constructing transit infrastructure in the GTHA and for operating GO Transit, opened Bloomington Station on June 28, 2021. The station is located on Bloomington Road, adjacent to Highway 404, on the boundary between Richmond Hill and Aurora.
The station is built around a three-storey parking garage tucked into a hill, with the train platform and station amenities (an enclosed waiting room with washrooms and a ticket counter) on the second level. At the lower level, there is a six-bay bus loop almost directly below the rail platform, minimizing the distance between train and bus. Elevators, stairs, and ramps connect the three levels of parking, the bus bays, and the train platform.
The station’s central atrium, which contains the pedestrian passages between parking levels, station, and platforms, is the architectural highlight. Above the parking areas, solar panels collect some of the energy required to light and heat the station.
Atrium at Bloomington Station, with parking spaces on both sides
In its blog, Metrolinx expressed pride in the new station, noting it was built to achieve LEED Gold certification through features such as energy efficient lighting, a water-permeable surface lot, stormwater management, and a pond for local wildlife with an underground passage to help animals migrate away from the station complex. Like most new GO platforms, Bloomington’s train platform is heated to allow snow and ice to melt, reducing salt usage. Finally, as far as suburban GO stations go, Bloomington’s footprint is quite compact. It cost $82.4 million to build the new station.
Plaque adjacent to wetland at Bloomington GO StationPermeable surface at Bloomington’s outdoor surface lot and passenger pick-up and drop-off area
Despite these innovations, a LEED certification can only go so far when the GTHA’s newest transit station is only accessible by car, with over 1,000 parking spaces. Though transit ridership is down significantly during the ongoing pandemic, especially on GO’s Richmond Hill Line (which operates only in the weekday peak-period direction and currently uses four-car trains), there are no ongoing connections from Bloomington GO Station operated by GO buses or York Region Transit.
Though several GO rail stations do not have any local transit connections only Bloomington and Gormley have no bus connections at all. (In April 2020, YRT discontinued the limited-service Route 15 that ran past Gormley Station). At Acton, Georgetown, and Lincolnville, which also do not have any local transit connections, passengers can still connect to GO buses for points beyond, or make a return trip.
The only bus operating at Bloomington Station’s loop is GO Route 61, which provides supplemental weekday service between Union Station and Bloomington GO. But the last Route 61 bus leaves for Union at 1:55 PM.
There was no bus connection to be found at Bloomington GO Station
The nearest in-service bus stop is over one hour’s walk away, near Bloomington Road and Yonge Street. At least there was a paved shoulder along the busy five-lane road between the GO station and Bayview Avenue, where motorists were driving well in excess of the 80 km/h speed limit.
Looking east towards Bloomington GO at Leslie Street
At Bayview Avenue, a sidewalk leads westerly to Yonge Street, with new residential subdivisions lining the south side of Bloomington Road. I noted a bus stop as I was walking west towards Bayview Avenue; alas, it was only for a high school special route.
YRT stop at Bloomington Road and Bayview Avenue signed “school special only”New residential development along Bloomington Road featuring large houses with three-car garages was clearly designed for cars, rather than people
As I was nearing Yonge Street, I noted that the new subdivisions were set back far from the road, with many of the houses built with three-car garages. Building enough transit ridership here to support even a limited service bus route is going to be very difficult.
One hour and 8 minutes later, I arrived at the bus stop at Yonge Street, the closest place to Bloomington GO Station where I could get a bus to continue my journey.
The end of a long walk from Bloomington GO Station
Bloomington Station’s small footprint and environmental features might actually make it an ideal basic station design for more urbanized locations in the GTHA, where the compact design and logical layout could support easy bus connections and short walks to residential and employment areas. I liked the simplicity of the bus connections at Bloomington — if only there were any buses to connect to.
But Bloomington’s LEED Gold certification means little when it does not support sustainable development or sustainable access to the station.
Though its location adjacent to Highway 404 may entice some commuters to switch to parking at Bloomington and commuting downtown by train, Gormley, just one station to the south, already achieves a similar purpose.
For now, Bloomington Station is just a Garage Mahal — a grand monument to the old way of doing things at GO Transit.
Sean Marshall 