On Sunday, September 27, I took the GO train to Hamilton with my bike to experience Open Streets Hamilton, an annual event that shuts down just over three kilometres of King Street East between John Street and Gage Street from 10AM to 4PM. An official program of the City of Hamilton, pedestrians and cyclists get to enjoy a car-free experience, with five activation hubs, with live music, play spaces, and booths set up by city-affiliated agencies like the Hamilton Street Railway and Hamilton Public Library as well as local non-profit and activist organizations. Businesses along King Street were welcomed to take their business outside with displays and tables for passers-by to browse.
The Hamilton Public Library’s bookmobile near King and ShermanDrum band at King and Victoria
Hamilton’s Open Streets was a delight. A pleasant, sunny day certainly helped, but it was nice to see so many people sharing the space, all at a gentle pace. Cyclists taking advantage of the car-free King Street were respectful of pedestrians having the whole right-of-way and especially careful around the five hubs. Cyclists looking for a faster route could easily go just two blocks north to Cannon Street, which has a continuous two-way cycletrack as far east as Sherman Avenue.
King Street narrows between John and Wellington Streets through the tree-lined International Village BIA
By extending Open Streets into the later afternoon, Hamilton helped to encourage businesses to participate and to get a wide variety of participants through the day. Though Open Streets in Toronto was supported by the Downtown Yonge BIA, there was limited commercial activity along the routes, likely due to the short hours.
King at Barnesdale, towards the east end of the Open Streets. Note the café on the block put out seating and shade canopies.
In 2026, Toronto only had two blocks of temporary pedestrian activation — Church Street between Alexander and Wellesley Streets in the Village. Happily, that experiment ran for over six weeks, and restaurants and bars took advantage of the extra space. It worked well, despite nearby road construction and concerns about safety and traffic congestion. But it was just a taste of what Toronto can and should do.
Hamilton shows that open streets are popular and Toronto needs to bring them back. Hopefully the mayor and council elected later this month will have the courage and ambition to get Torontonians outside and on the streets.
Two and a half years ago, I took my first transit trip using an on-demand service, travelling between Port Perry and Cannington in rural Durham Region. It was part of a quest I undertook to visit every city and town hall in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area without a car. In March 2023, I found DRT’s booking service to be an exercise in frustration at first, though I eventually landed on a time that worked.
In September 2026, I wanted to travel to Paris, Ontario, a picturesque town of 15,000 people on the Grand River, and only a 15-minute drive from Brantford. In 2000, the Town of Paris was amalgamated with the rural county that surrounds the City of Brantford.
Though ten VIA trains a day pass through Paris, the closest stop is in Brantford
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Paris was served by a Brantford Transit bus route, which made sense given the short distance between the two communities. This service was discontinued in 1996 due to funding cutbacks to transit province-wide by the Mike Harris-led Progressive Conservatives. With the loss of Greyhound’s once-a-day local bus between London and Toronto in 2018, there was no way to get to Paris without a car or a taxi ride.
In 2019, the county launched Brant e-Ride, which was later branded as Brant Transit. An on-demand transit service, Brant Transit serves the entire municipality. It also allows pick-ups and drop-offs anywhere within Brantford, as long as either the origin or destination is within the county’s boundaries. Rides are $6 one-way, or $4 for adults over 55 and free for children 12 and under.
The ability to travel between Brantford and the surrounding county allows Brant County residents easy access to workplaces, schools, shopping, or medical services in Brantford, as well as connections to GO buses to McMaster University and Aldershot Station, VIA Rail trains, and the weekday Ride Norfolk service to Waterford and Simcoe. The service also allows Brantford residents to get to employment areas in Brant County, such as the Ford and Adidas warehouses by Highway 403 and Rest Acres Road (Highway 24 South).
The current contractor to Brant Transit is Via Transportation, a New York-based mobility software company specializing in on-demand transit and shuttle service platforms. Drivers are hired locally and use Brant Transit-branded minivans and SUVs.
Brant Transit ridership is growing, with over 25,000 rides provided in 2024, up 11% from 2023. The overwhelming majority of rides taken are between Brantford and Brant County, rather than within the municipality, with 57% of passengers using the service to get to and from work and another 24% using it to access health services.
