Bike Walk Bus Toronto

  Hey pals! This blog post is kind of an essay? I'm super open to having discussions about this, so if you're interested, hit me up! Recently, I've seen a few Twitter threads talking about how city-building and good planning are concept foreign to North America: we admire them, we desire them, yet we never actually make these ideas reality. The focus of these threads tends to be walkability. For those unfamiliar, walkability is defined as how friendly an area is for walking, and it is very subjective. The end goal are broad health benefits on both individual and societal levels.  Those who live in North America are very familiar to how automobility is entrenched within our urban landscapes, so much so that walking in many cities is viewed as being impossible. Walking is not the norm, and occurs in mass only in a few select locations. In addition, the North American political landscape is so devolved into perpetuating capitalist structures that the financial wants of automob...

Hey besties! This blog post is a short one, concerning my findings of taking Durham Region's new overnight routes.  Recently, Durham Region Transit introduced two overnight routes. Route N1 operates throughout the night, between Centennial Circle and Harmony Terminal, and route N2 operates for a few hours between ONTech and Wentworth. Additionally, Dial-a-Bus service was instituted covering most of the urban part of Durham Region. On Monday, December 13th, I went out to take the two routes. I have a few comments concerning them and a few suggestions for how service could be improved. Route N1 Centennial Circle <--> Harmony Terminal This route duplicates the 900 Pulse Highway 2 route that operates during the day, as well as parts of route 901 Pulse Simcoe and 915 Taunton routes. Obviously, as urban Durham region is much longer than it is tall, this route covers a lot of distance. It also makes direct connections to two overnight TTC routes near UofT Scarborough.  From rid...

Earlier today, I headed to Markville Mall, in Markham to run some errands. On my way back, I caught YRT's VIVA Purple bus from the stop at Bullock. While I was waiting, I saw a notice posted on the shelter from YRT related to service changes that took effect on October 31st. A picture of it is below. I could not help but notice the bottom part. It suggests that "Don't worry, if you can't get a ride, YRT will be there for you." Frankly, that is a blatant lie. The route changes listed above tend to be cuts. Oh, your 56 Gorham-Eagle bus used to be rush hours only, every 60 minutes? Don't fret, it will now operate every 64 minutes. As the title of this article suggests, advertisements like this everywhere are quite funny when you consider that the service provided by York Region Transit is, at best, minimal. Realistically, if mom can't pick you up, may of as well wait for her to be able to, you'll get home faster.      It reminded me of something YRT had d...

Hey besties! Normally, transferring between transit services is quick and easy. Maybe you cross the road, or walk across a bus terminal. That said, there are some transfers that are a bit more difficult for a variety of reasons. None of these, however, are as awkward as transferring between Line 4 at Leslie Station and bus route 115 Silver Hills, via Oriole GO. Some Background Context With two-hour transfer on Presto, and less people paying with ticket, token, or cash, memorizing transfer points is not a common practice. Prior to this, however, the TTC maintained a list of walking transfers, where two routes did not meet directly, but were close enough to justify permitting a transfer. The list can be found only on the old TTC website,  here , but note this list has not been updated in many years. As you can see, transferring between Line 4 at Leslie Station and the 115 Silver Hills route is permitted, by walking along the length of the Oriole GO Station platform. Map of route 115....

  It's been quite a while... but I'm back! Hey pals! Hope everyone had a good summer. It really flew by; it's kind of crazy that we are already in September!  I wanted to make this post to document my walk through the Humber Summit neighbourhood on September 1st, 2021. This walk was both for fun, but also to collect research related to public transportation. I think what I found was interesting, and so I felt the need to document it. The Neighbourhood The neighbourhood I walked through is usually called Humber Summit. However, I've heard Rowntree Mills, Duncanwoods, and other names... just be aware that that I walked the areas along Islington between Finch and Steeles.  This neighbourhood is relatively mixed income, but tends to be higher income west of Islington than east of it. With the opening of Line 6, three LRT stations will open in the neighbourhood: Rowntree Mills (at Islington), Pearldale, and Duncanwoods. This is what Google Maps defines Humber Summit as... fo...

  Hey friends! Today's route is the 38 Highland Creek, which operates in east Scarborough. The route operates with one branch: 38A Highland Creek: Scarborough Centre to Rouge Hill GO Stn In addition, a second branch exists, but is currently suspended due to lack of pandemic traffic to UofT Scarborough: 38B Highland Creek: Scarborough Centre to UofT Scarborough Let's get into it! The Route Eastbound buses depart Scarborough Centre via the east entrance and McCowan, and head east on Ellesmere. For much of this stretch, they complement 95 York Mills, 133 Neilson and 995 York Mills Express service. The buses branch off Ellesmere by heading southeast on Military Trail, past UofT Scarborough, before heading east on Old Kingston. They cross over Highway 2A via the Highland Creek Overpass, and head east along Lawson. At Port Union, they travel south, before turning east onto Lawrence to reach Rouge Hill GO Station. The route along Ellesmere is a mix of apartments and condos, townhomes,...

  Hey friends! Today we're looking at route 37 Islington! This route operates with two branches: 37A Islington: Islington Stn to Woodbine and Humberwood via Rexdale Blvd 37B Islington: Islington Stn to Steeles In addition, the 37B branch is duplicated by the 937 Islington Express. Let's get into it! The Route I will focus first on the 37B branch, because it's actually the major branch. Buses leave Islington Station via Bloor, and head straight up Islington, before turning onto Steeles to enter Islington/Steeles Loop. Between Bloor and Dundas, the built form is mainly apartments, but these front onto Cordova and Mabelle. From Dundas all the way to Dixon, Islington is entirely low-density, single-family homes. At Dixon, and until Bergamot, the route is mixed, with some apartment towers, townhomes, and single-family homes, as well as some industry just off of Islington. The apartment towers are replaced with lower-rise apartments beyond Bergamot, but the route is relatively th...

  Hey pals! As a follow up to the previous post, we will know look at the 36 Finch West route west of Keele, which is the busier portion. This route operates with three branches: 36B Finch West: Finch West Stn to Humberwood 36D Finch West: Finch West Stn to Weston Rd and Milvan Dr 36F Finch West: Finch West Stn to Weston Rd and Milvan Dr via Fenmar Just like the 36 east of Keele, through trips operate during some periods: 36A Finch West: to Finch Stn (internally 36J) Note this doesn't ever affect the 36D and 36F branches.  Let's get into it! This post focusses on the 36, excluding the portion between the two stations. The Route Westbound buses on the 36B branch leave Finch West Station via Four Winds and Keele, before turning onto Finch. Buses travel direction along Finch until Humber College Blvd, where it heads south for a block, then west on Humberline and south on Humberwood, ending at Humberwood Loop, just south of Morning Star. Finch has a lot of single family homes that...