Unlike the 2024 DRT experience, I found the booking system easy to use and it accepted my trip requests within the times I was looking for: a pickup in Brantford around 10AM (plenty of time for me to get there from Toronto either by VIA train or GO train/bus) and a pickup in Paris around 4PM. That would give me plenty of time for a leisurely walk around Paris, enjoy a relaxed lunch, and browse the downtown.
I travelled between the bus terminal in Downtown Brantford and the Paris Wincey Mills building, just off Paris’ main street. The old textile mill, once a Canadian Tire store, was beautifully restored, with a café, market, and brewery on the lower level, and offices on the upper two floors.
Paris Wincey Mills Co. building
The only trouble was the initial pick-up. The app, as well as the text alerts, kept telling me to wait at 73 George Street, the location of the old Brantford Carnegie Library now occupied by Wilfrid Laurier University. However, the tracking app — which appears similar to the Uber or Lyft platforms — showed the that correct location was actually the bus terminal. Luckily, I made it in time to meet the driver.
Information provided to me in the Brant Transit App, with driver’s name (redacted), vehicle info (plate and make), pickup time and location and estimated drop off time
I shared the ride to Paris with one other passenger, who remained on board after I departed. On the return ride, I could see the driver made several stops before picking me up, with a stop en route at one of the warehouses near Highway 403, where two other passengers were waiting, all headed to Brantford.
Screenshot of Brant Transit App showing my route back to Brantford Bus Terminal from Paris with an intermediate stop at a warehouse near Highways 24 and 403
Overall, I was satisfied with my experience. The drivers were friendly, the ride comfortable, and the app easy to use. If Brant Transit on a September Thursday was reflective of on-demand transit in general, the concept would leave a very positive experience for users and municipalities alike.
Furthermore, Paris itself continues to grow, with new residential subdivisions on Rest Acres Road near Highway 403. In the future, Brant County should seriously consider fixed-route services to serve commercial and residential growth in and around Paris, either as part of Brant Transit, contracted to Brantford as before 1996, or both. In the meantime, the on-demand service can continue to provide mobility for the rest of the county, and even within Paris during off-peak times such as evenings and weekends.
I would have benefitted from a fixed-route service for a leisurely visit; once the transit times are booked, the passenger is tied to those times. After three hours in Paris, I had more than enough time to see everything I planned; had there been a bus at 3:30, I would have hopped on that instead of waiting for a 4:35 pickup. Though on-demand transit offers geographical flexibility in a sparsely populated or low demand area, fixed-route, scheduled services provide temporal flexibility that on-demand services can not match.
Pedestrians and cyclists enjoying a sunny Sunday morning in St. John’s
In late June of this year, my spouse and I had the chance to visit St. John’s, along with a few other destinations in Eastern Newfoundland and Saint Pierre, France. I highly recommend the visit, though even late June can be a bit cool and wet there.
During our last two days, several blocks — about 700 metres — of Water Street, the main commercial street in St. John’s, was closed to all motor vehicles, and remains so until September 7, Labour Day. This is an annual event, supported by downtown businesses, and is one of the positive legacies of the social distancing era of 2020-2021.
Though fenced-off restaurant patios spill on to Water Street, there are plenty of public spaces to sit, too
This is much less a street festival (though there are plenty of organized events) and more of an open street initiative. Though restaurants’ patios spill out into the street, there are plenty of public picnic tables set up for anyone to use, both in sunny and shaded areas. There are several portable toilets, complete with adjacent hand-washing sinks, which provide relief without having to pay to use a washroom.
Portable washrooms, hand-washing station, and portable bike parking on Water Street
Pedestrians and pedal cyclists are welcomed, though cyclists are instructed to go at a slow speed, and e-bikes passing through must have their power assist off.
Sign explaining e-bike policy for the Downtown Pedestrian Mall
Of course, there are security guards and gates set up to keep motorists out, apart from emergency vehicles and local deliveries. But I did not notice any police cars stationed at any of the intersecting streets, and the few RNC officers I saw were on general foot patrol. Though several Metrobus routes normally serve Water Street, these are diverted one block away to Harbour Drive.
Security minding traffic gates at Water and Adelaide Streets, the southern end of the pedestrian mall
Though St. John’s is a much smaller city than Toronto (its metro area is less than 4% the size of Toronto’s CMA), it is also much more car-dependent, with only a basic bus transit system, and very little cycling infrastructure. Yet, they are able to pull this off for ten weeks a year, on an annual basis. The last Open Streets event in Toronto was in 2022, and those were only held two Sundays of the year. Yes, there are wildly successful street festivals, such as Taste of the Danforth, which just had its record-breaking comeback, but they aren’t the same as they are rammed with crowds, and those only take place over two or three days.
Moveable car traps and metal barricades block Church Street, looking north at Maitland
One key noticeable difference are the harder barriers to prevent motor vehicles from entering. Yellow wheel traps are lined up next to metal barricades, decorated with colourful banners. Though understandable given recent history in Toronto and Vancouver with vehicular attacks on sidewalks and a street festival, they sadly act to fence in what should be an open street and pedestrians must enter on the sidewalks. Unlike St. John’s, cycling is prohibited as well.
Shaded by branded patio umbrellas, the picnic tables and Muskoka chairs on the left are open to anyone
Still, it’s a great taste of what Toronto should have more of. As on Water Street, there are both private patio spaces on the street as well as public chairs and benches, as well as extra waste bins, though no public toilets. It’s also very well used, especially later in the day. The Church-Wellesley Village is the cultural and commercial centre for Toronto’s 2SLGBTQ+ communities, as well as being in the centre of a very densely-populated area with limited open space.
It is also oddly quiet, despite the vibrancy. That’s because there are no cars, which are a major source of urban noise pollution. The car-free environment also makes sitting on a curbside patio much more enjoyable, without the noise and smells of passing motorists. How can anyone object?
Later in the afternoon, Church Street was busier with pedestrians
It might be too much to ask for Montreal-style open street corridors, but Toronto should at least aspire to more, long-term open street set-ups like Water Street and Church Street. Kensington Market would be the perfect place to start. Even on our busy east-west streetcar routes on corridors such as Gerrard Street East or Queen Street West, with a bit of imagination and can-do spirit, we can accommodate those as well.
With adding long-term implementations, we will need to rethink the costs of policing and security, which are currently a major barrier to providing these spaces in Toronto. In Montreal, security staffing is minimal on open streets such as Ave. Mont-Royal. The needs of policing and securing a regular pedestrianized area are quite different than ensuring safety at a crowded street festival.
Ave. Mont-Royal, where security measures are minimal on the summer open street
Such crowd-pleasing, neighbourhood-building actions as Open Streets should be on any serious mayor or council candidate’s policy platform in the upcoming municipal election.
Extensions to Montreal’s REM has resulted in some regional route changes in the Montreal area
In time for summer, I have updated my Canada Intercity Transportation Map to include new connections and revisions. The only major changes to the intercity coach layer are new routes operated for Flixbus, including new seasonal routes from Toronto to North Bay and Prince Edward County.
In Quebec, the opening of the Deux-Montagnes and Anse-à-l’Orme branches of the REM in Greater Montreal resulted in several long-distance Exo regional bus lines cut back or replaced in favour of local bus routes feeding into the new regional rail service. Therefore, I have decided to remove Exo bus routes from the map where they exist entirely within one or two urban transit zones, being consistent with the municipal transit agencies surrounding Toronto. However, long-distance express routes and routes that serve Montreal’s outer periphery will remain on the map as part of the regional route layers.
In addition, I have also included a few new and previously overlooked services operated by the MRCs (municipalités régionale de comté), including taxibus service areas, which operate similarly to on-demand transit elsewhere in Canada, but have posted stops and semi-fixed schedules; many of these require preregistration before reserving a ride. Where taxibus services operate, I have opted to include those as on-demand, rather than fixed route lines to be consistent across Canada. Only on-demand and taxibus services that are open to the general public are included in the map.
Onex Bus changed its schedules recently, eliminating most departures from Brampton Gateway
Mapping smaller intercity coach operators continues to be challenge, as deregulation in Ontario and Western Canada and online ticketing have made it harder to track changes in schedules and stop locations, though I have noted some changes with Onex Bus’ schedules, which ended most trips to and from Brampton Gateway Terminal at Main and Steeles earlier this year.
Previously, carriers like Greyhound would publish detailed schedules that were valid for at least a few months at a time, including holiday and school break special runs; Ontario Northland and Quebec-based carriers (where provincial regulation remains in force) at least maintain consistent schedules. As it is much harder to track this industry — with no central database — I always appreciate the contributions website visitors provide by email or social media. I thank everyone who has helped so far.
Unfortunately, the costs of maintaining this website and the ArcGIS Online portal to my maps continue to rise. However, I am committed to provide an ad-free, paywall-free resource. If you enjoy my work, please consider buying me a coffee to help with those costs. Thank you!
On Sunday, May 31, the Amsterdam Bridge reopened on Toronto’s Harbourfront after being closed for five years. The footbridge, which spans a marina south of Queen’s Quay, is a popular meeting place and photo opportunity, with views of Toronto Harbour to the south and the towering skyline to the north. A gift of the City of Amsterdam, one of Toronto’s sister cities at the time, the bridge was one of the first great public spaces on the waterfront as it was beginning to transition from a derelict industrial space to the city’s new front yard.
The Amsterdam Bridge in 2014
The footbridge, a cable suspension structure over the marina featured a lifting section on the east side so that tall yachts could moor at the north end of the marina on request, though this was not a regular occurrence. The design mimicked some of the iconic canal crossings in Amsterdam. Sadly, due to neglect, the bridge was closed to pedestrians in 2021 and the lifting section removed.
Plaque on the bridge commemorating the opening of the Amsterdam Bridge, a “Dutch style lift bridge” on June 25, 1978 by Amsterdam mayor Wim Polak, taken in 2014. Note the old pre-amalgamation City of Toronto coat of arms below. A replacement plaque with similar text (but with the current post-amalgamation civic coat of arms) since replaced the original.
When the bridge reopened in 2026 just in time for Toronto hosting six World Cup soccer matches, the lifting section was replaced by a fixed span. Once again, visitors can climb the bridge, take in the views, and snap great photographs, but the “lift bridge” of the original “Dutch style lift bridge” is no more. It’s a shame too, that it took five years for this fix to even happen; Toronto needs to do better at maintaining its public assets, especially its unusual, fun, and quirky landmarks.
Fixed deck on the Amsterdam Bridge in 2026
Around the same time Toronto got an Amsterdam Bridge, the City of Amsterdam named a bridge for Toronto. The Torontobrug spans the Amstel River, carrying the busy Centrumring (Central Ring Road). A five-lane traffic artery outside the major tourist areas, the bridge is not iconic by any means (I biked to it during my 2013 visit to Amsterdam) but it is an important road link. There are separated cycle tracks on both sides of the bridge, so it is at least multimodal. The bridge can still open for river boat traffic when necessary.
There is a light rail system in Ontario that works in the snow. ION LRT at University of Waterloo.
Less than a two hours drive or train ride from Toronto, where that city’s first light rail line opened to universal disdain, a light rail line has been operating without incident for over five years. Trains operate like clockwork, signal priority works, and it has become the backbone of a regional transit system.
A southbound Ion LRV turns from Charles Street to Borden Avenue. Note the white bar signal and the “no right turn – train” sign lit up.
Funded by all three levels of government, the Ion LRT was constructed and operated by GrandLinq, a public-private partnership (P3) consortium that includes operator Keolis and engineering and construction firms such as Aecon, Kiewit, and Plenary Group. Though design-build-operate P3 models are common for Canadian transit infrastructure projects, they have their challenges, as Waterloo Region would later find out. Fares and service are integrated into the Grand River Transit bus system, which is owned and operated by the regional government.
Waterloo Region is the smallest urban region in North America with a light rail system, and it works largely because of Kitchener-Waterloo’s geography. Many important regional destinations line up along the corridor: the terminals are both major suburban shopping centres that already functioned as major bus transfer points. In between the two malls are Downtown Kitchener and Uptown Waterloo, the two historic town centres, University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University, and Kitchener-Waterloo Hospital. The LRT serves or passes near all these destinations (though Laurier’s campus is centred a few blocks east of the LRT corridor). Furthermore, the region’s master plan focuses urban growth along the LRT corridor with new high-rise residential and mixed-use development. A planned extension of the LRT into Cambridge south to the historic Galt town centre will further support regional urban intensification goals.
Ion trains operate every 10 minutes during weekday daytime hours; they operate every 15 minutes on weekends and weekday evenings, with 30-minute service from about 10:30 PM to the end of service starting around midnight.
Map of Waterloo Region’s urban system, which directs growth to existing and planned transit corridors and limits growth outside the cities of Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge.From the regional official plan.
Despite following a linear corridor, the LRT winds its way along city streets, railway rights-of-way, and hydro corridors. This allowed the region to reduce property and road construction costs as well as achieve higher speeds in specific off-road sections. The fastest section is north of Uptown Waterloo, where the corridor makes use of a freight railway spur line between Kitchener and Elmira that also happens to run directly past University of Waterloo. In the south end, a different railway corridor and a hydro corridor allow trains to reach Fairview Park Mall on a mostly off-street alignment. These off-road segments are protected by railway signals and barriers, like those in along LRT lines in Calgary and Edmonton.
This ability to switch between different alignment types is a clear advantage of light rail transit for medium-capacity transit systems. During overnight hours, freight trains headed to a plastics plant in Elmira use the same rails north of Uptown Waterloo as the LRT does during the day, making it an example of the “tram-train” model more common in Europe.
The on-street sections, though slower than the off-road portions, provide access to Downtown Kitchener and Uptown Waterloo, including the planned new transit hub in Downtown Kitchener that will provide a better connection to GO Transit trains to Toronto. Unlike Toronto’s streetcars and Finch West LRT, however, the signal priority system works. On King Street between Downtown and Uptown, there are many intersections with traffic signals, but the LRTs generally do not have to stop at any of those red lights. At intersections, LRVs continue at regular speed, typically 40 km/h through this section.
A southbound LRV on King Street. It just passed two signals with a clear (white vertical bar) signal; the next signal ahead will soon change to allow the LRV to proceed. Note that there are no “transit signal” signs, as Waterloo Region worked to have these approved by the province.
Waterloo Region also worked to permit unique transit signals, which feature only white bar aspects. A vertical bar indicates “proceed” while a horizonal bar indicates “stop.” A flashing horizontal bar lets the operator know that it will soon switch to “proceed” while a flashing vertical bar warns of an upcoming stop signal. This reduces the sign clutter that is found on Toronto’s streetcar and light rail corridors.
A typical Toronto assembly, with red, amber, and green transit signal aspects that look similar to the larger traffic lights above and accompanied with a “transit signal” sign. Of course, the Finch West LRV approached an amber signal, rather than being given a go ahead.
To be fair, the advantage in Waterloo Region is that most of the on-street sections of the LRV corridor are on narrower urban streets rather than suburban arterials like Finch Avenue. King Street and Charles Street in Kitchener only have two general traffic lanes and are not major throughfares (a provincially-maintained freeway between St. Jacobs, Waterloo, Kitchener, and Highway 401 absorbs much of this traffic). The regional government also widened a section of Weber Street to four lanes to divert traffic from King ahead of LRT construction. This resulted in the loss of about two dozen houses and businesses.
But by maintaining a narrow right-of-way on King Street, the LRT runs with minimal delays. It is easier to provide aggressive transit signal priority with short pedestrian crossing distances, narrow intersections, and lower traffic volumes.
The video below illustrates how the LRT runs along King Street northbound from Kitchener Central Station.
View from the front of a train heading north towards Waterloo
Despite the LRT working well, it is still far from perfect: there are several sections in which the trams crawl at a 10 or 15 km/h speed, particularly on the south end. At Hayward Avenue the route switches from a railway corridor to an alignment alongside Courtland Avenue; this section has two tight turns and crosses an industrial driveway. Had a few more properties been expropriated (at additional cost) this would not have been an issue. Until a proper protected pedestrian crossing is installed at a path connecting Trayner Avenue to Fairway Road (a critical pedestrian link that was overlooked during the planning phase), LRVs must also slow down along the hydro corridor approaching Fairview Park Mall.
The P3 contract also limits the ability to make service improvements. In 2024, Waterloo Region proposed revising the LRT schedule to run trains every eight minutes during peak periods, but because of a fixed staffing contract, it would have resulted in 30-minute service after 8PM. Luckily, local transit advocates successfully opposed that change. Had the LRT been operated directly by Grand River Transit, they could have simply trained more operators on the LRT service, even transferring bus drivers to the rail division.
Overall, however, the LRT works in Waterloo Region both as a transit service and a planning tool. It provides useful lessons on what to do (real signal priority and proper signal aspects, make effective use of on-street and off-street routing where each makes sense), and what not to do (enter strict operating contracts) when building a new transit line. Waterloo Region made its rail transit work for its geography and its needs, and that is the most important thing.
Rue St-Catharine in the Quartier des Spectacles, August 2025
A visit to Montreal can make one jealous. Jealous of the city’s better street furniture, greater cycling infrastructure, great public spaces throughout the city, and an improved pedestrian realm. Entire streets are closed in the summer months to motor traffic, allowing pedestrians to spill out into the roadway, and patios to sprout without the need for concrete blocks to protect them (and less noise and pollution to those dining al fresco).
For example, Avenue Mont-Royal, was first closed in Summer 2020 as a “Corridor Sanitare” to encourage people to get outside during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and support local businesses, which set up patios on the sidewalk and the street. My spouse and I rented a car and visited Montreal during this time, getting a lot of walking in a city that opened up as much as safely possible.
Avenue Mont-Royal, looking east, August 2020
Happily, Montreal continued the tradition in the years since, even as pandemic restrictions eased, then disappeared entirely. Five years later, Avenue Mont-Royal was even more vibrant. Not only were there lots of patios on the street, there were public benches, shade structures, and water fountains, allowing anyone to sit, relax, and enjoy the outdoors. The annual summer closure is a hit.
Avenue Mont-Royal, looking east, August 2025
Several public squares were also renewed in recent years. Phillips Square, on Rue Ste-Catharine across from the now-shuttered Hudson’s Bay department store, was renewed with new splash fountains along with small café-style tables and chairs, complete with shade umbrellas. The metal chairs are movable, allowing larger groups to sit around a single table. It’s a refreshed natural congregation point along the city’s main shopping street.
Phillips Square, August 2025
Similar tables and umbrellas were set up at Dorchester Square, several blocks to the west, near Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral and Central Station. Both squares were reimagined by the brilliant landscape architecture firm Claude Cormier + Associés. At Dorchester Square, a new water fountain, seemingly a classic installation, is cut in the rear, with a woodpecker behind. Such Easter eggs are features of Cormier park projects.
Dorchester Square, August 2025Fountain at Dorchester Square; note the woodpecker on the side. One of the two black curved footbridges across the parking ramps is behind.
Furthermore, Montreal is rebuilding the western section of Rue St-Catharine towards Crescent. Though motor vehicles are permitted after reconstruction, they are limited to a single through lane, with lay-bys for deliveries, passenger pick-ups and drop-offs, and emergency vehicles. Sidewalks are widened considerably, with more benches, bicycle parking, and street trees.
Completing Rue St-Catharine, near Bishop Street
After returning to Toronto, it’s easy to feel down on this city. Montreal seems to do everything right. Meanwhile, ActiveTO, the open streets initiative following the pandemic restrictions here, quickly eroded, and was effectively ended in 2022. Open Streets, which closed sections of Yonge and Bloor Streets to motorists for two Sunday mornings, was last held in 2022. But there are still business improvement area-led weekend street festivals, which attract tens of thousands of pedestrians.
Torontonians want to walk, and pedestrianized streets, even when they’re just weekend events, are immensely popular. One downside, however, is a lack of seating outside of businesses’ patio areas. One is free to walk, enjoy live music, or just people watch, but to sit down, one is compelled to purchase something from one of the businesses with a sanctioned patio.
Torontonians love a street festival: Cabbagetown in September
There are a few other successes. A small segment Gould Street at Toronto Metropolitan University was pedestrianized and rebuilt as a central plaza for that university campus. A short section of Willcocks Street at the University of Toronto was similarly pedestrianized.
But the best example in Toronto is Market Street, which abuts St. Lawrence Market. Patio space and Muskoka chairs provide plenty of seating, without obligation to purchase anything (though it provides additional seating to those who picked up a snack or lunch inside the market). The shade umbrellas and high-quality surface materials and street furniture make this a wonderful oasis in Toronto’s downtown core.
Market Street looking north from The Esplanade. St. Lawrence Market is on the right.
Planning for Yonge Street’s makeover, which will include narrowing the roadway, widening the sidewalks, improvements to the public realm, and seasonal closures of selected sections of the traffic lanes, is complete. Unfortunately, the YongeTOmorrow improvements will have to wait for another five years (work starting in 2030) due to Ontario Line construction.
Rendering of Yonge Street looking north towards Dundas, once YongeTOmorrow improvements are complete
There are also other great things happening in Toronto. Claude Cormier was tapped to create new public spaces, such as HtO Park and Sugar Beach on the Harbourfront, but also reimagine existing places such as Love Park (previously a highway off-ramp) and Berczy Park, home of the popular Dog Fountain. At Love Park, not one of the 45 movable chairs have been taken (though one ended up in the pond). Torontonians have been shown to cherish great public spaces.
HTO Park from Toronto Harbour
Canada’s Sugar Beach
Love Park
Berczy Park
Toronto has made a lot of progress on improving its public realm, and it has shown that it is willing and able to close streets to traffic for the benefit of pedestrians and cyclists. Though it is so very easy to envy Montreal for its greater progress in the last two decades, it is up to us to continue the momentum Toronto does have, and work harder to push for change, even when there’s a car-focused provincial government. Streets can be narrowed, parks can be improved, and streets can be handed over to the people. Additional seating and more public washrooms will open up this city to many more residents and visitors.
This should all be a key pillar of a progressive agenda in next years’ municipal election. When certain candidates talk about tax cuts, austerity, and crime, there needs to be a focus on creating a better quality of life to provide an alternative. And that talk must be backed up with action, with quick wins that don’t require multi-year waits.
BRT median under construction on Wellington Street at South Street, London
The City of London, Ontario has been quietly constructing a new bus rapid transit (BRT) system over the last few years, which will extend south and east of the downtown core. By the end of April 2025, the first major section of this network will begin operation.
The Wellington Road and Fanshawe College segments are two of the four rapid transit routes originally proposed under London’s SHIFT. At first, a north-to-east line, connecting Masonville Place Mall, Western University, Downtown London, and Fanshawe College, was to be a light rail corridor, featuring a short tunnel under Richmond Street to avoid a busy freight railway crossing. A BRT line would have connected the west end of London, at Oxford Street and Wonderland Road, continued downtown, and head south towards the Victoria Hospital campus and White Oaks Mall near Highway 401. The map below shows the initial proposal.
The original rapid transit proposal called for a light rail (orange route) connecting Western University, downtown, and Fanshawe College and a BRT (blue) corridor to the west and south of downtown
Due to budget constraints, the project was revised to a BRT-only scheme. The Richmond Street leg, leading north to Western University, was cut when the bus tunnel under the CPKC railway and the Oxford Street intersection was deemed to cost $220 million in 2017. Business owners along Richmond Street, a busy restaurant, nightlife, and shopping district known as Richmond Row, were also opposed to the reduction in traffic lanes that the transit tunnel would have required.
This section of Richmond Street — used by eight London Transit routes — is a severe bottleneck as it is not only a busy traffic corridor, it crosses CPKC’s mainline connecting Toronto, Windsor, and the US Midwest.
Several buses cross the CPKC tracks on Richmond Street north of Downtown London
The pared-down BRT project consists of a curbside bus-only lane encircling the downtown core, following King Street, Wellington Street, Queen’s Avenue, and Ridout Street. At each turn, buses must wait for a dedicated signal to make the left turn to continue on the loop. Right now, buses do not have any signal priority, and can wait a full light cycle (up to two minutes) to get the dedicated left turn signal.
Example of a left turn from the right curb lane in London. The dedicated transit signals allow left-turning buses to remain in the right lane without traffic conflicts.
New enlarged shelters and long platforms allow multiple buses to pick up and drop off at each stop; most routes heading through downtown will serve at least one of these new bus stops on their routes. All buses were removed from Dundas Street, which has been re-landscaped to create a more pedestrian-friendly commercial environment called Dundas Place.
New enlarged bus shelters along the BRT corridors; this is at Wellington and King Streets
On April 28, Route 94, a weekday express route between Argyle Mall in London’s east end, Downtown London, and Western University, will begin operating in both directions on King Street, and will be the first route using the bus infrastructure outside the downtown loop. King Street was originally a one-way, two-lane-wide roadway east of Downtown London, but was recently widened to allow for painted bus lanes in both directions.
Contraflow bus lane on King Street, previously a two-lane, one-way street
Work is far from complete. Utility work and road reconstruction continues on Dundas east of Ontario Street (at the Western Fairgrounds) and on Highbury Avenue north to Oxford. Construction of the BRT median on Wellington Street/Wellington Road south is also ongoing.
Looking south on Wellington Street at the South Thames River bridge crossing, which is being widened as part of the BRT project
The cost of the BRT project has risen to at least $454 million, and that does not include the north or west segments. Service levels have yet to be determined, along with transit route restructuring once the east and south segments are complete. The new station shelters will not have off-board fare payment equipment, so unless policy changes, all transit riders will still have to enter the bus from the front door.
Concept rendering of Wellington Road with new BRT median lanes near White Oaks Mall
Entering and leaving downtown along Wellington Street, south BRT buses will still have to squeeze through an older four-lane railway underpass in mixed traffic, limiting bus throughput. The lack of a northern segment between Downtown, Western University, and Masonville Place Mall is another major downfall.
Bottlenecks, like Richmond Street North, will limit how fast and how attractive transit will be to prospective riders
Though it is hoped that London’s Rapid Transit project will help shape development — much in the same way Waterloo Region’s Ion LRT has — the cost-cutting will limit this potential. The Wellington Road BRT median might help improve bus reliability along a congested traffic corridor, but the lack of signal priority — plus the railway underpass bottleneck — will not help. Western University students will still have to endure a slow ride north from downtown, reducing the attractiveness of Wellington Street, currently littered with big-box stores and strip plazas, as a place to build up with private mixed-use development. Perhaps the eastern segment on King and Dundas Streets, serving the regenerating Old East Village neighbourhood, will be more successful.
New GO Transit bus stop on Chiefswood Road at Six Nations
As we enter Spring 2025, there are a few significant changes in Ontario’s intercity transportation services. A new daily GO Transit route will now connect Six Nations and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation with Brantford, Hamilton, and Greater Toronto. A new seasonal Waterloo-Burlington weekend express could foreshadow more direct service between Kitchener/Waterloo and Hamilton in the future. Flixbus moved its Ottawa terminal stop to the VIA Rail station, joining Ontario Northland and Orleans Express.
However, there are also some cuts, triggered by the end of the Ontario Intercommunity Transportation Grants. Grey County will terminate all GTR services with the exception of Route 1 between Dundalk, Shelburne, and Orangeville. T:GO is ending its intercommunity services outside of Tillsonburg, including routes that connect with Woodstock and London. PC Connect is cutting its rural route that serves places like Mitchell and Milverton (though routes connecting Listowel, Stratford, and St. Marys to Kitchener/Waterloo and London will continue).
Unfortunately, T:GO will end all intercommunity bus routes outside of Tillsonburg, including the link to Woodstock
Recently, I provided my expertise mapping Canada’s intercity transit links to Transport Canada, which allowed me to enhance and update the interactive map. I am also working with Transport Action Canada to support their efforts advocating improved intercity transport across the country.
As always, please contact me with feedback, corrections, or updates. It is a challenge continually maintaining a Canada-wide map given how frequently things change.
Last month, I wrote about the challenges getting around Toronto’s Union Station, Canada’s busiest transportation hub, particularly for passengers using mobility devices or carrying luggage. Only one poorly-marked elevator directly links the Great Hall and the UP Express platform with the subway station/PATH level, which is located two floors down.
I returned to Union Station on Tuesday, January 7, to see if any improvements were made since I wrote my initial post. Somewhat surprisingly, new signs were installed beside the elevators, indicating which floor goes where.
Elevator signage at B2 level (subway concourse/PATH level by Bay Street) that indicates where the other floors lead to: Level B1 for VIA trains, shops and restaurants, and exit to Front Street, and Level 00 for VIA ticketing, UP Express trains, and access to the Skywalk to Rogers Centre, CN Tower et al.In the GO York Concourse, the elevator leads to Level 00 (The Great Hall) only.
These signs are a notable improvement, but there is still no signage inside the elevator cars themselves, so the traveler must note the directory signage before entering the elevator. Furthermore, the Great Hall, the historic centrepiece of the Union Station complex, is not noted, even though it is a logical meeting place from where access to all GO, VIA, and UP Express train services can be made, or where taxis can be found right outside.
Unfortunately, the elevators themselves are still difficult to locate, and the decision to have just one slow elevator connect the Great Hall/UP Express floor with the subway station entrance remains unfortunate. There is still so much more to be done.
In the Great Hall, there are clear signs directing passengers towards the subway, but there are no indications on where a barrier-free passage can be found. A supplementary sign pointing towards the one elevator, located at the far end of the Great Hall, could be useful here.
